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{{History of science and technology in China}}

[[History of Science and Technology in China|China]] has been the source of many innovations, scientific [[discovery (observation)|discoveries]] and [[invention]]s.<ref>[[Joseph Needham]], ''[[Science and Civilisation in China]]'', 1954–2008, Cambridge University Press</ref> This includes the ''[[Four Great Inventions]]'': [[papermaking]], the [[compass]], [[gunpowder]], and [[History of typography in East Asia|early printing]] (both [[Woodblock printing|woodblock]] and [[movable type]]). The list below contains these and other inventions in ancient and modern China attested by archaeological or historical evidence, including [[List of inventions and discoveries of Neolithic China|prehistoric inventions of Neolithic and early Bronze Age China]].

The historical region now known as China experienced a [[History of science and technology in China|history]] involving [[mechanics]], [[hydraulics]] and [[mathematics]] applied to [[horology]], [[metallurgy]], [[astronomy]], [[agriculture]], [[engineering]], [[music theory]], [[Artisan|craftsmanship]], [[Maritime history|naval architecture]] and [[warfare]]. Use of the [[plow]] during the [[List of Neolithic cultures of China|Neolithic]] period [[Longshan culture]] (c. 3000–c. 2000 BC) allowed for high agricultural production yields and rise of Chinese civilization during the [[Shang dynasty]] (c. 1600–c. 1050 BC).<ref>Bray (1978), 27–28.</ref> Later inventions such as the [[Seed drill|multiple-tube seed drill]] and the [[Heavy plough|heavy moldboard iron plow]] enabled China to sustain a much larger population through improvements in agricultural output.

By the [[Warring States period]] (403–221 BC), inhabitants of China had advanced metallurgic technology, including the [[blast furnace]] and [[cupola furnace]], and the [[finery forge]] and [[Puddling (metallurgy)|puddling process]] were known by the [[Han dynasty]] (202 BC–AD 220). A sophisticated economic system in imperial China gave birth to inventions such as [[Banknote|paper money]] during the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279). The invention of gunpowder in the mid 9th century during the [[Tang dynasty]] led to an array of inventions such as the [[fire lance]], [[land mine]], [[naval mine]], [[hand cannon]], exploding [[cannonball]]s, [[multistage rocket]] and [[Huolongjing#Fire arrows and rockets|rocket bombs with aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads]]. [[Differential (mechanical device)|Differential]] [[gear train|gears]] were utilized in the [[south-pointing chariot]] for terrestrial navigation by the 3rd century during the [[Three Kingdoms]]. With the navigational aid of the 11th century compass and ability to steer at sea with the 1st century sternpost [[Rudder#Ancient China|rudder]], premodern Chinese sailors sailed as far as [[East Africa]].<ref>Bowman (2000), 104–105.</ref><ref>Levathes (1994), 37–38.</ref><ref>Hsu (1988), 96.</ref> In water-powered clockworks, the premodern Chinese had used the [[escapement]] mechanism since the 8th century and the endless power-transmitting [[chain drive]] in the 11th century. They also made large mechanical puppet theaters driven by [[waterwheel]]s and [[spoke|carriage wheels]] and wine-serving [[automaton]]s driven by paddle wheel boats.

For the purposes of this list, inventions are regarded as technological firsts developed in China, and as such does not include foreign technologies which the Chinese acquired through contact, such as the [[windmill]] from the [[Middle East]] or the [[telescope]] from [[early modern Europe]]. It also does not include technologies developed elsewhere and later invented separately by the Chinese, such as the [[odometer]], [[water wheel]], and [[chain pump]]. [[List of Chinese discoveries|Scientific, mathematical or natural discoveries made by the Chinese]], changes in minor concepts of design or style and artistic innovations do not appear on the list.

{{Compact TOC|side=yes|custom1=Four Great Inventions|custom2=Prehistoric China|custom3=Ancient and Imperial China|custom4=Modern (1912–present)|nobreak=no|refs=yes|seealso=yes}}

==Four Great Inventions==
{{Main|Four Great Inventions}}
The following is a list of the ''Four Great Inventions''—as designated by [[Joseph Needham]] (1900–1995), a British scientist, author and [[sinologist]] known for his research on the history of Chinese science and technology.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 1, p. 290.</ref>

[[File:Chinese hemp paper western han.jpg|thumb|upright|Fragments of [[hemp]] wrapping paper dated to the reign of [[Emperor Wu of Han]] (141–87 BC)]]
[[File:Jingangjing.jpg|thumb|upright|The ''[[Diamond Sutra]]'', the oldest printed book, published in AD 868, during the Tang dynasty (618–907)]]

===Paper===
:''This sub-section is about paper making; for the writing material first used in [[ancient Egypt]], see [[papyrus]].''
[[Paper]]: Although it is recorded that the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– AD 220) court eunuch [[Cai Lun]] (50 AD&nbsp;– AD 121) invented the pulp [[papermaking]] process and established the use of new materials used in making [[paper]], ancient padding and wrapping paper artifacts dating from the 2nd century BC have been found in China, the oldest example of pulp papermaking [[Chinese cartography|being a map]] from [[Fangmatan]], [[Tianshui]];<ref>Buisseret (1998), 12.</ref> by the 3rd century, paper as a writing medium [[History of the Han Dynasty#Reign of Wu|was in widespread use]], replacing traditional but more expensive writing mediums such as strips of [[bamboo]] rolled into threaded scrolls, strips of [[silk]], wet [[clay tablet]]s hardened later in a furnace, and wooden tablets.<ref>Needham (1985), Volume 5, Part 1, 1–2, 40–41, 122–123, 228.</ref><ref name="Bowman 2000 594">Bowman (2000), 594.</ref><ref name="tom 1989 99">Tom (1989), 99.</ref><ref name="day McNeil 122">Day & McNeil (1996), 122.</ref><ref>Cotterell (2004), 11–13.</ref> The earliest known piece of paper with writing on it was discovered in the ruins of a Chinese watchtower at Tsakhortei, [[Alxa League]], where Han dynasty troops had deserted their position in AD 110, after a [[Xiongnu]] attack.<ref>Cotterell (2004), 11.</ref> In the paper making process established by Cai in 105, a boiled mixture of [[Morus (plant)|mulberry tree]] bark, hemp, old linens and [[Fishing net|fish nets]] created a pulp that was pounded into paste and stirred with water; a wooden frame sieve with a mat of sewn reeds was then dunked into the mixture, which was then shaken and then dried into sheets of paper that were bleached under the exposure of sunlight; K.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Tom says this process was gradually improved through leaching, polishing and glazing to produce a smooth, strong paper.<ref name="tom 1989 99"/><ref name="day McNeil 122" />

=== Printing ===
{{Further|History of printing in East Asia}}
{{for|the separate invention of movable type printing in medieval Europe|printing press|Johannes Gutenberg}}

'''[[Woodblock printing]]''': The earliest specimen of woodblock printing is a single-sheet ''[[dharani]]'' sutra in [[Sanskrit]] that was printed on hemp paper between 650 and 670 AD; it was unearthed in 1974 from a Tang tomb near [[Xi'an]].<ref>Pan (1997), 979–980.</ref> A Korean miniature ''dharani'' Buddhist [[sutra]] discovered in 1966, bearing [[Chinese characters of Empress Wu|extinct Chinese writing characters]] used only during the reign of China's only self-ruling empress, [[Wu Zetian]] (r. 690–705), is dated no earlier than 704 and preserved in a [[Unified Silla|Silla Korean]] temple [[stupa]] built-in 751.<ref>Needham and Tsien (1985), Volume 5, Part 1, 149–150.</ref> The first printed periodical, the [[Kaiyuan Za Bao]] was made available in AD 713. However, the earliest known book printed at regular size is the ''[[Diamond Sutra]]'', made during the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907), a {{convert|5.18|m|ft|abbr=on}} long scroll, which bears the date AD 868.<ref name="Needham volume 5 part 1 151">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 1, 151.</ref> Joseph Needham and [[Tsien Tsuen-hsuin]] write that the cutting and printing techniques used for the [[Chinese calligraphy|delicate calligraphy]] of the ''Diamond Sutra'' book are much more advanced and refined than the miniature ''Dharani'' sutra printed earlier.<ref name="Needham volume 5 part 1 151" />

[[File:Yuan dynasty banknote with its printing plate 1287.jpg|thumb|upright|Yuan dynasty banknote with its printing wood plate 1287.]]
[[File:Chinese movable type 1313-ce.png|thumb|upright|An illustration published in [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen's]] ([[floruit|fl.]] 1290–1333) book of AD 1313 showing [[movable type]] characters arranged by rhyme scheme in round table compartments]]

'''[[Movable type]]''': The polymath scientist and official [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095) of the Song dynasty (960–1279) was the first to describe the process of movable type printing in his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' of 1088. He attributed the innovation of reusable fired clay characters to a little-known artisan named [[Bi Sheng]] (990–1051).<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 201–202.</ref><ref name="gernet 1996 335">Gernet (1996), 335.</ref><ref name="bowman 2000 599">Bowman (2000), 599.</ref><ref name="day mcneil 70">Day & McNeil (1996), 70.</ref> Bi had experimented with wooden type characters, but their use was not perfected until 1297 to 1298 with the model of the official [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen]] (fl. 1290–1333) of the [[Yuan dynasty]] (1271–1368), who also arranged written characters by rhyme scheme on the surface of round table compartments.<ref name="gernet 1996 335"/><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 1, 205–207.</ref> It was not until 1490 with the printed works of [[Hua Sui]] (1439–1513) of the [[Ming dynasty]] (1368–1644) that the Chinese perfected metal movable type characters, namely [[bronze]].<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 212.</ref><ref name="bowman 2000 601" /> The [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1912) scholar Xu Zhiding of [[Tai'an]], [[Shandong]] developed [[vitreous enamel]] movable type printing in 1718.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 1, 203.</ref>

===Gunpowder===
[[File:Chinese Gunpowder Formula.JPG|thumb|upright|Earliest known written formula for gunpowder, from the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' of 1044 AD.]]
[[Gunpowder]]: Evidence of [[gunpowder]]'s first use in China comes from the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907).<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 8–9, 80–82.</ref> The earliest known recorded [[History of gunpowder|recipes for gunpowder were written]] by Zeng Gongliang, Ding Du and Yang Weide in the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'', a military manuscript compiled in 1044 during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Its gunpowder formulas describe the use of [[Incendiary device|incendiary bombs]] launched from [[catapult]]s, thrown down from [[Chinese city wall|defensive walls]], or lowered down the wall by use of iron chains operated by a swape lever.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 70–73, 120–124.</ref><ref name="garnet 1996 311">Gernet (1996), 311.</ref><ref>Day & McNeil (1996), 785.</ref> Bombs launched from [[trebuchet]] catapults mounted on [[forecastle]]s of naval ships ensured the victory of Song over [[Jin Dynasty (1115-1234)|Jin forces]] at the [[Battle of Caishi]] in 1161, and the Mongol Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) [[:Image:Mooko-Suenaga.jpg|used gunpowder bombs]] during their [[Mongol invasions of Japan|failed invasion of Japan]] in 1274 and 1281.<ref name="garnet 1996 311" /> During the 13th and 14th centuries, gunpowder formulas became more potent (with [[nitrate]] levels of up to 91%) and gunpowder weaponry more advanced and deadly, as evidenced in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) military manuscript ''[[Huolongjing]]'' compiled by [[Jiao Yu]] (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and [[Liu Bowen]] (1311–1375). It was completed in 1412, a long while after Liu's death, with a preface added by the Jiao in its [[Nanyang, Henan|Nanyang]] publication.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 24–25, 345–346.</ref>

===Compass===
[[File:Antic chinese Compass.jpg|thumb|upright|A model in [[Kaifeng]] of a Chinese ladle-and-bowl type [[compass]] used for [[geomancy]] in the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD); the historical authenticity of the model has been questioned by [[Li Shu-hua]] (1954).<ref name="Li Shu-hua 176, 180">Li Shu-hua (1954), 176, 180.</ref>]]
[[File:Chinese Geomantic Compass c. 1760, National Maritime Museum.JPG|thumb|upright|Chinese geomantic compass c. 1760 from the [[National Maritime Museum]] in London]]

[[Compass]]: Although an ancient [[hematite]] artifact from the [[Olmec]] era in [[Mexico]] dating from about 1000 BC indicates the possible use of the [[lodestone]] [[compass]] long before it was described in China, the Olmecs did not have [[iron]], which the Chinese found could be magnetised by contact with lodestone.<ref>Carlson (1975), 753–760.</ref> Descriptions of lodestone attracting iron were made in the ''Guanzi'', ''[[Lushi Chunqiu|Master Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals]]'' and ''[[Huainanzi]]''.<ref>Blanc (1985), 125, 128, 132–133, 136.</ref><ref>Knoblock (2001), 218.</ref><ref>Rickett (1998), 426.</ref> The Chinese by the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) began using north–south oriented lodestone ladle-and-bowl shaped [[compass]]es for [[divination]] and [[geomancy]] and not yet for [[navigation]].<ref>Carlson (1975), 755.</ref><ref name="gernet 1962 77">Gernet (1962), 77.</ref><ref>Tom (1989), 98–99.</ref> The ''[[Lunheng]]'', written by Han dynasty writer, scientist, and philosopher [[Wang Chong]] (27&nbsp;– c. 100 AD) stated in chapter 52: "This instrument resembles a spoon and when it is placed on a plate on the ground, the handle points to the south".<ref>Lacheisserie (2005), 5</ref><ref>Aczel (2002), 80.</ref> There are, however, two other references under chapter 47 of the same text to the attractive power of a magnet according to Needham (1986),<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 1, see 261 footnote. f for ch. 52 on ladle and 232 footnote. d for ch. 47 on magnet (cf. ''Lunheng'' [[:zh:s:论衡/52|ch. 52]] & [[:zh:s:论衡/47|ch. 47]]).</ref> but Li Shu-hua (1954) considers it to be lodestone, and states that there is no explicit mention of a magnet in ''Lunheng''.<ref name="Li Shu-hua 176, 180"/> The Chinese polymath [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095) of the Song dynasty (960–1279) was the first to accurately describe both [[magnetic declination]] (in discerning [[true north]]) and the [[History of the compass|magnetic needle compass]] in his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' of 1088, and the Song dynasty writer [[Zhu Yu (author)|Zhu Yu]] (fl. 12th century) was the first to mention use of the compass specifically for navigation at sea, in his book published in 1119.<ref name="bowman 2000 599"/><ref name="gernet 1962 77"/><ref>Sivin (1995), III, 21–22.</ref><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 1, 279.</ref><ref>Elisseeff (2000), 296.</ref><ref>Gernet (1996), 328.</ref><ref name="day mcneil 1996 636">Day & McNeil (1996), 636.</ref> Even before this, however, the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' military manuscript compiled by 1044 described a [[thermoremanence]] compass of heated iron or [[steel]] shaped as a fish and placed in a bowl of water which produced a weak magnetic force via [[remanence]] and induction; the ''Wujing Zongyao'' recorded that it was used as a pathfinder along with the mechanical [[south-pointing chariot]].<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 1, 252.</ref><ref>Sivin (1995), III, 21.</ref>

==Prehistoric China==
{{main|List of inventions and discoveries of Neolithic China}}

==Ancient and Imperial China==
Inventions which made their first appearance in late [[Bronze Age China]] after the [[List of Neolithic cultures of China|Neolithic era]], specifically during and after the [[Shang dynasty]] (''c''. 1600–1050 BC), and which predate the era of modern China that began with the fall of the [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1912), are listed below in alphabetical order.
<!-- Unreferenced additions will be removed -->

