The Song Dynasty was an era of high prosperity in commodity economy, culture, education and scientific innovation in the history of China. Driven by the whole social economy and culture, science and technology in Song Dynasty made great progress. The scientific and technological achievements in Song Dynasty not only became a peak in the history of ancient science and technology in China, but also walked in the forefront of the world at that time. The four great inventions of China that promoted the development of human civilization can only be said to have been perfected and applied in the Song Dynasty.
1, compass:
The earliest recorded Sina originated in the Warring States period, and its actual age should be recorded insufficiently. Its inventor may come from the discovery of human life. Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty clearly recorded the shape and usage of Sina in Lun Heng, and Shen Kuo in the Song Dynasty also had the method of artificial magnetism in Meng Qian Bi Tan.
2, papermaking:
Paper probably originated in the south of China, which is closely related to the rich bark cloth culture system that appeared in Lingnan area more than 6,000 years ago, especially around the Pearl River Estuary.
China since 1990s. The Pearl River Estuary includes a large number of stone swatters unearthed in Hong Kong. Among them, the stone swatters unearthed at the Xiantouling site in Shenzhen in different periods show that it is the earliest known stone swatter for making bark cloth in the world 6800 years ago or earlier, revealing that Lingnan area in China is the origin of the world bark cloth culture.
3, gunpowder:
Gunpowder was invented by Han people in China in Sui and Tang Dynasties, which originated from alchemy, and the inventor is unknown. The earliest and relatively complete record comes from Sun Simiao's "Single Crystal Internal Sulfur Method".
4. Printing (engraving):
Engraving printing began in the Sui Dynasty, and the Tang Dynasty was the most developed golden age in the history of China. Many Taoists participated in the research and innovation of printing, which was widely used in the middle and late Tang Dynasty. During the Song Renzong period of the Qing Dynasty (A.D.1041-kloc-0/048), "Bi Sheng" was developed and improved, resulting in movable type printing. ? Although movable type printing was invented in Song Dynasty, block printing is still widely used.
Extended data:
The widely circulated theories of "Three Great Inventions" and "Four Great Inventions" were put forward by western scholars such as Bacon, Marx and Needham in view of the influence of human inventions on modern western civilization.
In fact, China people's first major inventions are far more than that. Science and technology reached its peak in Song and Yuan Dynasties, and a major invention appeared every 80 years, while there was no major invention in 268 years in Qing Dynasty. Some experts put forward 30 major inventions, including:
Millet farming, rice farming, sericulture and silk weaving, Chinese characters, decimal numeration and calculation, bronze smelting and casting, iron and steel smelting technology based on pig iron, canal digging, ploughing, waterwheel, enamel decoration, paper making, diagnosis and treatment of traditional Chinese medicine, porcelain, China wood structure building technology, China cooking, driving, printing, tea planting and cultivation.
Powder, watertight compartment, tofu, deep well drilling technology, compass, intensive ecological agriculture, abacus, tillering fermentation, rocket, human pox inoculation, hybrid rice.
Baidu Encyclopedia-Song Dynasty (Chinese historical dynasty)
Baidu Encyclopedia-Four Great Inventions (four great inventions of ancient china)
People's Daily Online-Shanghai Channel >> Scholarly Shanghai >> Expert: China has more than four great inventions.