THE ANCIENT CIVILISATION OF CHINA

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 22 May 1928, Page 8

THE ANCIENT CIVILISATION OF CHINA

i EARLY INVENTIONS ]

Though China is supposed to lag so far behind Europe in technical development, a number'of inventions were made there centuries before our own and in frequent cases transferred to the West. l'"or example, paper was there first produced in 105 A. IL, and passeil thence by a prisoner of war to the Arabs. The process of printing b DID wood blocks was perfected in the fourth and fifth centuries, and passed to Egypt by the Arabians. Gutenberg s invention only consisted in devising the type of separate letters. But even this had been thought of in China and known from 1041. The letters were there made of clay, but the practice was soon discontinued only to revive with the. introduction of modern newspaper printing into the country. The compass seems to have been known in China in the twelfth century B.C. It was used on journeys in the country; lor navigation al sea it is only mentioned 342 A.D. to become common in the tenth century. Arabians became familiar with it about the same time, and brought it to Europe—it is mentioned in Provence in 1190.

Gunpowder is of great antiquity in China. It was probably devised by . the old alchemists. Pockets and blasting agents were known at the beginning of our era, and firearms were carried by Chinese merchant vessels in the -fourth century. The first firearm seems to have been the hand-grenade made from ' bamboo pieces, and used in wars against wild races. These pieces, when fresh, would, if ignited, burst with a loud noise and cause injury by their sharp splinters: Later, filled with explosive material they caused much more damage, and iron tubes were sub.se- , quentlv substituted for bamboo. Cannon' was in use in 1232. rifles in 1262, and. asphyxiating gases were employed at the same period. The Arabs again , borrowed many of these ideas and transferred them to the West, and even torpedo and submarine are mentioned in this connection. The latter is a _ preChristian invention, but fell into disuse, and was forgotten. I An equally early flying machine is | known, a taximeter and an automobile and, a little later, a telescope. But the' seismograph seems even more remark- j able, for the principle of its construction is identical with that of the first European instrument of 1860. | That the origin of the art of working in porcelain and lacquer must be credited to the Chinese we all know: we do not often realise that we have thence some medical ideas—that of inoculation and that of injection. The umbrella which will close up. the fold-up fan. and even coal briquettes come from the same ingenious people. Lastly the game of diabolo was imported "from them to Southern Europe earlv in the nineteenth century.