===A===
[[File:Zodiaco Chino.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Bronze mirror]] of the [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618) showing the twelve divisions of the [[Chinese astrology|Chinese zodiac]], the latter of which goes back to the [[Warring States period]] (403–221 BC) in China]]
* '''[[Acupuncture]]''': Acupuncture, the [[Traditional Chinese medicine|traditional Chinese medicinal]] practice of inserting needles into specific points of the body for therapeutic purposes and relieving pain, was first mentioned in ''[[Huangdi Neijing]]'' compiled from the 3rd to 2nd centuries B.C. ([[Warring States period]] to Han dynasty).<ref name="omura 15">Omura (2003), 15.</ref> The oldest known acupuncture sticks made of [[gold]], found in the tomb of [[Liu Sheng, Prince of Zhongshan|Liu Sheng]] (d. 113 BC), date from the Western Han (203 BC&nbsp;– AD 9); the oldest known stone-carved depiction of acupuncture was made during the Eastern Han (AD 25–220).<ref>Omura (2003), 19 & 22.</ref> 	
* '''[[Armillary sphere#China|Armillary sphere, hydraulic-powered]]''': Poet [[Eratosthenes]] (276–194 BC) is credited as the first to invent the armillary sphere representing the [[celestial sphere]]. The Chinese astronomer Geng Shouchang of the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) invented it separately in China in 52 BC, and the Han dynasty polymath [[Zhang Heng]] (78–139 AD) was the first to apply motive power using a set of complex gears rotated by a [[waterwheel]] which was powered by the constant [[pressure head]] of an inflow [[Water clock|clepsydra clock]], the latter of which he improved with an extra compensating tank between the reservoir and the inflow vessel.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 30 & 479 footnote e.</ref><ref name="crespigny 2007 1050">Crespigny (2007), 1050.</ref><ref>Morton & Lewis (2005), 70.</ref><ref>Loewe (1968), 107.</ref><ref name="bowman 2000 595">Bowman (2000), 595.</ref>

===B===
[[File:Kǒngzǐ Shīlùn Manuscript from Shanghai Museum 1.jpg|thumb|upright|A sample of the [[Shanghai Museum bamboo slips]] (c. 300 BC), recording part of a commentary on the ''[[Classic of Poetry]]'']]
[[File:Hui zi.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Huizi (currency)|Huizi currency]], issued in 1160]]
[[File:Yuan Dynasty - waterwheels and smelting.png|thumb|upright|An illustration of furnace bellows operated by waterwheels, from the ''Nong Shu'', by Chinese mechanical engineer and inventor [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen]], 1313 AD, during the [[Yuan dynasty]].]]
[[File:Wang Juzheng's Spinning Wheel, Close Up 2.jpg|thumb|upright|''The Spinning Wheel'', by [[Song Dynasty|Northern Song]] (960–1127) artist Wang Juzheng. The Chinese invented the [[Belt (mechanical)|belt drive]] by the 1st century BC for silk [[quilling]] devices.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 9 207208">Needham (1988), Volume 5, Part 9, 207–208.</ref>]]
[[File:Chinese Fining and Blast Furnace.jpg|thumb|upright|A print illustration from an encyclopedia depicting men employing the fining process to make wrought iron and working a blast furnace by smelting iron ore to produce pig iron.]]

* '''[[Banknote]]''': Paper currency was [[Economy of the Song Dynasty#Paper currency|first developed in China]]. Its roots were in merchant [[receipt]]s of deposit during the Tang dynasty (618–907), as [[Four occupations#The shang (商)|merchants]] and [[wholesaler]]s desired to avoid the heavy bulk of [[Ancient Chinese coinage|copper coinage]] in large commercial transactions.<ref>Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 156.</ref><ref name="Bowman">Bowman (2000), 105.</ref><ref name="gernet 1962 80">Gernet (1962), 80.</ref> During the Song dynasty (960–1279), the central government adopted this system for their [[Salt in Chinese history|monopolized salt industry]], but a gradual reduction in copper production—due to the closing of mines and an enormous outflow of Song-minted copper currency into the Japanese, [[Southeast Asia]]n, [[Western Xia]] and [[Liao dynasty]] economies—encouraged the Song government in the early 12th century to issue government-printed paper currency alongside copper to ease the demand on their state mints and debase the value of copper.<ref>Ch'en (1965), 615–621.</ref> In the early 11th century, the Song dynasty government authorised sixteen private [[bank]]s to issue notes of exchange in [[Sichuan]], but in 1023 the government commandeered this enterprise and set up an agency to supervise the manufacture of banknotes there. The earliest paper currency was limited to certain regions and could not be used outside specified bounds, but once paper was securely backed by gold and silver stores, the Song dynasty government initiated a nationwide paper currency, between 1265 and 1274.<ref name="gernet 1962 80"/> The concurrent [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] (1115–1234) also printed paper banknotes by at least 1214.<ref>Gernet (1962), 80–81.</ref>
* '''[[Bellows|Bellows, hydraulic-powered]]''': Although it is unknown if metallurgic bellows (i.e. air-blowing device) in the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) were of the leather bag type or the wooden fan type found in the later Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), the Eastern Han dynasty mechanical engineer and politician [[Du Shi]] (d. 38 AD) applied the use of rotating [[waterwheel]]s to power the bellows of his [[blast furnace]] smelting [[Cast iron|iron]], a method which continued in use in China thereafter, as evidenced by subsequent records; it is a significant invention in that iron production yields were increased and it employed all the necessary components for converting rotary motion into [[reciprocating motion]].<ref name="bowman 2000 595"/><ref>Wagner (2001), 77–80.</ref><ref>Crespigny (2007), 184.</ref><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 370–376.</ref><ref>Day & McNeil (1996), 225.</ref>
* '''[[Belt (mechanical)|Belt drive]]''': The mechanical belt drive, using a [[pulley]] machine, was first mentioned in the text the ''Dictionary of Local Expressions'' by the Han dynasty philosopher, poet, and politician [[Yang Xiong (author)|Yang Xiong]] (53–18 BC) in 15 BC, used for a [[quilling]] machine that wound [[History of silk|silk fibers]] on to [[bobbin]]s for [[Weaving|weavers']] shuttles.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 9 207208"/> The belt drive is an essential component to the invention of the [[spinning wheel]].<ref name="Needham 1986">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 108.</ref><ref name="needham volume 5 part 9 160163">Needham (1988), Volume 5, Part 9, 160–163.</ref> The belt drive was not only used in textile technologies, it was also applied to hydraulic powered bellows dating from the 1st century AD.<ref name="Needham 1986"/> 
* '''[[Belt hook]]''': The belt hook was a fastener used in China. Belt hooks date from the 7th century BC in China,<ref name="Kipfer">{{cite book |author=Barbara Ann Kipfer |title=Encyclopedic Dictionary of Archaeology |date=30 April 2000 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-0-306-46158-3 |page=64}}</ref> and were made with bronze, iron, gold, and jade.<ref name="Kipfer"/> Texts claim that the belt hook arrived in China from Central Asia during the [[Warring States period]], but archaeological evidence of belt hooks in China predate the Warring States period.<ref name="Wagner1993">{{cite book |author=Donald B. Wagner |title=Iron and Steel in Ancient China |year=1993 |publisher=BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09632-5 |page=169}}</ref>
* '''[[Biological pest control]]''': The first report of the use of an insect species to control an insect pest comes from "Nan Fang Cao Mu Zhuang" (南方草木狀 ''Plants of the Southern Regions'') (ca. 304 AD), attributed to [[Jin dynasty (265-420)|Western Jin dynasty]] botanist ''Ji Han'' (嵇含, 263–307), in which it is mentioned that "''[[Jiaozhi]] people sell ants and their nests attached to twigs looking like thin cotton envelopes, the reddish-yellow ant being larger than normal. Without such ants, southern citrus fruits will be severely insect-damaged''".{{sfn|Peng|1983|pp=92–98}} The ants used are known as ''huang gan'' (''huang'' = yellow, ''gan'' = citrus) ants (''[[Oecophylla smaragdina]]''). The practice was later reported by Ling Biao Lu Yi (late [[Tang dynasty]] or Early [[Five Dynasties]]), in ''Ji Le Pian'' by ''Zhuang Jisu'' ([[Southern Song dynasty]]), in the ''Book of Tree Planting'' by Yu Zhen Mu ([[Ming dynasty]]), in the book ''Guangdong Xing Yu'' (17th century), ''Lingnan'' by Wu Zhen Fang (Qing dynasty), in ''Nanyue Miscellanies'' by Li Diao Yuan, and others.{{sfn|Peng|1983|pp=92–98}}
* '''[[Blast furnace]]''': Although [[cast iron]] tools and weapons have been found in China dating from the 5th century BC, the earliest discovered Chinese blast furnaces, which produced [[pig iron]] that could be remelted and refined as cast iron in the [[cupola furnace]], date from the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, and the vast majority of early blast-furnace sites discovered date from the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– AD 220), immediately following 117 BC with the [[Salt in Chinese History#Ancient China and the early empire|establishment of state monopolies over the salt and iron industries]] during the reign of [[Emperor Wu of Han]] (r. 141&nbsp;– 87 BC); most ironwork sites discovered dating from before 117 BC acted merely as [[Foundry|foundries]] to make castings for iron that had been smelted in blast furnaces elsewhere, in remote areas, far from population centres.<ref name="wagner 7 36 37 64 68"/><ref>Pigott (1999), 183–184.</ref>
* '''[[Bomb]]''': The first accounts of bombs made of cast iron shells packed with explosive gunpowder—as opposed to earlier types of casings—were written in the 13th century in China.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 170–174.</ref> The term was coined for this bomb (i.e. "thunder-crash bomb") during a [[Jin dynasty (1115–1234)|Jin dynasty]] (1115–1234) naval battle of 1231 against the [[Mongols]].<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 171">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 171.</ref> The ''[[History of Jin]]'' (compiled by 1345) states that in 1232, as the Mongol general [[Subutai]] (1176–1248) descended on the Jin stronghold of [[Kaifeng]], the defenders had a "thunder-crash bomb" which "consisted of gunpowder put into an iron container&nbsp;... then when the fuse was lit (and the projectile shot off) there was a great explosion the noise whereof was like thunder, audible for more than a hundred ''[[Li (unit)|li]]'', and the vegetation was scorched and blasted by the heat over an area of more than [[Mu (area)|half a ''mou'']]. When hit, even [[Chinese armour|iron armour]] was quite pierced through."<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 171"/> The Song dynasty (960–1279) official Li Zengbo wrote in 1257 that [[arsenal]]s should have several hundred thousand iron bomb shells available and that when he was in [[Jingzhou]], about 1,000–2,000 were produced each month for dispatch of ten to twenty thousand at a time to [[Xiangyang District, Xiangfan|Xiangyang]] and Yingzhou.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 173–174.</ref> The significance of this, as British sinologist, scientist, and historian [[Joseph Needham]] states, is that a "high-[[nitrate]] gunpowder mixture had been reached at last, since nothing less would have burst the iron casing."<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 170">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 170.</ref> 
* '''[[Borehole|Borehole drilling]]''': By at least the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD), the Chinese used deep borehole drilling for mining and other projects; The British sinologist and historian [[Michael Loewe]] states that borehole sites could reach as deep as {{convert|600|m|ft|abbr=on}}.<ref name="loewe 1968 194">Loewe (1968), 194.</ref> K.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Tom describes the drilling process: "The Chinese method of deep drilling was accomplished by a team of men jumping on and off a beam to impact the drilling bit while the boring tool was rotated by buffalo and oxen."<ref name="tom 1989 103">Tom (1989), 103.</ref> This was the same method used for extracting [[petroleum]] in [[California]] during the 1860s (i.e. "Kicking Her Down").<ref name="tom 1989 103"/><ref name="Hobson 2004 215">{{Cite book |title=The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation  |last= Hobson  |first=John M. |publisher= Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn= 978-0521547246 |pages=215}}</ref> A Western Han dynasty bronze foundry discovered in Xinglong, [[Hebei]] had nearby [[shaft mining|mining shafts]] which reached depths of {{convert|100|m|ft|abbr=on}} with spacious mining areas; the shafts and rooms were complete with a timber frame, ladders and iron tools.<ref name="loewe 1968 191">Loewe (1968), 191.</ref><ref name="wang 1982 105">Wang (1982), 105.</ref> By the first century BC, Chinese craftsmen cast iron drill bits and drillers were able to drill boreholes up to {{convert|4800|ft|m}} deep.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Fundamentals of Sustainable Drilling Engineering  |last1= Hossain  |first1= M. E. |last2=Abdullah Al-Majed  |first2=Abdulaziz  |publisher=Wiley-Scrivener  |year=2015 |isbn=978-0470878170 |publication-date=March 2, 2015}}</ref><ref name="Rezende 2007 40">{{Cite book |title=Chronology of Science |last= Rezende |first= Lisa |publisher=Checkmark Books |year=2007 |isbn=978-0816071197 |publication-date=April 1, 2007 |pages=40}}</ref><ref name="Conner 2005 175">{{Cite book |last=Conner |first=Clifford D. |title=A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and Low Mechanicks |publisher=Nation Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-1560257486 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/peopleshistoryof0000conn/page/175 175] |url=https://archive.org/details/peopleshistoryof0000conn/page/175 }}</ref> By the eleventh century AD, the Chinese were able to drill boreholes up to 3000 feet in depth. Drilling for boreholes was time-consuming and long. As the depth of the holes varied, the drilling of a single well could take up to nearly one full decade.<ref name="tom 1989 103"/> It wasn't up until the 19th century that Europe and the West would catch up and rival ancient Chinese borehole drilling technology.<ref name="Hobson 2004 215"/><ref name="Conner 2005 175"/> 
* '''[[Breeching (tack)|Breeching strap]]''': The breeching strap traces its roots back to the Chinese invented [[breastcollar|breast-strap]] or "breastcollar" harness developed during the [[Warring States]] (481–221 BC) era.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 28">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 28.</ref> The Chinese breast harness became known throughout [[Central Asia]] by the 7th century,<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 311-315">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 311–315.</ref> introduced to Europe by the 8th century.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 311-315"/> The breeching strap would allow the horse to hold or brake the load as horse harnesses were previously attached to vehicles by straps around their necks as previously designed harnesses would constrict the horses neck preventing the horse from pulling heavier loads.<ref name="Sturgis 2015">{{Cite book |title=The Mammals That Moved Mankind: A History of Beasts of Burden |last=Sturgis  |first=R.C. |publisher= Authorhouse |year=2015 |isbn=978-1504939447}}</ref> The breeching strap acted as a brake when a cart tries to run forward when moving downwards on a slope and also make it possible to maneuver the cart in the reverse direction.<ref name="Sturgis 2015"/><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/v0600t/v0600T0m.htm |title=The Chinese collar |last= Micuta |first=Waclaw |website=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations}}</ref> 
* '''[[Brine mining]]''': About 500 BC, the ancient Chinese dug hundreds of brine wells, some of which were over {{convert|100|m|ft|abbr=off|sp=us}} in depth. Large brine deposits under the earth's surface were drilled by drilling boreholes.<ref name="tom 1989 103"/> Bamboo towers were erected, similar in style to modern-day oil derricks.<ref name="Krebs 2003 255–256">{{Cite book |title=Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Ancient World |last1=Krebs |first1=Robert E.  |last2= Krebs  |first2= Carolyn A. |publisher=Greenwood |year=2003 |isbn= 978-0313313424 |publication-date=December 30, 2003 |pages=255–256}}</ref> Bamboo was used for ropes, casing, and derricks since it was salt resistant.<ref name="Warren 2016 1034">{{Cite book |title=Evaporites: A Geological Compendium  |last=Warren  |first=John K. |publisher=Springer |year=2016 |publication-date=May 18, 2016 |page=1034}}</ref> Iron wedges were hung from a bamboo cable tool attached to a lever on a platform constructed atop the tower. The derricks required two to three men jumping on and off the lever that moved the iron wedge pounded into the ground to dig a hole deep enough into the ground to hit the brine.<ref name="Krebs 2003 255–256"/><ref name="Warren 2016 1034"/> 
* '''[[Toothbrush|Bristle toothbrush]]''': According to the United States Library of Congress website, the Chinese have used the bristle toothbrush since 1498, during the reign of the [[Hongzhi Emperor]] (r. 1487–1505) of the Ming dynasty (1368–1644); it also adds that the toothbrush was not mass-produced until 1780, when they were sold by a William Addis of [[Clerkenwell]], London, England.<ref>{{cite web |publisher=The Library of Congress |date=2007-04-04 |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/tooth.html |title=Who invented the toothbrush and when was it invented? |access-date=2008-04-12}}</ref> In accordance with the Library of Congress website, scholar John Bowman also writes that the bristle toothbrush using pig bristles was invented in China during the 1490s.<ref name="bowman 2000 601">Bowman (2000), 601.</ref> Bonnie L. Kendall agrees with this, and adds that a precursor existed in [[Ancient Egypt]], in the form of a twig frayed at the end.<ref>Kendall (2006), 2.</ref>
[[File:Qingming Festival 2.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Chinese river ships from ''[[Along the River During Qingming Festival]]'', by [[Zhang Zeduan]] (1085–1145), Song dynasty]]
* '''[[Bulkhead (partition)|Bulkhead partition]]''': The 5th century book ''Garden of Strange Things'' by Liu Jingshu mentioned that a ship could allow water to enter the bottom without sinking, and the Song dynasty author [[Zhu Yu (author)|Zhu Yu]] (fl. 12th century) wrote in his book of 1119 that the [[Hull (watercraft)|hulls]] of [[Junk (ship)|Chinese ships]] had a bulkhead build; these pieces of literary evidence for bulkhead partitions are confirmed by archaeological evidence of a {{convert|24|m|ft|abbr=on}} long Song dynasty ship dredged from the waters off the southern coast of China in 1973, the hull of the ship divided into twelve walled compartmental sections built [[Waterproofing|watertight]], dated to about 1277.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 391, 422, 462–463.</ref><ref>Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 159.</ref> Western writers from [[Marco Polo]] (1254–1324), to [[Niccolò Da Conti]] (1395–1469), to [[Benjamin Franklin]] (1706–1790) commented on bulkhead partitions, which they viewed as an original aspect of Chinese shipbuilding, as Western shipbuilding did not incorporate this hull arrangement until the early 19th century.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 420–422.</ref><ref>Gernet (1996), 327.</ref>

