I believe Gunpowder, paper, printing and compass are the most innovative and useful inventions. Among the many other important inventions, I consider these four as the most important because of the significance of these inventions in the history of mankind. In fact, even in this century, they haven’t become irrelevant. All these four inventions had contributed tremendously in the development of economy, technology and the culture of the mankind. These instruments had great impacts on the ancient civilizations as they spread gradually to other parts of the world civilizations. Many great men of other societies could create much more advanced and useful tools based on the innovative ideas developed by the ancient Chinese people. In brief, these four are the greatest inventions of the Chinese people as they could reshape the world as we are experiencing now. The advanced forms of these four ancient creations are still a part of our modern lives.
First among the four great inventions of the ancient Chinese people is the invention of paper. Before that, ancient people used natural materials such as grass stalks, earthen plates or tree leaves were used for inscription. Before the invention of paper, Chinese people used different things like bamboo, wooden strips, tortoise shells or shoulder blades of ox for writing. The ancient Chinese people first made a kind of paper using the process of silk reeling which was very expensive because of the shortage of raw materials. It was in the early 2nd century a new type of paper invented. It was cheaper than the previous one as the raw materials used were rags, bark, wheat stalks etc. This paper was light, durable and seemed to be fit for brush writing. Later this innovative idea spread to countries like Korea and Japan and gradually into Europe and America. (Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of South Africa, 2004)
The second of the four greatest inventions of ancient Chinese people was printing. Before the invention of printing, the only way of propagating knowledge was either word of mouth or hand written manuscripts. They were time consuming and were likely to be erroneous. They first invented a kind of printing which became known as block printing. Later they invented a more advanced model for printing and the new innovative technology gradually spread to countries like Japan, Korea, Japan, Vietnam etc. The invention of the printer in metal by Johann Gutenberg, which is considered as one of the greatest inventions in history, is indebted to the ancient Chinese model of printing. (Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of South Africa, 2004).
The third among the four great inventions of Chinese people is the invention of gunpowder. This invention has its own significance in this modern world because of the use of gunpowder for military purpose. This innovative idea was a result of the search of ancient Chinese monks for the medicine of immortality. Though the monks failed to find the medicine, they invented a mixture of sulphur, saltpetre and charcoal having explosive nature. They used this mixture for fireworks and signal flares initially and later it was adapted to military use. With this invention, they further developed their military powers. (Ancient China Inventions, 2010).
The fourth great invention of the ancient Chinese was the invention of the compass. Compass was first invented to meet some religious requirements. They used the device to check if a new building is facing the right direction to be in harmony with the nature. (Contributions of Ancient China to the World, 2012). Later it became an indispensable instrument for navigators. The invention of compass initiated revolutionary changes in the history of mankind. As the invention reached Europe, many Europeans travelled through the oceans to discover the unknown countries. (Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of South Africa, 2004). This was the very beginning of cultural, economic and social development of the mankind.
Among the four great inventions paper, printing, gunpowder and compass of the ancient Chinese, paper is the one I believe as indispensable for our daily life. They are used for writing, reading, printing, drawing and packaging. If you are a business man you have to use paper for catalogues, circulars brochures etc. In the field of communications, the uses of paper are limitless. They are used for envelopes, newspapers, magazines and for many more usages. In your house, paper is used in the form of tissues, paper plates, toilet paper etc. Most of the important educational tools are made out of paper. In the fields of entertainment, medicine, building construction etc, various kinds of papers are used. Another important use of paper is in the finance sector. Paper is used to make currency, important bank and insurance documents etc. Even though, there have been much technological advancement in this modern society, the significance and relevance of paper is not lessened as modern man is still depending on it for meeting his many daily requirements
References
Ancient China Inventions (2010). Retrieved on December 6, 2012 from
Ancient Chinese contributions. (n.d). Retrieved on December 6, 2012 from
Contributions of Ancient China to the World (2012). Retrieved on December 6, 2012 from
Embassy of the People's Republic of China in the Republic of South Africa (2004). Four Great Inventions of Ancient China. Retrieved on December 6, 2012 from
Inventions of Ancient China (2010). In Cultural China. Retrieved on December 6, 2012 from