Inventory of important scientific and technological inventions in ancient China (Figure)

As early as the Renaissance, Italian Cardin thought that Chinese’s magnetic compass, printing and gunpowder were "three great inventions that the whole ancient times could not compare with". This statement has a far-reaching impact because of the emphasis of Bacon and Marx. Later, Voltaire made more detailed comments on Chinese’s inventions of papermaking, block printing, gunpowder and compass, which have included the "four great inventions" that we are familiar with. However, the theory of "four great inventions" is still difficult to comprehensively summarize the great scientific and technological achievements of our ancient ancestors.

After nearly a hundred years’ efforts, the research on the history of science and technology has achieved fruitful results, and the academic conditions for breaking through the limitations of the "four great inventions" have already been met. We should make a new inventory of important scientific and technological inventions in ancient China. Over the years, especially in today’s era of pursuing innovation, academic circles and the public have been eager to know what original scientific and technological achievements Chinese has made. Needham, Temple, Hua Jueming and other experts and scholars have made a list of China’s inventions, which has caused many discussions. Scholars have always hoped to sort out the research results of Chinese and foreign science and technology history, archaeology and other disciplines from the perspective of the whole history of human civilization, and make a prudent academic evaluation of ancient inventions.

In fact, the scientific and technological creativity of the Chinese nation has not yet been fully understood by the public. For example, our ancestors first cultivated the most important food crop-rice; The most important legume crop-soybean; One of the most important fruit crops-citrus; One of the Three beverage crops-Tea. The spread of cultivation techniques of these crops has contributed no less to the survival and development of mankind than the "four great inventions".

In order to spread the knowledge of the history of science and technology and carry forward the spirit of innovation, the Institute of Natural Science History of Chinese Academy of Sciences set up the "Important Inventions and Creations" research group in August 2013, and launched the "China Ancient Important Scientific and Technological Inventions and Creations Selection" activity.

After continuous collective investigation, we selected 85 important scientific and technological inventions in ancient China, and divided them into three categories: scientific discoveries and creations, technological inventions and engineering achievements. Among them, the engineering achievements are distinctive, showing the extraordinary ability of the ancients to create and use advanced technologies, and reflecting the inventions of technical categories such as smelting and casting, civil engineering, water conservancy, architecture, gardening and navigation. Of course, Chinese’s inventions are more than these 85. For example, in terms of machinery and instruments alone, there are jade cutting wheels, plough mirrors, drum turning in memory, grinding cars, scale leakage, lantern running, etc., as well as equatorial armillary sphere with distinctive technical characteristics and vertical axis windmill. There are also some major inventions that have spawned new creations. For example, in the utilization of soybeans, Chinese invented tofu and soy sauce.

The development of ancient science and technology categories is uneven, and the reference factors are more complicated. Therefore, it is not easy to select dozens or even hundreds of "important inventions". In the selection criteria, we focus on three aspects: first, highlight originality; The second is to reflect the advanced level of ancient science and technology development; Third, it has an important impact on world civilization. To evaluate the originality of an achievement, it is necessary to have reliable archaeological evidence or documentary records to prove that it is the earliest discovery in the world, or it belongs to one of the earliest and has outstanding characteristics.

Under the condition that the evidence is fully credible, we can easily and accurately classify and name Dujiangyan, Equation, Drawing Six-body, Jacquard, Papermaking, Porcelain, Waterway Instrument, Piston Bellows, Fireware, etc. However, some scientific discoveries and creations and technological inventions need to be properly summarized. For example, China was good at astronomical calculation in ancient times, and accumulated long-term systematic observation records, among which nova and supernova observation records also made important contributions for modern scientists to study supernova, radio source, pulsar, neutron star and other high-energy celestial bodies. We list "astronomical record" as an important creation to reflect the achievements of ancient astronomical observation in China.