===C===
[[File:Verseuse phénix Musée Guimet 2418.jpg|thumb|upright|A late 10th century grey [[sandstone]] and [[celadon]]-glazed pitcher from the Song dynasty (960–1279); the spout is in the form of a ''[[fenghuang]]'' head.]]
[[File:Chain drive, Su Song's book of 1092.jpg|thumb|upright|The endless power-transmitting [[chain drive]] from [[Su Song]]'s book of 1094 describing his [[clock tower]]<ref name="temple 1986 72">Temple (1986), 72.</ref>]]
[[File:Ming Emperor Xuande playing Golf.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Xuande Emperor]] (r. 1425–1435) playing ''[[chuiwan]]'' with his [[Eunuch (court official)|eunuch]]s]]
[[File:ChineseCrossbow.JPG|thumb|upright|A hand-held, trigger-operated [[crossbow]] from the 2nd century BC, Han dynasty<ref name="you 1994 80"/>]]
[[File:Shuihu5.PNG|thumb|upright|A 15th-century Ming dynasty (1368–1644) woodblock print of the ''[[Water Margin]]'' novel showing a game of ''[[cuju]]'' football being played]]
[[File:Civilserviceexam1.jpg|thumb|upright|Candidates gathering around the wall where the civil service examination results are posted. This announcement was known as "releasing the roll" (放榜). (c. 1540, by Ming dynasty painter [[Qiu Ying]])]]

* '''[[Candle clock]]''': Candle clocks have been used in China since at least the 6th century AD. The earliest reference of a candle clock is in a poem by You Jiangu, from about AD 520.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Rodgers|first1=Leo|title=A Brief History of Time Measurement|url=https://nrich.maths.org/6070|website=NRICH|access-date=4 November 2017}}</ref>
* '''[[Cannon]]''': The earliest known depiction of a cannon is a sculpture from the [[Dazu Rock Carvings]] in [[Sichuan]] dated to 1128;{{sfn|Lu|1988}} but the earliest archaeological samples and textual accounts do not appear until the 13th century. The primary extant specimens of cannons from the 13th century are the [[Wuwei Bronze Cannon]], dated to 1227; the [[Heilongjiang hand cannon]], dated to 1288; and the [[Xanadu Gun]], dated to 1298. Only the Xanadu gun contains an inscription bearing a date of production, so it is considered the earliest confirmed extant cannon. The Xanadu Gun is 34.7&nbsp;cm long and weighs 6.2&nbsp;kg. The other cannons are dated using contextual evidence.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=52-53}} The oldest representation of a [[Bombard (weapon)|bombard]] can be found in the Chinese town of Ta-tsu. In 1985, a Canadian historian, Robin Yates, saw a sculpture on the wall of a Buddhist cave temple, depicting a demon holding a hand-held bombard. The muzzle seems to have a blast and flames coming from it, which some believe is proof of a super gun. Yates examined the cave and believed the drawings dated from the late 12th century.<ref>Lu Gwei-Djen, Joseph Needham and Phan Chi-Hsing. Technology and Culture, Vol. 29, No. 3 (Jul., 1988), pp. 594–605</ref>
* '''[[Cast iron]]''': Confirmed by archaeological evidence, cast iron, made from melting [[pig iron]], was developed in China by the early 5th century BC during the Zhou dynasty (1122–256 BC), the oldest specimens found in a tomb of Luhe County in [[Jiangsu]] province; despite this, most of the early [[blast furnace]]s and [[cupola furnace]]s discovered in China date from after the establishment, in 117 BC, of the state iron monopoly under [[Emperor Wu of Han|Emperor Wu]] (r. 141–87 BC), during the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– AD 220); Donald Wagner states that a possible reason why no ancient Chinese [[bloomery]] process has been discovered is that the iron monopoly, which lasted until the 1st century AD, when it was abolished for private entrepreneurship and local administrative use, wiped out any need for continuing the less efficient bloomery process, which continued in use in other parts of the world.<ref name="wagner 7 36 37 64 68">Wagner (2001), 7, 36–37, 64–68.</ref><ref>Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 30.</ref><ref>Gernet (1996), 69.</ref><ref>Wagner (1993), 335.</ref><ref name="pigott 1999 177">Pigott (1999), 177.</ref> Cast iron is comparatively brittle and is not suitable for purposes where a sharp edge or flexibility is required. An important Chinese innovation was the development of [[malleable iron]] in the 4th century BC, which enhanced the mechanical properties of cast iron through an [[Annealing (metallurgy)|annealing]] process.{{sfn|Wagner|2008|p=159}} Furthermore, Wagner states that most iron tools in ancient China were made of cast iron in consideration of the low economic burden of producing cast iron, whereas most [[Military history of China (pre-1911)|iron military weapons]] were made of more costly [[wrought iron]] and [[steel]], signifying that "high performance was essential" and preferred for the latter.<ref>Wagner (1993), 336.</ref>
* '''[[Celadon]]''': [[Variations of green|Named after a pale-tinted spring green colour]], Chinese archaeologist [[Wang Zhongshu]] (1982) asserts that shards having this type of [[Chinese ceramics|ceramic glaze]] have been recovered from [[Eastern Han dynasty]] (25–220 AD) tomb excavations in [[Zhejiang]]; he also asserts that this type of ceramic became well known during the [[Three Kingdoms]] (220–265).<ref>Wang (1982), 1982.</ref> Richard Dewar (2002) disagrees with Wang's classification, stating that true celadon—which requires a minimum {{convert|1260|°C|°F|abbr=on}} furnace temperature, a preferred range of {{convert|1285|to|1305|C|F}}, and reduced firing—was not created until the beginning of the [[Northern Song dynasty]] (960–1127).<ref name="dewar 2002 42">Dewar (2002), 42.</ref> The unique grey or green celadon glaze is a result of [[iron oxide]]'s transformation from [[ferric]] to [[ferrous]] iron (Fe<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> → FeO) during the firing process.<ref name="dewar 2002 42"/> [[Longquan celadon]] wares, which the archeologist Nigel Wood at the University of Oxford writes were first made during the Northern Song, had bluish, blue-green, and olive green glazes and high [[silica]] and [[alkali]] contents which resembled later [[porcelain]] wares made at [[Jingdezhen]] and [[Dehua]] rather than [[stoneware]]s.<ref name="wood 1999 75 76">Wood (1999), 75–76.</ref>
* '''[[Censer]]''': The earliest known censers can be traced back to the [[Warring States period]] in the mid-fifth to late fourth centuries BCE. In modern [[Chinese (language)|Chinese]], the term for "censer" is ''xianglu'' (香爐, "incense burner"), a [[Compound (linguistics)|compound]] of ''xiang'' ("incense, aromatics") and ''lu'' (爐, "brazier; stove; furnace"). Another frequently used term is ''xunlu'' (熏爐, "a brazier for fumigating and perfuming"). Initial designs of Chinese censers, typically crafted as a round, single-footed stemmed basin, are thought to have evolved from [[Chinese ritual bronzes|ritual bronzes]], such as the ''dou'' 豆 sacrificial chalice.
* '''[[Chain drive|Chain drive, endless power-transmitting]]''': The Greek [[Philon of Byzantium]] (3rd or 2nd century BC)<ref>Ceccarelli (2004), 69.</ref> described a [[chain drive]] and [[windlass]] used in the operation of a [[polybolos]] (a repeating [[ballista]]),<ref>Campbell (2003), 7.</ref><ref>[http://www.thehurl.org/tiki-download_file.php?fileId=37 Soedel & Foley] (1979), 124–125.</ref> "but the chain drive did not continuously transmit power from shaft to shaft and hence they were not in the direct line of ancestry of the chain-drive proper".<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 109–111.</ref> A continuously driven chain drive first appeared in 11th century China. Perhaps inspired by [[chain pump]]s which had been known in China since at least the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) when they were mentioned by the Han dynasty philosopher [[Wang Chong]] (27&nbsp;– c. 100 AD),<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 344.</ref> the endless power-transmitting chain drive was first used in the gearing of the [[clock tower]] built at [[Kaifeng]] in 1090 by the Song Chinese politician, mathematician and astronomer [[Su Song]] (1020–1101).<ref>Fry (2001), 11.</ref><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 111, 165, 456–457.</ref><ref name="gernet 1996 341">Gernet (1996), 341.</ref>
* '''[[Chopsticks]]''': The Han dynasty historian and writer [[Sima Qian]] (145–86 BC) wrote in the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'' that [[King Zhou of Shang]] was the first to make chopsticks out of [[ivory]], in the 11th century BC; the oldest archaeological find of a pair of chopsticks, made of bronze, comes from Shang Tomb 1005 at Houjiazhuang, [[Anyang]], dated to about 1200 BC. By 600 BC, the use of chopsticks had spread to [[Yunnan]] (Dapona in [[Dali City|Dali]]),<ref>Lu (2004), 209–216.</ref><ref>[http://italian.cri.cn/441/2008/06/19/43@104984.htm Le due leggende sulle bacchette cinesi] cri.cn. Retrieved on 2008-7-20</ref> and [[Töv Province]] by the 1st century.<ref>[http://depts.washington.edu/silkroad/museums/ubhist/xiongnu.html The National Museum of Mongolian History]. washington.edu. Retrieved on 2008-7-20.</ref> The earliest known textual reference to the use of chopsticks comes from the ''[[Han Feizi (book)|Han Feizi]]'', a philosophical text written by writer and philosopher [[Han Fei]] (c. 280–233 BC) in the 3rd century BC.<ref name="needham volume 6 part 5 104 footnote">Needham (1986), Volume 6, Part 5, 104, footnote 161.</ref>
* '''[[Chuiwan]]''': ''Chuiwan'', a game similar to the Scottish-derived sport of [[golf]], was first mentioned in China by Song dynasty writer Wei Tai (fl. 1050–1100) in his ''Dongxuan Records'' (東軒錄);<ref>[http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/ASSH%20Bulletins/No%2014/ASSHBulletin14c.pdf Ling] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100808114752/http://www.la84foundation.org/SportsLibrary/ASSH%20Bulletins/No%2014/ASSHBulletin14c.pdf |date=2010-08-08 }} (1991), 12–23.</ref> it was popular amongst men and women in the Song dynasty (960–1279) and Yuan dynasty (1279–1368), and it was popular among urban men in the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) in much the same way that [[tennis]] was for [[Early Modern Europe|early urban Europeans]] during the [[Renaissance]] (according to Andrew Leibs).<ref name="leibs 2004 30">Leibs (2004), 30.</ref> In 1282, the writer Ning Zhi published the ''Book of Chuiwan'', which described the rules, equipment, and playing field of ''chuiwan'', as well as included commentary of those who mastered its tactics.<ref name="leibs 2004 30"/> The game was played on flat and sloping grassland terrain and—much like the [[tee]] of modern golf—had a "base" area where the first of three strokes were played.<ref>Leibs (2004), 31.</ref>
* '''[[Imperial examination|Civil service]]''': During the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD), the ''[[xiaolian]]'' system of recruiting government officials through formal recommendations was the chief method of filling bureaucratic posts, although there was an [[Taixue|Imperial Academy]] to train potential candidates for office and some offices required its candidates to pass formal written tests before appointment.<ref>Crespigny (2007), 1222 & 1232.</ref><ref>Bielenstein (1980), 9 & 19.</ref><ref>Wang (1949), 152.</ref><ref>Loewe (1968), 45.</ref> However, it was not until the [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618) that [[civil service]] examinations became open to all adult males not belonging to the [[Four occupations|merchant class]] (although civil service examinations was a path to social advancement in Imperial Chinese society to candidates regardless of wealth, social status, or family background) and were used as a universal prerequisite for appointments to office, at least in theory.<ref name="ebrey 2006 97">Ebrey (2006), 97.</ref><ref>Gasciogne and Gasciogne (2003), 95.</ref> The civil service system was implemented on a much larger scale during the Song dynasty (960–1279), when an elite core of dynastic-founding and professional families lost their majority in government to a broad strata of lesser [[Gentry (China)|gentry families]] from throughout the country.<ref>Hartwell (1982), 416–420.</ref><ref>Ebrey (1999), 145–146.</ref> The civil examination system was later adopted by China's other East Asian neighbors Japan and Korea.<ref>Liu, Haifeng, ''Influence of China's Imperial Examinations on Japan, Korea and Vietnam'' -''Frontiers of History in China'', October 2007, Volume 2, Issue 4, pp 493–512</ref> The imperial examination system attracted much attention and greatly inspired political theorists in the Western World, and as a Chinese institution was one of the earliest to receive such foreign attention.<ref>Kracke, 251</ref> The Chinese examination system was introduced to the Western world in reports by [[Europeans in Medieval China|European missionaries]] and diplomats, and encouraged the [[British East India Company]] to use a similar method to select prospective employees. After the initial success in that company, the British government adopted a similar testing system for screening civil servants in 1855.<ref>Ssu-yu Teng, "Chinese Influence on the Western Examination System", ''Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies'' 7 (1942–1943): 267–312.</ref> Other European nations, such as France and Germany, followed suit. Modeled after these previous adaptations, the United States established its own testing program for certain government jobs after 1883.
* '''[[Steelmaking|Co-fusion steel process]]''': Although British scientist, sinologist, and historian [[Joseph Needham]] speculates that it could have existed beforehand, the first clear written evidence of the fusion of [[wrought iron]] and [[cast iron]] to make [[steel]] comes from the 6th century AD in regards to the [[Taoism|Daoist]] swordsmith Qiwu Huaiwen, who was put in charge of the arsenal of [[Northern Wei]] general [[Gao Huan]] from 543 to 550 AD.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 34">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 34.</ref> The Tang dynasty (618–907) ''Newly Reorganized Pharmacopoeia'' of 659 also described this process of mixing and heating wrought iron and cast iron together, stating that the steel product was used to make [[sickle]]s and [[Dao (Chinese sword)|Chinese sabers]]. In regards to the latter text, [[Su Song]] (1020–1101) made a similar description and noted the steel's use for [[Chinese swords|making swords]].
* '''[[Coke (fuel)|Coke, fuel]]''': By the 11th century, during the Song dynasty (960–1279), the demands for [[charcoal]] used in the [[blast furnace|blast]] and [[cupola furnace]]s of the iron industry led to large amounts of [[deforestation]] of prime timberland; to avoid excessive deforestation, the Song dynasty Chinese began using coke made from [[bituminous coal]] as fuel for their metallurgic furnaces instead of charcoal derived from wood.<ref name="ebrey walthall palais 158">Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 158.</ref><ref name="ebrey 1999 144">Ebrey (1999), 144.</ref><ref name="hobson 2004 53">Hobson (2004), 53.</ref>
* '''[[Color printing]]''': By at least the Yuan dynasty, China had invented color printing for paper. British art historian [[Michael Sullivan (art historian)|Michael Sullivan]] writes that "the earliest color printing known in China, and indeed in the whole world, is a two-color frontispiece to a Buddhist sutra scroll, dated 1346".<ref>{{cite book |author=Michael Sullivan |title=The Arts of China |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CzdICSqnELkC |edition=Third |date=18 June 1984 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-04918-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CzdICSqnELkC/page/n222 203]}}</ref>
* '''[[Counting rods]]''': Counting rods are instruments used for performing calculations, which uses a grid of cells to represent a [[decimal]] [[Positional notation|position system]]. Each digit (0–9) appears as a tally of rods with red rods designated as positive numbers and black rods designated as [[negative number]]s.{{sfn|Volkov|2009|p=160}} Archaeological evidence of counting rods dates from the 2nd century BC.{{sfn|Volkov|2009|p=161}} The earliest pictorial depiction of counting rods appears on [[Warring States period]] ceramics excavated in [[Dengfeng]] in Henan. The oldest surviving counting rods are bamboo rods discovered in a Han dynasty tomb at [[Fenghuangshan (Hubei)|Fenghuangshan]] in Hubei, which dates from the reign [[Emperor Wen of Han]].{{sfn|Chrisomalis|2010|p=266}} The first explicit textual description of counting rods is recorded in the [[Book of Han]], compiled by [[Ban Gu]] from about AD 60; but there has been speculation about textual references as early as the 3rd century BC. For example, one passage in the ''[[Tao Te Ching]]'' mentions that "a person good at ''shu'' [calculations] does not use bamboo tallies and bamboo slips."{{sfn|Volkov|2009|p=160}} 
* '''[[Crossbow]]''' and '''[[repeating crossbow]]''': According to British art historian Matthew Landruss and Gerald Hurley, Chinese crossbows may have been invented as far back as 2000 BC;<ref>{{Citation |last=Landrus |first=Matthew (Matt) |title=Leonardo da Vinci's Giant Crossbow |year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wu051tE_oQMC&pg=PA45 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=978-3540689188 |page=45}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Hurley |first=Gerald V.(Vic) |title=Arrows Against Steel: The History of the Bow and how it Forever Changed Warfare |year=2011 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j64zo7pzt3sC&pg=PA217 |publisher=Cerberus Books |isbn=978-0983475613 |page=217}}</ref> Anne McCants, an American historian at the Massachusetts institute of Technology, speculates that they existed about 1200 BC.<ref>{{Citation |last=McCants |first=Anne |title=Engineering the Medieval Achievement – A Collection of Information on Engineering During the Middle Ages – The Crossbow |url=http://web.mit.edu/21h.416/www/militarytechnology/crossbow.html#5 |publisher=MIT Retrieved on 04 January 2017.}}</ref> In China bronze [[History of crossbows|crossbow]] bolts dating from as early as the mid 5th century BC were found at a [[Chu (state)|State of Chu]] burial site in Yutaishan, [[Hubei]].<ref>Wagner (1993), 153, 157–158.</ref> The earliest handheld crossbow stocks with bronze trigger, dating from the 6th century BC, comes from Tomb 3 and 12 found at [[Qufu]], [[Shandong]], capital of the [[Lu (state)|State of Lu]].<ref name="you 1994 80">You (1994), 80.</ref><ref>
[http://www.atarn.org/chinese/bjng_xbow/bjng_xbow.htm A Crossbow Mechanism with Some Unique Features from Shandong, China] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080518053806/http://www.atarn.org/chinese/bjng_xbow/bjng_xbow.htm |date=2008-05-18 }} . Asian Traditional Archery Research Network. Retrieved on 2008-08-20.
</ref> Other early finds of crossbows were discovered in Tomb 138 at Saobatang, [[Hunan]], dated to the mid 4th century BC.<ref>Mao (1998), 109–110.</ref><ref>Wright (2001), 159.</ref> [[Repeating crossbow]]s, first mentioned in the ''[[Records of the Three Kingdoms]]'', were discovered in 1986 in Tomb 47 at Qinjiazui, Hubei, dated to about the 4th century BC.<ref>Lin (1993), 36.</ref> The earliest textual evidence of the handheld crossbow [[Battle of Maling|used in battle]] dates from the 4th century BC.<ref name="wright 2001 42">Wright (2001), 42.</ref> Handheld crossbows with complex bronze trigger mechanisms have also been found with the [[Terracotta Army]] in the tomb of [[Qin Shihuang]] (r. 221–210 BC) that are similar to specimens from the subsequent Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD); crossbowmen described in the Han dynasty learned drill formations, some were mounted as [[Cavalry#East Asia|cavalry units]], and Han dynasty writers attributed the success of numerous [[Sino-Xiongnu War|battles against the Xiongnu]] to massed crossbow fire.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 6, 124–128.</ref><ref>Lewis (2000a), 45.</ref>
* '''[[Cuju|Cuju (football)]]''': The game of [[football]] known as ''cuju'' was first mentioned in China by two historical texts; the ''[[Zhan Guo Ce]]'' (compiled from the 3rd to 1st centuries BC) and the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'' (published in 91 BC) by [[Sima Qian]] (145–86 BC).<ref name="speak 1999 32">Speak (1999), 32.</ref> Both texts recorded that during the [[Warring States period]] (403–221 BC) the people of [[Ancient Linzi|Linzi]] city, capital of the [[Qi (state)|State of Qi]], enjoyed playing ''cuju'' along with partaking in many other pastimes such as [[cockfighting]].<ref name="speak 1999 32"/> Besides being a recreational sport, playing ''cuju'' was also considered a military training exercise and means for soldiers to keep fit.<ref name="speak 1999 32"/>
* '''[[Cupola furnace]]''': An American anthropologist, Vincent C. Pigott, of the University of Pennsylvania, states that the cupola furnace existed in China at least by the [[Warring States period]] (403–221 BC);<ref name="pigott 1999 191">Pigott (1999), 191.</ref> Donald B. Wagner writes that some [[iron ore]] melted in the [[blast furnace]] may have been [[cast iron|cast directly into molds]], but most, if not all, iron smelted in the blast furnace during the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) was remelted in a cupola furnace; it was designed so that a [[cold blast]] injected at the bottom traveled through [[tuyere]] pipes across the top where the charge (i.e. of [[charcoal]] and scrap or [[pig iron]]) was dumped, the air becoming a [[hot blast]] before reaching the bottom of the furnace where the iron was melted and then drained into appropriate molds for casting.<ref>Wagner (2001), 75–76.</ref>

