Ancient Chinese Contributions

The contributions of ancient China are incredible. Some are still in use today and many led the way for technological advancement that might not have been possible without them. Possibly the most important and influential of those contributions were tea, silk, agricultural advancements such as the seed drill, iron plow, and horse harness, the ship rudder, porcelain, the compass, paper, movable type, and gunpowder. It’s difficult to decide which of these things have been the most important, but the general agreement seems to be that gunpowder, paper, movable type, and the compass are four of the most useful and important inventions in all of history.

Some might argue that the discovery and cultivation of tea, which has had proven health benefits and has become a part of the culture and daily life in many nations, was one of China’s most valuable contributions to the world (cultural-china, 2010). It’s also possible to that silk, which led to the creation of the Silk Road and thus influenced the spread of culture within the ancient world, was the most important of Chinese contributions (Sayre, 2011, p.306). Surely the agricultural inventions including the horse harness, iron plow, and seed drill made an impact on our entire society, as did the invention of porcelain and the many beautiful works of art created with it, but it’s difficult to surpass the impact of the top four.

The compass, invented in China in the fifth century B.C. and consisting of a natural magnet and a ladle, which when placed on a smooth surface would always point south, was used for military navigation (Lan, 2008). It was advanced to something more like the compass we know today and spread to the Arabians by Chinese ships around the tenth century. This technology was incredibly valuable to those attempting to navigate using only maps on the open seas, and helped to advance commerce and military achievements, making it one of the most valuable of ancient Chinese contributions.

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