History of Technology in China

The history of technology in China is amazing in the productive consistency.

Qin Shi Huang or Shihuangdi (Qin dynasty) first emperor of China 221-210 BCE. Created unified China with estimated 22 million deaths, began Great Wall of China, standardized weights and measures, largest funerary compound in history with 8000 terra cotta soldiers.

Chinese Golden Age,  the Tang Dynasty 618-906 AD and the Song Dynasty from 960-1279 AD. The European Dark Ages were from 476-1400.

Silk Road trade begins with the Han Dynasty in 150 BCE by land, and 500 BCE by sea, also known as the maritime Silk Road

Silk Road trade ends in 1453 AD with Ottoman Empire conquering Constantinople and warring with the Chinese.

The Four Great Chinese Inventions define the history of technology in China: compass (1086), black gunpowder (142), paper (105), printing (660).

China never experienced a scientific revolution like Europe did in the 1600s. This scientific void may be due to the lack of widespread adoption of the printing press in China. Although the printing press with movable type on paper was first invented in China, the huge number of characters required to print in Chinese was vastly larger than that required with alphabetic languages of Europe. Due to the inefficiencies of Chinese text, the printing press did not spread in China as it did in Europe after Gutenberg’s improvements in 1450.

China historically has possessed about 20% of the world population.

History of Technology in China Timeline of Inventions

CHINESE INVENTIONS OVER 21,500 years

1. Cookware/pottery vessels 19,500 BCE 
2. Rice domestication 9000 BCE , China population -200,000 people
3.  Fermentation 7000 BCE Henan
4. Rowing oars 6000 BCE
5. Lacquer 4750 BCE
6. Wet field cultivation of rice 4200 BCE
7.  Silk 4000 BCE
8. Soybean domestication 3500 BCE
9.  Tea 2732 BCE
10. Gnomen 2300 BCE
11.   Noodles 2000 BCE
12. Metal bell 200 BCE
13.   Umbrella 1500 BCE
14.   Kite 1000 BCE
15. Ivory chopsticks 1000 BCE
16.   Farming crops in rows  500 BCE
17.   Cast Iron plow 500 BCE
18.   Crossbow 500 BCE  China population – 40,000,000 people decreased to 18,000,000 under first emperor 215 BCE
19.  Trebuchet 350 BCE
20.   Coal as fuel  300 BCE
21.   Acupuncture 250 BCE
22.   Iron smelting 200 BCE
23. Soy sauce 200 BCE
24.   Saddle 200 BCE
25.   Blast furnace 150 BCE
26.   Adjustable wrench  50 BCE  
27. Ephedrine herbal stimulant 0 AD
28.   Deep Drilling 4800 feet, 50 AD salt miners
29.   Moldboard plow 50 AD “kuan”
30.   Rudder 50 AD, China population – 50,000,000 people
31.   Suspension bridge 90 AD
32.   Paper 105 AD Cai Luan  (100 BCE crude paper)
33.   Seismograph urn with pendulum 132 AD
34. Black Gunpowder, 142 AD, Wei Boyang
35.   Wheelbarrow 200 AD Zhuge Liang
36.   Rocket 228 AD
37.   Paired metal stirrups 322 AD
38. Fishing reel 350 AD
39. Horse collar 450 AD
40. Oil refining 515 AD
41. Match, non-friction 577 AD
42.   Porcelain 581 AD 
43.  Wood Block printing 660 AD   China population – 350,000,000
44.  Water clock 725 AD  Yi Xing monk
45. Rotary fan 750 AD
46. Dental amalgam (fillings) 750 AD
47.  Paper money 800 AD
48. Playing cards 850 AD
49. Firelance proto gun 950 AD
50.   Moveable type printing 1020 AD Bi Sheng
51.   Dry mechanical clock  1092 Su Song
52.   Compass 1100 AD widespread navigation
53. Cannon 1128
54. Bomb 1250 AD
55. Metal movable type printing 1300 AD
56. Bristle toothbrush (boar hair) 1498
57. Electronic cigarette 2003

China in the 20th and 21st centuries

From the 14th to the 20th centuries, the technology in China became stagnant. Whereas Europe exploded with inventions after 1450, China did not. China adopted communism after the revolution of 1949, yet technology remained stagnant there. With the Great Leap Forward from 1958-1962, the largest famine in human history occurred with an estimated 18-45 million deaths from starvation and disease.

China’s widespread adoption of state capitalism since 1978 has been called the great economic transformation.

The socialist market economy is the economy model employed in China since 1978, especially since 1992 when the name was coined by Jiang Zemin. Since the end of the Cold War in 1989, the adoption of capitalism has increased in China. The economic system in China is called by many scholars “state capitalism.” Because the state-owned companies function like private sector firms, they retain the profits and do not give them to the government. Because of the adoption of capitalistic, market reforms, China has exploded with innovation. In conclusion, a new era of Chinese inventions may be upon us.