===D===
[[File:Earthenware architecture models, Eastern Han Dynasty, 11.JPG|thumb|upright|Ceramic models of watchtowers from the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) showing use of ''[[dougong]]'' brackets]]
[[File:Tiangong Kaiwu Drawloom.jpg|thumb|upright|A giant [[loom|drawloom]] for figure [[weaving]], from the Chinese ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' [[encyclopedia]] published by Ming dynasty encyclopedist and scientist [[Song Yingxing]] in 1637]]
[[File:ZigongSaltwells.jpg|thumb|upright|Antique drilling rigs in Zigong, China]]

* '''[[Amalgam (dentistry)|Dental amalgam]]''': Dental amalgam were used in the first part of the Tang dynasty (618–907 A.D.).<ref name="Bjørklund1">{{cite journal |author=Bjørklund G |title=The history of dental amalgam (in Norwegian) |journal=Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen |volume=109 |issue=34–36 |pages=3582–3585 |year=1989 |pmid=2694433 }}</ref> Evidence of a dental amalgam first appears in the medical text ''Hsin Hsiu Pen Tsao'' written by Su Kung in 659, manufactured from tin and silver.<ref name=czarnetzki/> Historical records indicate the use of dental amalgam earlier.<ref name=czarnetzki/> The composition of an early dental amalgam was published in the Ming dynasty, and a text written by Liu Wen Taiin 1505 states that it consists of "100 shares of mercury, 45 shares of silver and 900 shares of tin."<ref name=czarnetzki>{{cite journal |last=Czarnetzki |first=A. |author2=Ehrhardt S. |title=Re-dating the Chinese amalgam-filling of teeth in Europe |journal=International Journal of Anthropology |year=1990 |volume=5 |issue=4 |pages=325–332}}</ref>
* '''[[Diabolo]]''': Archaeologists theorize that Diabolos (or Chinese yo-yo) originated from Chinese spinning top. In [[Hemudu culture|Hemudu Excavation]], wooden tops were excavated. To extend the spinning time of the tops, whips were used to spin them. It was believed that poet [[Cao Zhi]] in the [[Three Kingdoms]] period had composed the poem "Rhapsody of Diabolos 《空竹赋》", making it the first record of Diabolo in history. However, the authenticity of the poem requires further research and proof. By the medieval Tang dynasty, Chinese Diabolo became widespread as a toy. A Taiwanese scholar Wu Shengda 吳盛達 argues that records of Diabolo only appeared during late [[Ming dynasty]] [[Wanli Emperor|Wanli]] period, with its details well recorded in the book ''[[Dijing Jingwulue]]'', referring to Diabolos as "Kong Zhong" ({{zh|s=空钟|t=空鐘|hp=Kōng zhong|l=Air Bell}} ).<ref>{{Cite web|title = Information about Chinese yo-yo|url = http://www.hcs.harvard.edu/~yoyo/about.html|website = www.hcs.harvard.edu|access-date = 2016-01-18}}</ref><ref name="Nature">{{cite journal|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=ja5MAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA211 |trans-title=Origin of Toys: The Chinese Kouen-gen |first=Ernest |last=Martin |title=Origine des Jeux: Le Kouen-Gen Chinois |year=1893 |journal=La Nature |language=fr |pages=211–212}}</ref> The first mention of a diabolo in the Western World was made by a missionary, Father Amiot, in Beijing in 1792 during [[George Macartney, 1st Earl Macartney|Lord Macartney]]'s ambassadorship, after which examples were brought to Europe,<ref>"[http://diabolart.free.fr/histoire.html History]", ''DiabolArt.Free.Fr''. {{in lang|fr}}</ref> as was the [[sheng (instrument)|sheng]] (eventually adapted to the [[harmonica]] and [[accordion]]).<ref>"[http://www.crosssound.com/CS00/CS00Instruments/CSTHEACCORDION/accordionENG.html The Accordion] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120731191955/http://www.crosssound.com/CS00/CS00Instruments/CSTHEACCORDION/accordionENG.html |date=2012-07-31 }}", ''CrossSound.com''. Accessed: November 30, 2016.</ref><ref>[http://www.patmissin.com/history/western.html Missin, Pat. "Western Free Reed Instruments"]</ref>
* '''[[Chinese dominoes|Dominoes]]''': The Ming dynasty (1368–1644) writer Xie Zhaozhe (1567–1624) initiated the legend that [[dominoes]] were first presented to the imperial court in 1112.<ref name="lo 2000 401">Lo (2000), 401.</ref> However, the oldest confirmed written mention of dominoes in China comes from the ''Former Events in Wulin'' (i.e. the capital [[Hangzhou]]) written by the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) author Zhou Mi (1232–1298), who listed "''pupai''" (gambling plaques or dominoes) as well as [[dice]] as items sold by peddlers during the reign of [[Emperor Xiaozong of Song]] (r. 1162–1189).<ref name="lo 2000 401"/> Andrew Lo asserts that Zhou Mi meant dominoes when referring to ''pupai'', since the Ming author Lu Rong (1436–1494) explicitly defined ''pupai'' as dominoes (in regards to a story of a suitor who won a maiden's hand by drawing out four winning ''pupai'' from a set).<ref name="lo 2000 401"/> The earliest known manual written about dominoes is the ''Manual of the Xuanhe Period'' (1119–1125) written by Qu You (1347–1433).<ref name="lo 2000 401"/> In the ''Encyclopedia of a Myriad of Treasures'', Zhang Pu (1602–1641) described the game of laying out dominoes as ''pupai'', although the character for ''pu'' had changed (yet retained the same pronunciation).<ref name="lo 2000 401"/> Traditional Chinese domino games include [[Tien Gow]], [[Pai Gow]], Che Deng, and others. The thirty-two-piece Chinese domino set (made to represent each possible face of two thrown dice and thus have no blank faces) differs from the twenty-eight-piece domino set found in the Western World during the mid 18th century (in France and Italy).<ref>Pickover (2002), 141.</ref> Dominoes first appeared in Italy during the 18th century, and although it is unknown how [[Chinese dominoes]] developed into the modern game, it is speculated that Italian missionaries in China may have brought and introduced the game to Europe.<ref name="Carl">{{cite book |author=Rodney P. Carlisle |title=Encyclopedia of Play |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jLqXM3U_pzEC&pg=PA181 |access-date=5 October 2012 |date=2 April 2009 |publisher=SAGE |isbn=978-1-4129-6670-2 |page=181}}</ref>
* '''[[Dougong]]''': A ''dougong'' is a [[Bracket (architecture)|building bracket]] which is unique to [[Chinese architecture]]. Since at least the [[Western Zhou dynasty]] (c. 1050–771 BC), they were placed between the top of a column and a crossbeam to support the concave roofs of beam-in-tier buildings which were archetypal of Chinese architecture.<ref name="fletcher 693">Fletcher (1996), 693.</ref> Each dougong is formed by double bow-shaped arms (拱, ''gong'') supported by a wooden block (斗, ''dou'') on each side.<ref name="fletcher 693"/> ''Dougong'' were also used for decorative and ceremonial rather than entirely pragmatic purposes of support, such as on solid brick [[Chinese pagoda|pagodas]] like the [[Iron Pagoda]] built in 1049. The ''[[Yingzao Fashi]]'' building manual published in 1103 by the Song dynasty (960–1279) official Li Jie [[:Image:Yingzao Fashi 3 desmear.JPG|featured illustrations and descriptions of ''dougong'']].<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 100.</ref>
* '''[[Loom#Figure harness and the drawloom|Drawloom]]''': The earliest confirmed drawloom fabrics come from the [[Chu (state)|State of Chu]] and date from about 400 BC.<ref name="broudy 1979 124">Broudy (1979), 124.</ref> Most scholars attribute the invention of the drawloom to the ancient Chinese, although some speculate an independent invention from ancient [[Syria]] since drawloom fabrics found in [[Dura-Europas]] are thought to date from before AD 256.<ref name="broudy 1979 124"/><ref>Forbes (1987), 218 & 220.</ref> Dieter Kuhn states that an analysis of texts and textiles from the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) proves that the figured fabrics of that era were also crafted with the use of a drawloom.<ref name="beaudry 2006 146">Beaudry (2006), 146.</ref> The drawloom was certainly known in [[Persia]] by the 6th century AD.<ref name="broudy 1979 124"/> Eric Broudy asserts there is virtually no evidence of its use in Europe until the 17th century, and the button drawloom was allegedly invented by Jean le Calabrais in the 15th century.<ref>Broudy (1979), 130–133.</ref> Mary Carolyn Beaudry disagrees, stating that it was used in the medieval Italian silk industry.<ref name="beaudry 2006 146"/>
* '''[[Drilling rig]]''': The technique of [[percussion drilling]] for oil and gas originated during the ancient Chinese Han dynasty, when percussion drilling ("[[churn drill]]ing") was used to extract natural gas in Sichuan province.<ref name="Smil 2017">{{Cite book |title=Oil – A Beginner's Guide |last= Smil  |first=Vaclav |publisher=Oneworld Publications |year=2017 |isbn=978-1786072863}}</ref><ref name="Heshelow 2010 52">{{Cite book |title=Investing in Oil and Gas: The ABC's of DPPs |last=Heshelow  |first=Kathy  |publisher=Iuniverse |year=2010 |isbn=978-1450261715 |pages=52}}</ref> Iron bits were fastened to long bamboo poles, which were centered within a bamboo [[derrick]]. The poles were repeatedly hoisted, using cables woven from bamboo fiber. With the assistance of levers, very heavy bits could be raised, of sufficient weight to percussively bore through rock when repeatedly dropped.<ref name="Smil 2017"/> Han dynasty oil wells were about 10 meters deep; by the 10th century, depths of 100 meters could be achieved.<ref name="Smil 2017"/> By the 16th century, Chinese oil prospectors were using percussion drilling to create wells over 2000 feet deep.<ref name="Heshelow 2010 52"/> A modernized variant of the technique was used by American businessman [[Edwin Drake]] to drill Pennsylvania's first oil well in 1859, using small steam engines to power the drilling process.<ref name="Smil 2017"/>

