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THE SPIRIT of INVENTION Atray (Above) Holds Lettering Brushes and Name Stampsfor Printing

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THE SPIRIT of INVENTION Atray (Above) Holds Lettering Brushes and Name Stampsfor Printing BIG IDEA 3 CHINA AND THE WORLD THE SPIRIT OF INV From ancient times, the Chinese have shown a gift for technology. Among China's most significant contributions to world civilization are four great inventions—paper, printing, gunpowder, and the compass. Fireworks light up the night sky over Tiananmen Square in China's capital city, Beijing. Chinese Civilization 51 Woodblocks were coated with paint then pressed on paper to create an image. hat if your textbooks were and let the sheet dry, the result was written on clay tablets? a sturdy, lightweight piece of paper. That is what the people of Even with paper available, everything some ancient civilizations used as a still had to be written by hand. It was writing material. You would need a time-consuming and costly, so only wheelbarrow instead of a backpack wealthy people were able to own to carry your homework! Paper is one reading materials. Then, the ancient of the basic materials essential in the Chinese invented printing, and many modern world. And paper was first copies of a book could be produced made in China. in a fairly short time. Their printing Paper was invented in China around process used carved wooden blocks. A.D. 105 and quickly came into wide The Chinese spread ink on the blocks use. The Chinese figured out a way to and pressed the blocks onto paper. pound natural ingredients, such as tree The pattern of the block now showed bark, bamboo, straw, cotton—even old up in ink, and the block could be used fishnets—into a pulp. They added many times. The Chinese first used water to the pulp and poured a thin printing to print prayers, but the new layer of the mixture onto a bamboo process eventually allowed them to mat. When they pressed the water out print whole books. 52 THE SPIRIT OF INVENTION Atray (above) holds lettering brushes and name stampsfor printing. Wheelbarrows (right) made moving heavy items easier. Theinvention of paper and printing changedthe world, and it certainly changedthe way students learn today. IfYou did need to wheel your heavy books to class,you could still thank e ancientChinese, since they also Invented the wheelbarrow! Chinese Civilization 53 53 Early types of Chinese compass (left) Chinese celebration with fireworks and kites (right) More Inventions Another Chinese invention that changed the world was gunpowder. The ancient Chinese knew that an iron The ancient Chinese had discovered, ore called lodestone had magnetic possibly by accident, that they could properties. Lodestone attracted metal, cause explosions to occur if they and lodestone shavings had the mixed the right ingredients together. unusual ability to always point to the The Chinese used gunpowder to create north. The ancient Chineselearned colorful fireworks for their celebrations how to make magnetized iron needles and festivals. Later, in their long struggle and eventually developed the round against the Mongols, they developed magnetic compass. weapons, such as the cannon, that forever Long afterward, when the magnetic changed the way wars were fought. compass became well known, the invention completely changed travel by For more information about Han sea. Explorers no longer needed to stay technology, see page 62. close to the coastline or rely on being able to see the position of the sun or stars. Without the fear of becoming WHY IT MATTERS lost at sea, they were able to travel s Chinese inventions spread great distances. Famous navigators throughout the world, they had including Christopher Columbus major effects on history. The use of used Chinese-style compasses in their gunpowder, for example, made modern voyages of exploration. wars much more destructive. 54 THE SPIRIT OF INVENTION 13 を物を いドを ( hⅲesざてⅳ 2気n.
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