China is well known for its introduction of ways and means to help ease the life of mankind. Among the inventions of Ancient China, four emerged as great contributions to the developments and changes not only to the country, but also to the world’s economy and culture.
The four great inventions of Ancient China were papermaking, commercial printing, gunpowder, and the compass.
Which Invention had the most profound impact on the modern world?
please advise.
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2007-09-26 19:33:57 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ History
The Rickshaw
2007-09-26 21:09:39 · answer #1 · answered by Velvetine Rabbit 4 · 4⤊ 2⤋
Definitely commercial printing. This enabled the wide-spread dissemination of ideas, knowledge, and culture and made learning much more available to the common people. When making copies of documents was limited to painstaking one-at-a-time handwriting, very few other than the wealthy or clerics/monks had access to most written matter. The preservation and distribution of literature, scripture, history, science and mathematics, technical manuals, government standards, and reference works such as dictionaries were all made possible by printing technology. These writings also became a unifying factor in culture as more people shared commonalities of knowledge and in effecting a move towards evolving a standardization of language (whichever language was used for writing - Mandarin or other Chinese languages, English, German, etc.).
2007-09-26 20:59:43 · answer #2 · answered by Heather D 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Gunpowder led to the big guns which brought down the walls of the castles. This helped end the Middle Ages. That changed Europe quite a bit.
2007-09-26 20:16:32 · answer #3 · answered by Heart of man 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There were 2, not one. Gunpowder brought out the most efficient means of man to destroy man (a bad thing ). Printing. which made communications easier and eventually available to all creating a massive exchange of ideas and speeding up the growth of knowledge, a good thing.
2007-09-27 00:40:28 · answer #4 · answered by liorio1 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
I would say the printing press. Other civilizations also came up with papyrus, lambskin, etc., but without the printing press, we would not have been able to have a wide distribution of ideas. Gutenberg may have invented movable type, but the Chinese had printing presses long before.
2007-09-27 05:50:16 · answer #5 · answered by cross-stitch kelly 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think it's gunpowder. Think about all the wars the world has fought. The reason their weapons are deadly and dangerous these days are because of the gunpowder, which affects many people.
2007-09-26 19:42:11 · answer #6 · answered by saltboi88 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
No doubt about it, The Art of War is a Chinese military guide written during the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu. 13 chapters, devoted to one idea of warfare, it is the definitive work on military strategies and tactics , still used today!
2007-09-26 19:39:43 · answer #7 · answered by Roll_Tide! 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Gunpowder
It changed the way battles were fought and we all know that history is a never ending series of wars which has brought the world to where it is today.
2007-09-26 22:12:11 · answer #8 · answered by timesplitter 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Printing. It was not commercial printing when it was invented. That helps people to exchange idea easily.
2007-09-26 22:57:23 · answer #9 · answered by HK-boy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I cant decide between papermaking and commercial printing
2007-09-26 19:36:50 · answer #10 · answered by madisonn! 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The pen is mightier than the sword. Commercial printing seems to be the one.
2007-09-26 21:30:57 · answer #11 · answered by Superman at 71 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