===E===
* '''[[Escapement]], hydraulic-powered (use in clock tower)''': The escapement mechanism was first described for a mechanical [[washstand]] by the Greek [[Philon of Byzantium]] who also indicated that it was already used for clocks.<ref>Lewis (2000b), 343–369 (356f.)</ref> An escapement mechanism for clockworks was later developed by the Buddhist monk, court astronomer, mathematician and engineer [[Yi Xing]] (683–727) of the Tang dynasty (618–907) for his water-powered celestial globe in the tradition of the Han dynasty polymath and inventor [[Zhang Heng]] (78–139), and could be found in later Chinese clockworks such as the [[clock tower]]s developed by the military engineer [[Zhang Sixun]] (fl. late 10th century) and polymath inventor [[Su Song]] (1020–1101).<ref name="Bowman"/><ref name="gernet 1996 341"/><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 89, 445–456, 473–475.</ref><ref>Fry (2001), 10.</ref><ref>Bodde (1991), 140.</ref><ref>Day & McNeil (1996), 781, 786–787.</ref> Yi Xing's escapement allowed for a bell to be rung automatically every hour, and a drum beaten automatically every quarter-hour, essentially a [[striking clock]].<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 473–474.</ref> Unlike the modern escapement which employs a suspended oscillating [[pendulum]] resting and releasing its hooks on a small rotating gear wheel, the early Chinese escapement employed the use of [[gravity]] and [[hydraulics]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 460 462">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 460–462.</ref> In Su Song's clock tower, scoop containers fixed to the spokes of a vertical [[waterwheel]] (which acted like a gear wheel) would be filled one by one with siphoned water from a [[Water clock|clepsydra tank]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 460">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 460.</ref> When the weight of the water in the scoop filled to an excess, it overcame a counterweight that in turn tripped a lever allowing the scoop to rotate on a pivot and drain its water.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 460"/> However, as the scoop fell, it tripped a coupling tongue that temporarily pulled down on a long vertical chain, the latter yanking down on a balancing lever which would pull upward on a small chain connected to a locking arm, the latter lifting momentarily to release the top arrested spoke before coming back down to repeat the entire process over again.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 460"/> It should be pointed out that the Chinese intermittently working liquid-driven escapement had "only the name in common" with the true mechanical escapement of medieval European mechanical clocks of the 14th century onwards, which worked instead with weights, producing continuous but discrete beats and that derived from the Greek and Roman verge mechanism (alarum) device of earlier mechanisms.<ref name="David Landes 18f.">David Landes: "Revolution in Time: Clocks and the Making of the Modern World", rev. and enlarged edition, Harvard University Press, Cambridge 2000, {{ISBN|0-674-00282-2}}, p.18f.</ref>
* '''[[Shell (projectile)|Exploding cannonballs]]''': The ''[[Huolongjing]]'' military manual compiled by the Ming dynasty military official [[Jiao Yu]] (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and the Ming dynasty military strategist and philosopher [[Liu Bowen]] (1311–1375) in the mid 14th century described the earliest known exploding cannonballs, which were made of cast iron with a hollow core packed with gunpowder. Jiao and Liu wrote that when fired, they could set enemy camps ablaze. The earliest evidence for exploding cannonballs in Europe date from the 16th century.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 264.</ref><ref>Cowley (1996), 49.</ref> The ''Huolongjing'' also specified the use of poison and blinding gunpowder filled into exploding shells; the effects of this [[chemical warfare]] were described thus: "Enemy soldiers will get their faces and eyes burnt, and the smoke will attack their noses, mouths, and eyes."<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 267.</ref>

===F===
[[File:Ming Dynasty field artillery cannon.jpg|right|thumb|upright|An illustration of a bronze "thousand ball thunder cannon" from the 14th-century Ming dynasty book ''Huolongjing''. The cannon is an early example of medieval mobile battlefield artillery.<ref name="Science and Civilisation in China">{{cite book|first=Joseph|last=Needham|year=1987|publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]|title=Science & Civilisation in China, volume 7: The Gunpowder Epic|isbn=0-521-30358-3|pages=317–319}}</ref>]]
[[File:Field mill in the Chinese Qiqi tushuo, 1627.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Field mill (carriage)|field mill]] in the Chinese book ''Yuanxi Qiqi Tushuk Luzui'' (Collected Diagrams and Explanations of the Wonderful Machines of the Far West), by German Jesuit [[Johann Schreck]] and Wang Zheng, 1627]]
[[File:Fire arrow rocket launcher.jpg|thumb|upright|The 'divine fire arrow screen' from the ''[[Huolongjing]]''. A stationary arrow launcher that carries one hundred fire arrows. It is activated by a trap-like mechanism, possibly of wheellock design. ]]
[[File:Angler on a Wintry Lake, by Ma Yuan, 1195.jpg|thumb|upright|"Angler on a Wintry Lake", painted in 1195 by Song dynasty painter [[Ma Yuan (painter)|Ma Yuan]], featuring the oldest known depiction of a [[fishing reel]]]]
[[File:Chinese Flamethrower.JPG|thumb|upright|Chinese [[flamethrower]] from the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' manuscript of 1044, Song dynasty]]
[[File:Ming Dynasty fragmentation bomb.jpg|thumb|upright|An illustration of a fragmentation bomb from the 14th century Ming dynasty text ''Huolongjing''. The black dots represent iron pellets.]]
[[File:Tiger Tally.JPG|thumb|upright|Tiger tally of [[Western Han]] period]]

* '''[[Field mill (carriage)|Field mill]]''': In the ''Yezhongji'' ('Record of Affairs at the Capital Ye of the Later Zhao Dynasty') written by Lu Hui (fl. 350 AD), various mechanical devices are described which were invented by two [[Later Zhao]] (319–351) engineers known as Xie Fei, a Palace Officer, and Wei Mengbian, the Director of the Imperial Workshops.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 159–160, 256–257.</ref> One of these is the field mill, which was essentially a cart with [[millstone]]s placed onto the frame; these were mechanically rotated by the movement of the cart's terrain wheels in order to grind wheat and other cereal crops.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 256">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 256.</ref> A similar vehicle these two invented was the "pounding cart", which had wooden statues mounted on the top which were actually mechanical figures who operated real [[Trip hammer|tilt hammers]] in order to [[Husk|hull]] rice; again, the device only functioned when the cart was moved forward and the wheels turned.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 256"/> The field mill lost its use in China sometime after the Later Zhao, but it was invented separately in Europe in 1580 by the Italian military engineer [[Pompeo Targone]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 255">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 255.</ref> It was featured in a treatise by the Italian engineer and writer [[Vittorio Zonca]] in 1607, and then in a [[Diagrams and explanations of the wonderful machines of the Far West|Chinese book]] of 1627 (concerning European technology) that was compiled and translated by the German [[Society of Jesus|Jesuit]] polymath [[Johann Schreck]] (1576–1630) and the Ming dynasty (1368–1644) Chinese author Wang Zheng (王徵 1571–1644), although by then it was considered by the Chinese to be an original Western contraption.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 255 256">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 255–256.</ref>
* '''[[Finery forge]]''': In addition to accidental lumps of low-carbon [[wrought iron]] produced by excessive injected air in Chinese [[cupola furnace]]s, the ancient Chinese also created wrought iron by using the finery forge at least by the 2nd century BC, the earliest specimens of [[Cast iron|cast]] and [[pig iron]] fined into wrought iron and [[steel]] found at the early Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) site at Tieshengguo.<ref name="pigott 1999 186">Pigott (1999), 186.</ref> Pigott speculates that the finery forge existed in the previous [[Warring States period]] (403–221 BC), because there are wrought iron items from China dating from that period and there is no documented evidence that the [[bloomery]] was ever used in China.<ref name="pigott 1999 186 187">Pigott (1999), 186–187.</ref> The fining process involved liquifying cast iron in a fining hearth and [[decarburization|removing carbon]] from the molten cast iron through [[Redox|oxidation]].<ref name="pigott 1999 186"/> Wagner writes that, in addition to the Han dynasty hearths, believed to be fining hearths, there is also pictorial evidence of the fining hearth from a [[Shandong]] tomb mural dated to the 1st or 2nd century AD, along with a hint of written evidence in a Daoist text from the 4th century AD, ''[[Taiping Jing]]''.<ref name="Wagner 2001, 80–83">Wagner (2001), 80–83.</ref>
* '''[[Fire arrow]]''': One of the earliest weaponized forms of gunpowder was the fire arrow which received its name from the translated Chinese term ''huǒjiàn'' (火箭), which literally means fire arrow. In China a 'fire arrow' referred to a gunpowder projectile consisting of a bag of incendiary gunpowder attached to the shaft of an arrow from the 9th century onward. Later on solid fuel [[Rocket (weapon)|rockets]] utilizing gunpowder were used to provide arrows with propulsive force and the term ''fire arrow'' became synonymous with rockets in the [[Chinese language]]. In other languages such as [[Sanskrit]] 'fire arrow' (''agni astra'') underwent a different semantic shift and became synonymous with 'cannon.'{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=68}} Fire arrows are the predecessors of [[fire lance]]s, the first firearm.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=31}}
* '''[[Firecracker]]''': The predecessor of the firecracker was a type of heated bamboo, used as early as 200 BC, that exploded when heated continuously. The Chinese name for firecrackers, ''baozhu'', literally means "exploding bamboo".<ref name="mtmenc">{{cite book |author=David Curtis Wright |editor=Thomas F. Glick |editor2=Steven J. Livesey |editor3=Faith Wallis |title=Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia2 |date=29 September 2005 |publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=978-0-415-96930-7 |page=211}}</ref> After the invention of gunpowder, gunpowder firecrackers had a shape that resembled bamboo and produced a similar sound, so the name "exploding bamboo" was retained.<ref name="Baker"/> In traditional Chinese culture, firecrackers were used to scare off evil spirits.<ref name="Baker">{{cite book |author=Hugh Baker |title=Ancestral Images: A Hong Kong Collection |date=1 June 2011 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |isbn=978-988-8083-09-1 |page=184}}</ref>
* '''[[Fire lance]]''': The fire lance was a proto-gun developed in the 10th century with a tube of first bamboo and later on metal that shot a weak [[gunpowder]] blast of flame and shrapnel; its earliest representation comes from [[:image:FireLanceAndGrenade10thCenturyDunhuang.jpg|a painting found]] at [[Dunhuang]].<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 224–225, 232–233, 241–244.</ref><ref>Embree (1997), 185.</ref><ref>Cowley (1996), 38.</ref> The earliest confirmed employment of the fire lance in warfare was by Song dynasty forces against the Jin in 1132 during the [[siege of De'an]] (modern [[Anlu]], [[Hubei Province]]),{{sfn|Needham|1986|p=222}}{{sfn|Chase|2003|p=31}}{{sfn|Lorge|2008|p=33-34}} where they were used to great effect against wooden [[siege towers]] called "sky bridges": "As the sky bridges became stuck fast, more than ten feet from the walls and unable to get any closer, [the defenders] were ready. From below and above the defensive structures they emerged and attacked with fire lances, striking lances, and hooked sickles, each in turn. The people [i.e., the porters] at the base of the sky bridges were repulsed. Pulling their bamboo ropes, they [the porters] ended up drawing the sky bridge back in an anxious and urgent rush, going about fifty paces before stopping."{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=38}} The surviving porters then tried once again to wheel the sky bridges into place but Song soldiers emerged from the walls in force and made a direct attack on the sky bridge soldiers while defenders on the walls threw bricks and shot arrows in conjunction with trebuchets hurling bombs and rocks. The sky bridges were also set fire to with incendiary bundles of grass and firewood. Li Heng, the Jin commander, decided to lift the siege and Jin forces were driven back with severe casualties.{{sfn|Andrade|2016|p=38}}
* '''[[Fireworks]]''': Fireworks first appeared in China during the Song dynasty (960–1279), in the early age of [[gunpowder]]. The common people in the Song era could purchase simple fireworks from market vendors; these were made of sticks of [[bamboo]] packed with gunpowder,<ref>Gernet (1962), 186.</ref> although grander displays were known to be held.<ref>Kelly (2004), 2.</ref> Rocket propulsion was soon applied to warfare, and by the time of the mid 14th century there were many types of rocket launchers available.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 485–489.</ref>
* '''[[Fishing reel]]''': In literary records, the earliest evidence of the fishing reel comes from a 4th-century AD<ref>Birrell (1993), 185.</ref><ref>Hucker (1975), 206.</ref> work entitled ''Lives of Famous Immortals''.<ref>Ronan (1994), 41.</ref> The earliest known depiction of a fishing reel comes from a [[Southern Song]] (1127–1279) painting done in 1195 by Song dynasty painter [[Ma Yuan (painter)|Ma Yuan]] (c. 1160–1225) called "Angler on a Wintry Lake", showing a man sitting on a small [[sampan]] boat and casting out his [[fishing line]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 100">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 100 & PLATE CXLVII.</ref> Another fishing reel was featured in a painting by the Yuan dynasty painter [[Wu Zhen (painter)|Wu Zhen]] (1280–1354).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 100"/> The book ''Tianzhu lingqian'' (Holy Lections from Indian Sources), printed between 1208 and 1224, features two different [[Woodcut|woodblock print illustrations]] of fishing reels being used.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 100"/> An [[Armenia]]n parchment Gospel of the 13th century shows a reel (though not as clearly depicted as the Chinese ones).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 100"/> The ''[[Sancai Tuhui]]'', a [[Chinese encyclopedias|Chinese encyclopedia]] published in 1609, features the next known picture of a fishing reel and vividly shows the [[windlass]] pulley of the device.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 100"/> These five pictures mentioned are the only ones which feature fishing reels before the year 1651 (when the first English illustration was made); after that year they became commonly depicted in world art.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 100"/>
* '''[[Flamethrower|Flamethrower, double piston and gunpowder-activated]]''': Although the single piston flamethrower was first developed in the [[Byzantine Empire]] during the 7th century,<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 77–78.</ref> the 10th-century Chinese flamethrower, or ''[[Pen Huo Qi]]'', boasted a continuous stream of flame by employing double [[piston]] [[syringe]]s (which had been known since the Han dynasty) spouting [[Greek fire]] which had been imported from China's maritime trade contacts in the Middle East. It was first used in battle 932 during the [[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]] (907–960), and the earliest illustration is found in the early Song dynasty military manuscript ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' of 1044, which also described the device in full.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 5 part 7 81 84">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 81–84.</ref><ref>Gernet (1996), 310.</ref> Unlike the Greek model which employed a furnace, the ''Pen Huo Qi'' was ignited by an incendiary [[gunpowder]] fuse.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 5 part 7 81 84"/>
* '''[[Flare]]''': The earliest recorded use of gunpowder for signalling purposes was the 'signal bomb' used by the Song dynasty Chinese as the [[Mongol]]-led Yuan dynasty besieged [[Yangzhou]] in 1276.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 5 part 7 169">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 169.</ref> These soft-shelled bombs, timed to explode in mid-air, were used to send messages to a detachment of troops far in the distance. Another mention of the signal bomb appears in a text dating from 1293, requesting their collection from those still stored in [[Zhejiang]].<ref name="needham 1986 volume 5 part 7 169"/> A signal gun appears in Korea by 1600. The ''Wu I Thu Phu Thung Chih'' or ''Illustrated Military Encyclopedia'' written in 1791 depicts a signal gun in an illustration.<ref name="needham 1986 volume 5 part 7 331">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 331.</ref>
*'''[[Folding screen]]''': The folding screen is a type of furniture consisting of several frames or panels. Screens date from China during the Eastern [[Zhou dynasty]] period (771–256 BC).<ref name="handler268">{{cite book |last=Handler |first=Sarah |title=Austere luminosity of Chinese classical furniture |year=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-21484-2 |pages=268–271, 275, 277 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-EKkblrm6sUC}}</ref><ref name="mazurkewich">{{cite book |last1=Mazurkewich |first1=Karen |first2=A. Chester |last2=Ong |title=Chinese Furniture: A Guide to Collecting Antiques |year=2006 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=978-0-8048-3573-2 |pages=144–146 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xswA02E02KwC}}</ref> These were initially one-panel screens in contrast to folding screens.<ref name="needham-v5">{{cite book |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |last2=Tsien |first2=Tsuen-hsuin |title=Paper and printing, Volume 5 |year=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-08690-5 |page=120 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC}}</ref> Folding screens were invented during the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD 220).<ref name="lee">{{cite book |last=Lee |first=O-Young |title=Things Korean |year=1999 |publisher=Tuttle Publishing |isbn=978-0-8048-2129-2 |page=135 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9SZtiaK7-0YC |author2=Yi, Ŏ-ryŏng |author3=Holstein, John}}</ref> Depictions of those folding screens have been found in Han dynasty era tombs, such as one in Zhucheng, Shandong Province.<ref name="handler268"/> During the Tang dynasty, folding screens were considered ideal ornaments for many painters to display their [[Chinese painting|paintings]] and [[Chinese calligraphy|calligraphy]] on.<ref name="mazurkewich"/><ref name="needham-v5"/> Many artists painted on paper or silk and applied it onto the folding screen.<ref name="mazurkewich"/> The landscape paintings on folding screens reached its height during the Song dynasty (960–1279).<ref name="handler268"/>
* '''[[Forensic entomology]]''': The Song dynasty (960–1279) [[forensic science]] book ''[[Collected Cases of Injustice Rectified]]'' published by the Song dynasty court judge, physician, medical scientist and writer [[Song Ci]] in 1247 contains the oldest known case of forensic entomology.<ref name="haskell 2006 432">Haskell (2006), 432.</ref> In a murder case of 1235, a villager was stabbed to death and authorities determined that his wounds were inflicted by a [[sickle]]; this was a tool used for cutting rice at harvest time, a fact which led them to suspect a fellow peasant worker was involved.<ref name="haskell 2006 432"/> The local magistrate had the villagers assemble in the town square where they would temporarily relinquish their sickles.<ref name="haskell 2006 432"/> Within minutes, a mass of [[Blow-fly|blow flies]] gathered around one sickle and none other, attracted to the scent of traces of [[blood]] unseen by the naked eye.<ref name="haskell 2006 432"/> It became apparent to all that the owner of that sickle was the culprit, the latter pleading for mercy as he was detained by authorities.<ref name="haskell 2006 432"/>
* '''[[Fragmentation (weaponry)|Fragmentation bomb]]''': The use of fragmentation in bombs dates from the 14th century, and first appears in the Ming dynasty text ''[[Huolongjing]]''. The fragmentation bombs were filled with iron pellets and pieces of broken porcelain. A heated mixture of [[salammoniac]], [[tung oil]], chin chih, scallion juice, and yin hsiu is poured into the bomb, coating the pellets. Once the bomb explodes, the resulting shrapnel is capable of piercing the skin and blinding enemy soldiers.<ref name="Needhammiltech">{{cite book |author=Joseph Needham |title=Military Technology: The Gunpowder Epic |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hNcZJ35dIyUC&pg=PR180 |year=1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-30358-3 |pages=180–181 |quote=Then fill in (with a gunpowder core) to a case of cast iron making a fragmentation bomb. When it bursts it breaks into pieces which wound the skin and break the bones (of enemy soldiers) and blinds their eyes}}</ref> 
* '''[[Free reed aerophone]]''': The musical [[pipe organ]] employing metal [[piston]] [[bellows]] had a long history in the Western world, dating from the [[Hellenistic period]]. However, the Western pipe organ did not make use of [[reed (instrument)|the reed]], which the ancient Chinese [[mouth organ]] employed. The latter instrument, called a [[Sheng (instrument)|sheng]] and made traditionally of [[bamboo]] pipes, was first mentioned in the ''[[Shi Jing]]'' of the Zhou dynasty (c. 1050–256 BC). The Chinese sheng is considered the ancestor of the [[harmonica]], [[Pump organ|harmonium]], [[concertina]], [[accordion]], and [[:Category:Free reed aerophones|all other reed organ instruments]]. A free [[reed organ]] was invented in the [[Muslim world|Arab world]] in the 13th century, and the German organ builder [[Heinrich Traxdorf]] (fl. 15th century) of [[Nuremberg]] built one about 1460. It is thought that the classical Chinese sheng travelled west through Russia during the 19th century, as it was described then in [[Saint Petersburg]].<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 1, 211–212.</ref>
* '''[[fuse (explosive)|Fuse]]''': Documented evidence suggests that the earliest fuses were first used by the Chinese between the 10th and 12th centuries. After the Chinese had invented gunpowder, they began adapting its explosive properties for use in military technology. By 1044 they were using gunpowder in simple grenades, bombs, and flamethrowers, all of which required a fuse to be lit before being thrown at the enemy.<ref>{{cite book |first=Glenys |last=Crocker |title=The Gunpowder Industry |location=Buckinghamshire |publisher=CIT Printing Services Ltd |year=2002 |page=3}}</ref>

