Chinese inventions

It’s fascinating that so many things are attributed to the Chinese. This includes developments in navigation, mathematics, and medicine. The Chinese invented or discovered porcelain, paper, church bells, rudders, solar wind, the circulation of blood in the human body, the suspension bridge, the technique for drilling for natural gas, the iron plough, the mechanical clock, the seismograph, planting and hoeing techniques, the umbrella, and the compass.

Some people asked me for more information about the umbrella, so I decided to take a minute to research it a bit myself. According to Wikipedia, the “collapsible umbrella is said to have been invented during Cao Wei in ancient China, roughly 1,700 years ago.” During the Wei Dynasty, these umbrellas were designed possibly either from large leaves or from the tent. Fascinatingly, the Chinese character for umbrella is a pictograph resembling the modern umbrella in design!

umbrella.gif
via About.com

The first Chinese kites, used for both entertainment and miliatry communication, were already in flight 2,000 years before the European ones. Stirrups were used in China 400 years before they appeared in the West. The Chinese developed the concept of zero, using the actual “0” before 686 AD. It was used in conjunction with the traditional Chinese counting board and abacus.

19 Responses to “Chinese inventions”

  1. katy says:

    amazing! what’s the source of this info?

  2. Sudha Jamthe says:

    I admire Chinese culture and think it has parallels to India’s Culture. The list of disoveries by Chinese is amazing.

    Just wanted to correct one item in there. Indians found “zero” in the BCs, its documented in Sanskit language books , particularly the one by Aryabatta is accessible in English translation.

    Thanks.

  3. Anonymous says:

    please give me infomation on chinese inventions like suspension bridge

  4. Anonymous says:

    who invented the stirruo?

  5. Anonymous says:

    blah blah blah i need umbrella

  6. Anonymous says:

    i need information on the umbrella

  7. Anonymous says:

    It’s fascinating that so many things are attributed to the Chinese. This includes developments in navigation, mathematics, and medicine. The Chinese invented or discovered porcelain, paper, church bells, rudders, solar wind, the circulation of blood in the human body, the suspension bridge, the technique for drilling for natural gas, the iron plough, the mechanical clock, the seismograph, planting and hoeing techniques, the umbrella, and the compass. The first Chinese kites, used for both entertainment and miliatry communication, were already in flight 2,000 years before the European ones. Stirrups were used in China 400 years before they appeared in the West. The Chinese developed the concept of zero, using the actual “0? before 686 AD. It was used in conjunction with the traditional Chinese counting board and abacus.

    By Bradley Rehn

  8. Anonymous says:

    This website is very good i rate its eleventy two out of twelvty eight

  9. aej says:

    hey, nice article.

  10. Muzzamil Osman says:

    The sleeping Giant is now fully awake. The Chinese is the only hope left to the third world to save them from the global piracy and imperialism. God bless you Chinese, move forward and we African will be behind you and supporting you in every aspect.

    Muzzamil Osman

  11. andres says:

    this does not help!!!!!!!!!!!!

  12. […] We still eat rice almost every night because we like it, but we also like dishes made with cheese, and cheese is one of the few things the Chinese did not discover and never appears on the Chinese menu. […]

  13. Meh says:

    Hey im doing a report on chinese inventions. Just felt like saying that.

  14. hhhgn says:

    i need when the suspension bridge was built

  15. no one says:

    yeha ok i think that 2, but can you please put some real information about WHAT exactly they contributed, i can think up of 10 things right off the top of my head!

    ok then

  16. Anonymous says:

    WOW i totally still need more stuff on suspension bridges and i want to know the first inventors of the suspension bridges!!!PLEASE HELP ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! if not I’ll get my attorney to shut u down!!! LOL peace 4-now you’ll be hearing from my attorney if i don’t get what i want!!!!!!

  17. sk says:

    i need info on the umbrella by monday march 6th!!!!!!!!!

  18. anon says:

    hi i just wana say hi

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