===G===
[[File:Qin player-MG 18914-IMG 8639-gradient.jpg|thumb|upright|Rock carving of a [[bodhisattva]] playing a ''[[guqin]]'', [[Northern Wei]] dynasty (386–534 AD)]]
* '''[[Gas cylinder]]''': The world's first natural gas cylinders were invented in China during the medieval Tang dynasty where the Chinese drilled deep boreholes to retrieve natural gas and used airtight jointed bamboo pipes to collect and transport it for many miles to towns and villages.<ref>{{Cite book |title=All About: Mighty Middle Chinese Dynasties |last=Quick |first=P.S. |date=September 30, 2015 |publisher=AUK Academic}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Technology and the City: Systems, Applications and Implications |last=Yigitcanlar |first=Tan |publisher=Routledge |year=2016 |isbn=978-1138826700 |publication-date=May 10, 2016 |page=19}}</ref><ref name="Khan 2012 117">{{Cite book |title=How to Prosper the Islamic Way |last=Khan |first=Q.S. |date=2012 |page=117}}</ref>
*'''[[Gas lighting]]''': The ancient Chinese during the Spring and Autumn period made the first practical use of natural gas for lighting purposes about 500 B.C. where they used bamboo pipelines to transport and carry both brine and natural gas for many miles to towns and villages.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Encyclopedia of Environment and Society |last=Robbins |first=Paul |year=2007 |publisher=Sage Publications |page=1216}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Powering Our Future: An Energy Sourcebook for Sustainable Living |last=Smith |first=Kimberly |publisher=Iuniverse Inc. |year=2005 |publication-date=May 31, 2005 |page=56}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Power Plays: Energy Options in the Age of Peak Oil |last=Rapier |first=Robert |date=March 30, 2012 |publisher=Apress |isbn=978-1430240860 |publication-date=March 27, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Investing in Oil and Gas: The ABC's of DPPs (Direct Participation Program) |last=Heshelow |first=Kathy |publisher=Iuniverse Inc |year=2008 |isbn=978-0595531929 |publication-date=September 2, 2008 |page=52}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and Low Mechanicks |last=Conner |first=Clifford |publisher=Nation Books |year=2005 |isbn=978-1560257486 |publication-date=November 8, 2005 |page=[https://archive.org/details/peopleshistoryof0000conn/page/18 18] |url=https://archive.org/details/peopleshistoryof0000conn/page/18 }}</ref>
* '''[[Gaussian elimination]]''': The Chinese solved a system of linear equations. The rectangle of coefficients was reduced to triangular and then diagonal form, in a process identical to what Europeans would later call Gaussian Elimination.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Schwartz |first1=Randy |title=A Classic from China: The Nine Chapters - Matrices |url=https://maa.org/press/periodicals/convergence/a-classic-from-china-the-nine-chapters-matrices |website=Mathematical Association of America}}</ref> 
* '''[[Go (game)|Go (board game)]]''' (圍棋 {{zh|p=wéiqí}} in Chinese): Although ancient Chinese legend (perhaps contrived during the Han dynasty) has it that the [[Yao (ruler)|mythological ruler Yao]] came down to earth [[Tian|from the Heavens]] about 2200 BC carrying with him a ''go'' board and stone player's pieces, it is known from existing literature that the ''go'' board game existed since at least the 10th century BC during the Zhou dynasty (c. 1050–256 BC) and was even mentioned in writing by ancient Chinese philosophers [[Confucius]] (551–479 BC) and [[Mencius]] (371–289 BC), although the latter two had a slightly negative opinion of it.<ref>Lasker (1960), xiii.</ref><ref>Shotwell, Yang, and Chatterjee (2003), 133.</ref>
* '''[[Goldfish|Goldfish domestication]]''': In ancient China, various species of [[carp]] (collectively known as [[Asian carps]]) were [[domestication|domesticated]] and have been reared as [[aquaculture|food fish]] for thousands of years. Some of these normally gray or silver species have a tendency to produce red, orange or yellow color [[mutation]]s; this was first recorded in the [[Jin dynasty (266–420)|Jin dynasty]] (266–420).<ref name="Ocean Park">{{cite web |url=http://www.oceanpark.com.hk/html/en/learning/facts/goldfish.html |title=Goldfish |publisher=Ocean Park |access-date=2009-11-16}}</ref> During the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907), it was popular to raise carp in ornamental ponds and [[Water garden|watergardens]]. A natural genetic mutation produced gold (actually yellowish orange) rather than silver coloration. People began to breed the gold variety instead of the silver variety, keeping them in ponds or other bodies of water.<ref name="bristol">{{cite web |url=http://www.bristol-aquarists.org.uk/goldfish/info/info.htm |title=Background information about goldfish |access-date=2006-07-28}}</ref><ref>[http://www.hagen.com/pdf/aquatic/Nutrafin_No4_English.pdf Nutrafin Aquatic News, Issue #4], 2004, Rolf C. Hagen, Inc. (USA) and Rolf C. Hagen Corp. (Montreal, Canada)</ref> Goldfish were introduced into Europe during the 17th century, and into North America in the 19th century.<ref name=Brunner>{{cite book |last=Brunner |first=Bernd |title=The Ocean at Home |publisher=Princeton Architectural Press |year=2003 |location=New York |isbn=1-56898-502-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/oceanathomeil00brun }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Mulertt |first=Hugo |title=The Goldfish And Its Systematic Culture With A View To Profit |year=1883 |url=https://archive.org/details/goldfishitssyste00mule |access-date=2009-07-07|publisher=Cincinnati [McDonald & Eick, print.] }}</ref>

===H===
 [[File:Yuan chinese gun.jpg|thumb|upright|A bronze [[hand cannon]] from the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), one of the oldest in the world; the oldest specimen dates from about 1288, when the first textual reference to the hand cannon appears in Chinese literature.]]
 [[File:Cernuschi Museum 20060812 147.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618 AD) plough figurine pulled by a [[bull]]]]

* '''[[Hand cannon]]''': The bronze Yuan dynasty gun from [[Heilongjiang hand cannon|Heilongjiang]], which dates from about 1288, is a little over {{convert|0.3|m|ft|abbr=on}} long and weighs {{convert|3.6|kg|lb|abbr=on}}. It has a small [[touch hole]] for ignition and an even bore except for the bulbous enlargement around the explosion chamber. It was excavated with a bronze pan, mirror and vase.<ref name=":1">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 293.</ref> 
* '''[[Hand grenade]], explosive''': Before explosive grenades, [[incendiary device|incendiary grenades]] were used by the [[Eastern Roman Empire]], incorporating [[Greek fire]].<ref name="Robert James Forbes 107">Robert James Forbes: "Studies in Ancient Technology," Leiden 1993, {{ISBN|978-90-04-00621-8}}, p.107</ref> Early prototypes to the modern explosive grenade, according to British scientist and sinologist Joseph Needham, appear in the military book, ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' ("Compilation of Military Classics"), by 1044. During the Song dynasty, weapons known as [[Zhen Tian Lei]] were created when Chinese soldiers packed [[gunpowder]] into ceramic or metal containers and thrown at the enemy. Further descriptions and illustrations of early Chinese hand grenades are provided in the ''Huolongjing''.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 179 180">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 179–180.</ref>
* '''[[Handgun|Hand gun]]''': An early depiction of a hand gun is a sculpture from a cave in [[Sichuan]], dating from 1128, that portrays a figure carrying a vase-shaped [[bombard (weapon)|bombard]], firing flames and a cannonball.<ref>{{cite journal|first=Lu|last=Gwei-Djen|author2=Joseph Needham |author3=Phan Chi-Hsing |date=July 1988|journal=[[Technology and Culture]]|volume=29|issue=3|pages=594–605|publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]]|title=The Oldest Representation of a Bombard|doi=10.2307/3105275|jstor=3105275|s2cid=112733319 }}</ref> However, the oldest existent archaeological discovery of a metal barrel [[handgun]] is the Heilongjiang hand cannon from the Chinese [[Heilongjiang]] excavation, dated to 1288.<ref name=":1"/> Handheld firearms first appeared in China where [[History of gunpowder|gunpowder was first developed]]. They were hand cannons (although they were not necessarily fired from the hand, but rather at the end of a handle). By the 14th century, they existed in Europe as well. The first handheld firearms that might better be called "pistols" were made as early as the 15th century, but their creator is unknown.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9060197/pistol |title=Pistol, Britannica.com|date=29 March 2023 }}</ref> 
* '''[[Handscroll]]''': The handscroll originated from ancient Chinese text documents.<ref name=npm>[http://www.npm.gov.tw/english/exhbition/ehan0101/ehan0101.htm "Famous Handscroll Paintings and Calligraphic Works"] or [http://www.npm.gov.tw/exhbition/chan0101/chan0101.htm "手卷名品展"] {{in lang|zh}}. Taipei: National Palace Museum. Retrieved 24 September 2011.</ref> From the [[Spring and Autumn period]] (770–481 BC) through the Han dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD), [[Bamboo and wooden slips|bamboo or wooden slips]] were bound and used to write texts on.<ref name=npm/> During the Eastern Han period (25–220), the use of [[paper]] and [[silk]] as handscrolls became more common.<ref name=npm/> The handscroll was one of the main formats for texts up until the Tang dynasty (618–907).<ref name=npm/> Since the [[Three Kingdoms]] (220–280), the handscroll became a standard form for mounting artwork.<ref name=npm/> New styles were developed over time.<ref name=npm/>
* '''[[Hanging scroll]]''': Hanging scrolls originated in their earliest form from literature and other texts written on [[Bamboo and wooden slips|bamboo strips]] and [[silk]] banners in ancient China.<ref name=sze>{{cite book|last=Sze|first=Mai-Mai|title=The Tao of painting|year=1957|publisher=Taylor & Francis|pages=62–65|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zJ89AAAAIAAJ|access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref><ref name=wash/><ref name=dillon/> The earliest hanging scrolls are related to and developed from silk banners in early Chinese history.<ref name=sze/><ref name=wash>{{cite web|title=Technical Aspects of Painting|url=http://depts.washington.edu/chinaciv/painting/4ptgtech.htm|access-date=15 August 2011}}</ref><ref name=sullivan/> These banners were long and hung vertically on walls.<ref name=sze/> Such silk banners and hanging scroll paintings were found at [[Mawangdui]], dating from the Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220).<ref name=wash/><ref name=sullivan>{{cite book|last=Sullivan|first=Michael|title=The arts of China|year=1984|publisher=University of California Press|location=London|isbn=978-0-520-04918-5|page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CzdICSqnELkC/page/n13 71]|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CzdICSqnELkC|edition=3rd}}</ref> By the time of the [[Tang dynasty]] (618–907), the aesthetic and structural objectives for hanging scrolls were summarized, which are still followed to this day.<ref name=lee/> During the early Song dynasty (960–1279), the scrolls became well suited to the art styles of the artists,<ref name=wash/><ref name=dillon>{{cite book|last=Dillon|first=Michael|title=China: A historical and cultural dictionary|year=1998|publisher=Curzon|location=Richmond|isbn=978-0-7007-0439-2|page=273|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VA5tKw11K8YC}}</ref> consequently hanging scrolls were made in many different sizes and proportions.<ref name=sze/>
*'''[[Hell money]]''': Hell money is a form of [[joss paper]] printed to resemble fake [[legal tender]] [[bank notes]]. The notes are not an official form of recognized [[currency]] or legal tender since their sole intended purpose is to be offered as [[burnt offering]]s to the [[ancestor veneration|deceased]] as a superstitious solution to resolve their ancestors financial problems. This custom has been practiced by the modern Chinese and across [[East Asia]] since the late 19th century.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Singapore: State of the Art |last= Yogerst |first=Joseph R. |publisher= R Ian Lloyd Productions Ltd |year=2005 |isbn=978-9810465896 |pages=38}}</ref><ref>Smith, Ward & Matravers, Brian (1970). Chinese Banknotes, p.144. Shirjieh Publishers, Menlo Park, California</ref>
*'''[[Hill censer]]''': The hill censer, a vessel used for burning incense, dates from the Han dynasty (206 BC – AD 220). The censers are shaped like mountains and were used for religious rituals. The shape of the hill censer acts as a visual aid for envisioning the sacred mountains that were said to have been inhabited by [[Taoism|Taoist]] immortals.<ref name="taoistart">{{cite book |author=Kristofer Schipper |editor=Stephen Little |editor2=Shawn Eichman |title=Taoism and the Arts of China |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5ame4Rl1RXMC |year=2000 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-22785-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_5ame4Rl1RXMC/page/n38 37]}}</ref> Hill censers were originally designed for Taoist rituals, but were later used by Chinese Buddhists.<ref name="Ronan">{{cite book |author=Colin A. Ronan |title=The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China |date=20 June 1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-31536-4 |page=281}}</ref> Hill censers often include carvings of wilds animals and birds. Some censers depict waves at the foundation of the vessel, said to be the waves of the [[East China Sea]].<ref name="Sullivan">{{cite book |author=Michael Sullivan |title=The Arts of China |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CzdICSqnELkC |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-04918-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_CzdICSqnELkC/page/n15 73]|year=1984 }}</ref> A hole at the top of the censer releases the smoke of the incense.<ref name="Sullivan"/>
* '''[[Horse collar]]''': A significant improvement of the [[Horse harness|ancient breast harness]] was the horse collar. The horse collar was depicted in a [[Northern Wei]] (386–534) mural at [[Dunhuang]], China, dated 477–499; the latter artwork does not feature the essential collar cushion behind the cross bar, though, and a later Tang dynasty (618–907) mural, from about 851, accurately shows the cushioned collar behind the cross bar.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 319 323">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 319–323.</ref><ref>Schur (1998), 66.</ref> An earlier painting of the [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618) accurately depicted the horse collar as it is seen today, yet the illustration shows its use on a [[camel]] instead of a horse.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 326">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 326 & Plate CCXXI.</ref>
* '''[[Horse harness]]''': Throughout the ancient world, the 'throat-and-girth' harness was used for harnessing horses that pulled [[cart]]s; this greatly limited a horse's ability to exert itself as it was constantly choked at the neck.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 305">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 305.</ref> A painting on a [[lacquerware]] box from the [[Chu (state)|State of Chu]], dated to the 4th century BC, shows the first known use of a yoke placed across a horse's chest, with traces connecting to the chariot shaft.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 310">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 310.</ref> The hard yoke across the horse's chest was gradually replaced by a breast strap, which was often depicted in carved reliefs and stamped bricks of tombs from the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 308 312">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 308–312.</ref> Eventually, the [[horse collar]] was invented in China, at least by the 5th century.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 319 323"/><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 22–23.</ref>
* '''[[Hygrometer]]''': Prototype hygrometers were devised and developed in the hills during the [[Western Han dynasty]] in Ancient China to elucidate mechanisms of long-range meteorological fluctuations.<ref name="Hamblyn 2010 16–17">{{Cite book |title=The Invention of Clouds: How an Amateur Meteorologist Forged the Language of the Skies |last=Hamblyn |first=Richard |publisher=Pan Macmillan |year=2010 |isbn=978-0330391955 |publication-date=June 4, 2010 |pages=16–17}}</ref> The Chinese used a bar of charcoal and a lump of earth: its dry weight was taken and then compared with its damp weight after being exposed in the air. The differences in weight was used to tally the humidity level. Other techniques were applied using mass to measure humidity such as when the air was dry, the bar of charcoal would be light while the air was humid, the bar of charcoal would be heavy. By hanging a lump of earth and a bar of charcoal on the two ends of a staff separately and adding a fixated lifting string on the middle point to make the staff horizontal in dry air, an ancient hygrometer was made.<ref name="Hamblyn 2010 16–17"/><ref name="Selin 2008 736">{{Cite book |title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures |last=Selin |first=Helaine |publisher=Springer |year=2008 |isbn=978-1402045592 |edition=2nd |publication-date=April 16, 2008 |page=736}}</ref>

===I===
[[File:Ma Lin 010.jpg|thumb|upright|A [[Song Dynasty|Song]] painting by Ma Lin, dated 1246, using [[India ink]] on [[silk]]]]

*'''[[Incense clock|Incense Clock]]''': [[Incense]] clocks originated in China during the 6th century and later made their way to Japan, with one example preserved in the [[Shōsōin]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Pagani |first=Catherine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8bXxHSZkWssC |title=Eastern Magnificence and European Ingenuity: Clocks of Late Imperial China |publisher=[[University of Michigan Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=0-472-11208-2 |page=209 |accessdate=2008-06-21}}</ref> The earliest incense clocks, dating from the 6th to the 8th centuries CE, feature [[Devanagari|Devanāgarī]] carvings instead of Chinese seal characters. Historian [[Silvio Bedini]] asserts that these carvings were based on seals referenced in [[Tantric Buddhism|Tantric Buddhist]] scriptures, which were translated from Indian scriptures into [[Chinese language|Chinese]]. However, the time-telling associated with these seals was designed and incorporated by the Chinese.<ref name="Bedini69">Bedini (1994), pages 69-80</ref>

* '''[[India ink]]''': Although named after [[carbon]]aceous pigment materials originating from India, Indian ink first appeared in China; some scholars say it was made as far back as the 3rd millennium BC, and others state it was perhaps not invented until the [[Cao Wei|Wei dynasty]] (AD 220–265).<ref>Gottsegen (2006), 30.</ref><ref>Smith (1992), 23.</ref><ref>Sun & Sun (1997), 288.</ref><ref>Woods & Woods (2000), 51–52.</ref>
* '''[[Inkstone]]''': The inkstone is a stone [[Mortar and pestle|mortar]] used in [[Chinese calligraphy]] for grinding and mixing ink. Other than stone, inkstones are also manufactured from clay, bronze, iron, and porcelain. The device evolved from a rubbing tool used for rubbing dyes, from 6000–7000 years ago.<ref name="Chenting">{{cite book |author=Tingyou Chen |title=Chinese Calligraphy |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1VaoSE8FQfMC&pg=PA43 |date=3 March 2011 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-18645-2 |page=43}}</ref> The earliest excavated inkstone is dated to the 3rd century BC, and was discovered in a tomb in modern Yunmeng, Hubei. Use of the inkstone was popularized during the Han dynasty.<ref name="Metropolitan">{{cite book |title=China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 AD |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JbdS-R3y72MC |year=2004 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=978-1-58839-126-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JbdS-R3y72MC/page/n134 108]}}</ref>
* '''[[Inoculation]]:''' As Europeans would not begin to [[Edward Jenner|develop vaccinations]] for [[Smallpox vaccine|smallpox]] until 1796, historical Chinese records show that Chinese physicians have been inoculating against the same disease hundreds of years earlier.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Ancient China |last=Atkins |first= Marcie Flinchum  |publisher= Essential Library |year=2015 |pages=95}}</ref> The British scientist, sinologist, and historian [[Joseph Needham]] states that a case of inoculation for smallpox may have existed in the late 10th century during the Song dynasty (960–1279), yet they rely on a book ''Zhongdou xinfa'' (種痘心法) written in 1808 by Zhu Yiliang for this evidence.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 6, Part 6, 154.</ref> Wan Quan (1499–1582) wrote the first clear reference to smallpox inoculation in his ''Douzhen xinfa'' (痘疹心法) of 1549.<ref name="needham volume 6 part 6 134"/> The process of inoculation was also vividly described by Yu Chang in his ''Yuyi cao'' (寓意草), or ''Notes on My Judgment'' published in 1643, and Zhang Yan in his ''Zhongdou xinshu'' (種痘新書), or ''New book on smallpox inoculation'' in 1741. As written by Yu Tianchi in his ''Shadou jijie'' (痧痘集解) of 1727, which was based on Wang Zhangren's ''Douzhen jinjing lu'' (痘疹金鏡錄) of 1579, the technique of inoculation to avoid smallpox was not widespread in China until the reign of the [[Longqing Emperor]] (r. 1567&nbsp;– 1572) during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644).<ref name="needham volume 6 part 6 134">Needham (1986), Volume 6, Part 6, 134.</ref>

[[File:JadeBurialSuit.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[jade burial suit]] from the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD), at the [[National Museum of China|Museum of Chinese History, Beijing]]]]
* '''[[Jade burial suit]]''': Burial suits [[Chinese jade|made of jade]] existed in China during the Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD). Confirming ancient records about Han royalty and nobility buried in jade burial suits, archaeologists discovered in June 1968 the tombs and jade burial suits of Prince [[Liu Sheng, Prince of Zhongshan|Liu Sheng]] (d. 113 BC) and his wife [[Dou Wan]] in Hebei province.<ref name="tom 1989 112">Tom (1989), 112.</ref> Liu's suit, in twelve flexible sections, comprised 2,690 square pieces of green jade with holes punctured in the four corners of each piece so that they could be sewn together with gold thread.<ref name="tom 1989 112 113">Tom (1989), 112–113.</ref> The total weight of the gold thread used in his suit was {{convert|1,110|g|oz|abbr=on}}.<ref name="tom 1989 113">Tom (1989), 113.</ref> Princess Dou Wan's suit had 2,156 pieces of jade stitched together with {{convert|703|g|oz|abbr=on}} of gold thread.<ref name="tom 1989 113"/> Although jade burial outer wears and head masks appear in tombs of the early Han dynasty, burial suits did not appear until the reign of [[Emperor Wen of Han]] (r. 180–157 BC), with the earliest being found in the [[Xuzhou|Shizishan]] site. A total of 22 Western Han (202 BC&nbsp;– 9 AD) and 27 Eastern Han (25–220 AD) complete and partial jade burial suits were uncovered between 1954 and 1996. They are found mainly in [[Hebei]], [[Shandong]], [[Jiangsu]] and [[Henan]], as well as at [[Xianyang|Yangjiawan]], [[Bozhou|Dongyuan]], [[Guangzhou]], [[Mawangdui]], [[Mianyang]] and [[Qujing|Shizhaishan]]. The jade burial suit gradually disappeared when it was forbidden in 222 by [[Emperor Wen of Wei]].<ref>Shi (2003), 63–65.</ref>

===L===
 [[File:Self-tripped trespass land mine, Huolongjing.jpg|thumb|upright|The 'self-tripped trespass [[land mine]]', from the ''[[Huolongjing]]'', 14th century]]
 [[File:Met, Earthenware figures playing liubo, Han Dynasty.JPG|right|thumb|upright|A pair of [[Eastern Han dynasty]] (25–220 AD) tomb statuettes playing the game ''[[liubo]]'']]
 [[File:Map of Fengshan County, Taiwan Prefectural Gazetteer, 1696.jpg|thumb|upright|Example of a Chinese printed map in a [[gazetteer]], showing Fengshan County of [[Taiwan]] Prefecture, published in 1696; the first known printed map from China comes from a Song dynasty (960–1279) encyclopedia of the 12th century]]
 [[File:Yingzao Fashi 1 desmear.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[Cross section (geometry)|cross section]] of a [[Chinese architecture|Chinese hall]], from the ''[[Yingzao Fashi]]'' architectural treatise published by Li Jie in 1103, during the Song dynasty (960–1279); this book explicitly laid out an eight-graded modular system of architecture for timber halls and pavilions of different sizes]]
 [[File:Chinese Multistage Rocket.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[multistage rocket]] from the 14th-century military manuscript ''[[Huolongjing]]'', Ming dynasty]]
[[File:11th century basketry fire arrow rocket launcher.jpg|thumb|upright|An illustration of a handheld portable [[multiple rocket launcher]] as depicted in the 11th century book ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'' of the [[Song dynasty]]. The launcher is constructed using basketry.]]
 [[File:Chinese Naval Mine.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[naval mine]] from the ''[[Huolongjing]]'', mid-14th century]]
 [[File:Ming Dynasty playing card, c. 1400.jpg|thumb|upright|Chinese [[playing card]] dated about AD 1400, Ming dynasty]]
 [[File:Plat rond Dynastie Tang Musée Guimet 2418.jpg|thumb|upright|A ''[[sancai]]'' porcelain dish from the Tang dynasty, 8th century]]
[[Image:Chinese fining.png|thumb|upright|The puddling process of smelting iron ore to make wrought iron from pig iron, the right half of the illustration (not shown) displays men working a [[blast furnace]], ''Tiangong Kaiwu'' [[encyclopedia]] published in 1637, written by [[Song Yingxing]] (1587–1666).]]
 [[File:FFM-HanWeingefäß.JPG|thumb|upright|The British scientist, historian, and sinologist [[Joseph Needham]] writes that the development of the [[raised-relief map]] in China may have been influenced by Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) incense burners and jars such as this, showing artificial mountains as a lid decoration; these were often used to depict the mythical [[Mount Penglai|Penglai Island]].<ref name="needham volume 3 580 581">Needham (1986), Volume 3, 580–581.</ref>]]
 [[File:Buddhist ark used by Chinese Jews.jpg|thumb|upright|A 12th-century illustration of a revolving bookcase for Buddhist scriptures as depicted in Li Jie's architectural treatise the ''[[Yingzao Fashi]]''.]]
 [[File:'Flying Crow With Magic Fire', a winged rocket bomb.jpg|thumb|upright|The 'flying crow with magic fire' winged rocket bomb from the ''[[Huolongjing]]'', mid 14th century, compiled by [[Liu Bowen]] and [[Jiao Yu]]]]
 [[File:Oldest depiction of rocket arrows.jpg|thumb|upright|Depiction of rocket arrows, from the ''[[Huolongjing]]''. The right arrow reads 'fire arrow' (''huo jian''), the middle is a 'dragon shaped arrow frame' (''long xing jian jia''), and the left is a 'complete fire arrow' (''huo jian quan shi'').]]
 [[File:11th century long serpent fire arrow rocket launcher.jpg|thumb|upright|A depiction of the 13th Century "long serpent" rocket launcher. The holes in the frame are designed to keep the rockets separate, from the 1510 edition of ''Wujing Zongyao''.]]
 [[File:Guo Zhongshu-Traveling on the River in Snow.jpg|thumb|upright|A Song dynasty painting on silk of two [[Junk (ship)|Chinese cargo ships]] accompanied by [[Sampan|a smaller boat]]; notice the large stern-mounted [[rudder]] on the ship shown in the foreground]]
* '''[[Land mine]]''': Textual evidence suggests that the first use of a land mine in history was by a Song dynasty brigadier general known as Lou Qianxia, who used an 'enormous bomb' (''huo pao'') to kill [[History of the Song Dynasty#Mongol invasion and end of the Song Dynasty|Mongol soldiers]] invading [[Guangxi]] in 1277.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 175–176, 192.</ref> However, the first detailed description of the land mine was given in the ''[[Huolongjing]]'' text written by Ming dynasty writer, military strategist and philosopher [[Jiao Yu]] (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and [[Liu Bowen]] (1311–1375) during the late Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) and early Ming dynasty (1368–1644).<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 24–25, 176, 192.</ref> Jiao and Liu wrote that land mines were spherical, made of [[cast iron]], and their fuses ignited by a mechanism tripped by enemy movement; although Jiao and Liu did not describe this trip mechanism in full detail, a later text of 1606 revealed that enemy movement released a pin that allowed hidden underground weights to fall and spin a chord around an axle that rotated a spinning wheel acting as a [[flint]] to spark a train of fuses.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 193 & 199.</ref>
* '''[[Land sailing]]''': The use of the land sail in China dates from at least as early as the [[Northern and Southern dynasties]] period.<ref name="temple 195">Temple, 195.</ref> The earliest text describing the Chinese use of mounting [[Mast (sailing)|mast]]s and [[sail]]s on large vehicles is the ''Book of the Golden Hall Master'' written by the Daoist scholar and [[crown prince]] Xiao Yi, who later became [[Emperor Yuan of Liang]] (r. 552–554 AD).<ref name="temple 195"/>
* '''[[Leeboard]]''': To avoid [[leeward]] drift caused by the force of wind in sailing, the leeboard was invented; it was a board lowered onto the side of the ship opposite to the direction of the wind, helping the ship to stay upright and afloat even if the hull was breached. British writers Paul Johnstone and Sean McGrail state that an odd-looking second paddle on [[Dong Son drum|a bronze drum]] of the [[Dong Son culture]] (centered in the [[Red River Delta]] of northern [[Vietnam]]) may depict a leeboard in use as early as 300 BC.<ref name="johnstone mcgrail 2001 218">Johnstone & McGrail (2001), 218.</ref> Leeboards may have been invented in China as early as the 8th century during the Tang dynasty and are featured shortly after in 9th century engraved artwork found at the [[Borobudur]] monument built during the [[Sailendra]] dynasty of [[Central Java]] ([[Indonesia]]).<ref name="johnstone mcgrail 2001 218"/> Leeboards were first used [[Western world|in the West]] by the [[Dutch (ethnic group)|Dutch]], during the 15th to 16th centuries (possibly used on early Dutch [[Cog (ship)|cogs]], or perhaps influenced by a Chinese origin).<ref name="block 2003">Block (2003), 119–120.</ref><ref name="mcgrail">McGrail (2004), 237.</ref>
* '''[[Louche]]''': The louche (耬車) was a mobile animal-drawn agricultural [[seed drill]] invented by the Chinese agronomist Zhao Guo, a Han official in charge of agricultural production during the reign of [[Han Wudi]] in the Han dynasty. According to the records of ''Political Commentator'' by the Eastern Han dynasty writer [[Cui Shi]], the Louche consisted of three feet and thus was called three-legged Lou. The three legs had three ditch diggers under it used for sowing. The Louche was animal powered and was pulled by an ox and the leg of the Louche directly dug a ditch in the flattened soil, sowed the seeds, covered the seeds, and pressed the land flat at the same time. The machine was known for its utility and efficiency for serving several agricultural uses at the same time, and saving time and effort.<ref name="Lu 366">{{Cite book |title=A History of Chinese Science and Technology |last=Lu |first=Yongxing |date=23 August 2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3662513897 |volume=2 |pages=366}}</ref>

===M===
* '''[[Chinese magic mirror|Magic mirrors]]''': In about 800 AD, during the Tang dynasty (618–907), a book entitled ''Record of Ancient Mirrors'' described the method of crafting solid [[bronze mirror]]s with decorations, written characters, or patterns on the reverse side that could cast these in a reflection on a nearby surface as light struck the front, polished side of the mirror; because of this seemingly [[Transparency (optics)|transparent effect]], they were called 'light-penetration mirrors' by the Chinese. Unfortunately, this Tang era book was lost over the centuries, but magic mirrors were described in the ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]'' by the Song dynasty polymath [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095), who owned three of them as a family [[heirloom]]. Perplexed as to how solid metal could be transparent, Shen guessed that some sort of [[quench]]ing technique was used to produce tiny wrinkles on the face of the mirror too small to be observed by the eye. Although his explanation of different cooling rates was incorrect, he was right to suggest the surface contained minute variations which the naked eye could not detect; these mirrors also had no transparent quality at all, as discovered by British scientist and mathematician [[William Henry Bragg|William Bragg]] in 1932.<ref>"Magic Mirrors" (PDF). The Courier. Unesco: 16–17. October 1988. {{ISSN|0041-5278}}. Retrieved 24 August 2016.</ref> 
* '''[[Mahjong]]''': The Dutch journalist and writer Jelte Rep writes that the [[gambling]] game of mahjong ([[Traditional Chinese]]: 麻將; [[Pinyin]]: májiàng), which employs [[Mahjong tiles|a set of over a hundred tiles]], was first invented in 1846 by Zhen Yumen, a [[Qing dynasty]] (1644–1912) diplomatic official from [[Ningbo]].<ref name="rep 2007 52">Rep (2007), 52.</ref> However, Rep traces the origins of the game to a [[card game]] of the Tang dynasty (618–907) which used thirty-two wood or ivory pieces in the shape of cards.<ref name="rep 2007 51">Rep (2007), 51.</ref> This evolved into the forty-card game of ''madiao'' (馬吊) during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), which had four [[Suit (cards)|suits of cards]] instead of the three found in modern mahjong.<ref name="rep 2007 51"/>
* '''[[Match]]''': The earliest type of match for lighting fire was made in China by 577 AD, invented by [[Northern Qi]] (550–577) court ladies as they desperately looked for materials to light fires for cooking and heating as enemy troops of [[Northern Zhou]] (557–581) and the [[Chen dynasty]] (557–589) besieged their city from outside. Early matches in China were designed to be lit by an existing flame and carried to light another fire. They were pinewood sticks impregnated with [[sulfur]] and needed only a slight touch from a flame to light. This was written in the ''Records of the Unworldly and Strange'' by Tao Gu in 950 ([[Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period]]).<ref>Needham (1986), Vol 4, Part 1, pp 70–1.</ref>
* '''[[Field mill (carriage)|Mechanical theater]] (driven by carriage wheels)''': The inventors of the [[Field mill (carriage)|field mill]] mentioned above, Xie Fei and Wei Mengbian of the [[Later Zhao]] (319–351 AD), also invented an intricate mechanical theater mounted on a carriage, its figures operated by motive power (i.e. simply advancing the carriage forward).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 159">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 159.</ref> From 335 to 345 AD, they worked at the court of the ethnic-[[Jie (ethnic group)|Jie]] emperor [[Shi Hu]] (334–349).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 159"/> The vehicle they crafted was a four-wheeled and {{convert|6|m|ft|abbr=on}} long carriage that was about {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} wide.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 159"/> On it rested a large [[Chinese Buddhism|golden Buddha statue]] with a [[Daoism|Daoist]] statue continually rubbing his front with his mechanical hand.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 159"/> The Buddha was also surrounded by ten wooden Daoists who rotated around him in a circuit, periodically bowing to him, saluting him, and throwing [[incense]] into a [[censer]].<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 159"/> Above the Buddha were nine dragon-headed faucets which spouted water.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 159"/> Like the field mill and the pounding cart of these two inventors, when the carriage halted, so did all of its moving components of mechanical statues and spouting faucets.<ref name=":0">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 160.</ref>
* '''[[Automaton|Mechanical cup-bearers and wine-pourers on automatic-traveling boats]]''': The mechanical engineer Huang Gun served the court of [[Emperor Yang of Sui|Emperor Yang Di]] (r. 604–617) and wrote the book ''Shuishi Tujing'' on his inventions, which his colleague Du Bao enlarged and commented on.<ref name=":0"/> He constructed seven small boats, called 'wine boats', that were as large as {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} long and {{convert|1.8|m|ft|abbr=on}} wide which supported a number of mechanical figures of wooden statues called 'hydraulic elegances', each about {{convert|0.6|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall, some of them animals but most in human form consisting of singing girls, musicians playing actual instruments, dancers and tumblers, oarsmen busy rowing, cup-bearers, and wine-pourers all moving simultaneously as if alive.<ref name=":0"/> These boats were set to travel at timed intervals along circuits made of winding stone channels and canals in palace courtyards and gardens (designed by Tang Haogui), where guests would gather for special occasions.<ref name=":0"/> The cup-bearer stood at the bow of each ship and beside him the wine-pourer; when the ship made automatically timed periodic stops where guests were seated, the cup-bearer automatically stretched out his arm with a full cup of wine.<ref name=":0"/> When the guest was done emptying his cup, he placed the cup back into the figure's hands; the latter then waited as the wine-pourer filled a second cup to be emptied.<ref name=":0"/> When this guest had been served, the wine boat automatically moved onwards to the next stop.<ref name=":0"/> The British sinologist, scientist, and historian [[Joseph Needham]] speculates that the "wine boats" may have been [[Paddle steamer|driven by paddle-wheels]].<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 161 & 417.</ref> Another paddle-wheel ship was commanded by Wang Zhen'e and was described in his biographies, dated from the [[Liu Song dynasty]] (420–479).<ref>Ronan (1994), 308.</ref> side from the partial remains of the ''Shuishi Tujing'', an account of these 'wine boats' was also preserved by Huang Gun's contemporary [[Yan Shigu]] (581–645).<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 160 (footnote c and d)</ref>
* '''[[Chinese architecture|Modular system of architecture, eight standard grades]]''': Although other texts preceded it, such as the 'National Building Law' of the Tang dynasty (618–907) which was partially preserved in other texts, the ''[[Yingzao Fashi]]'' published in 1103 by the Song dynasty (960–1279) scholar-official [[Architecture of the Song Dynasty#Literature|Li Jie]] (1065–1110) is the oldest known Chinese architectural treatise that has survived fully intact.<ref name="guo 1998 1 3">Guo (1998), 1–3.</ref> It contains descriptions and illustrations detailing the ''cai fen'' system (材份制) of eight standard dimensions for [[Modular design|module]] components of timber architecture and structural [[carpentry]].<ref name="guo 1998 6 7">Guo (1998), 6–7.</ref> The eight standard grades of module timber components in the ''Yingzao Fashi'', with grade <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times">I</span> being the largest and grade <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times">VIII</span> the smallest, were used to determine the ultimate proportions and scale of a building as a whole, as all timber hall types—[[Chinese Palaces|palaces]], [[mansion]]s, [[House|ordinary houses]], and [[Chinese pavilion|pavilions]]—were hierarchically categorized along the lines of which ''cai fen'' grade was employed.<ref name="guo 1998 7 8">Guo (1998), 7–8.</ref> For example, palace-type buildings used only grades <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times">I</span> through <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times">V</span>, and mansion-type buildings never used components larger than grade <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times">III</span> and no less than grade <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times">VI</span>.<ref name="guo 1998 7">Guo (1998), 7.</ref> In this system of structural carpentry, the smallest grade of <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Times">VIII</span> is represented by one ''cai''; one ''cai'' is equal to the modern equivalent of {{convert|15|cm|in|abbr=on}}, and one ''cai'' is also divided into fifteen ''fen'' (hence the title of this modular system).<ref name="guo 1999 97">Guo (1999), 97.</ref>
* '''[[Heavy plough|Moldboard plow]]''': Although use of the simple [[Ard (plough)|wooden ard]] in China must have preceded it, the earliest discovered Chinese iron plows date from about 500 BC, during the Zhou dynasty (1122–256 BC) and were flat, V-shaped, and mounted on wooden poles and handles.<ref name="greenberger 2006 11">Greenberger (2006), 11.</ref><ref>Bray (1978), 9 & 19–21.</ref> By the 3rd century BC, improved iron casting techniques led to the development of the heavy moldboard plow, seen in Han dynasty (202 BC – 220 AD) artwork such as tomb carved bricks.<ref name="greenberger 2006 11" /> The moldboard allowed the Chinese to turn farm soil without clogging the [[plowshare]] with dirt, which was flung off the wheelbarrow via slanted wings on both sides.<ref>Greenberger (2006), 11–12.</ref> The frame of excavated plowshares from the Warring States period (403–221 BC) were made mostly of perishable wood, the frame of excavated plowshares from the Han dynasty were made entirely of solid iron, with the moldboard attached to the top to turn the soil.<ref>Wang (1982), 53–54.</ref>
* '''[[Multistage rocket]]''': Although there is still some ambiguity as to whether the earliest [[rocket]]s of the 13th century were first developed in Europe (i.e. 'ignis volantis in aere' in the work of Marcus Graecus about 1232, although Needham and Davis assert it was most likely a [[fire lance]]), the Middle East (i.e. 'sahm al-Khitāi' or 'arrows of China' as referred to by Hasan al-Rhammāh in 1280) or China (i.e. 'di lao shu' or 'ground rat' mentioned in 1264 or the 'chong' [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] used by the armies of the Song dynasty and invading [[Mongols]] during the 1270s), during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368) the term '[[fire arrow]]' once implied to mean incendiary arrows during the Tang dynasty was then used to describe the true rocket, producing a headache, as Needham says, for historians;<ref name="garnet 1996 311" /><ref>Crosby (2002), 100–103.</ref><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 472–474.</ref> the ''[[Huolongjing]]'' written by military officer [[Jiao Yu]] (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and the Song dynasty Chinese philosopher and politician [[Liu Bowen]] (1311–1375) during the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644) described several types of rockets,<ref>Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 473–505.</ref> one of them being a multistage rocket known as the 'huo long chu shui' or 'fire dragon issuing from the water' which, despite its name, was not launched from beneath the water from a primitive submarine but rather at near water-level maintaining a flat trajectory; defined as a two-stage rocket, it employed [[booster rocket]]s that, when about to burn out of use, ignited a swarm of smaller rocket arrows fired from the front end of the missile shaped as a dragon's mouth.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 505–510.</ref>
* '''[[Seed drill|Multiple-tube seed drill]]''': The wooden seed drill existed in China by the 3rd century BC, and the multiple-tube iron seed drill was first invented in China by the 2nd century BC, during the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD).<ref name="greenberger 2006 12">Greenberger (2006), 12.</ref><ref>Cotterell (2004), 46.</ref> The seed drill allowed for greater speed and regulation of [[Crop rotation|distributing seeds in lined rows of crops]] instead of casting them out onto the farm field.<ref name="greenberger 2006 12"/>

===N===
* '''[[Natural gas|Natural Gas for Fuel]]''': On tomb brick reliefs of [[Sichuan]] province, dating from the Han dynasty (202 BC – AD 220), scenes of [[borehole]] drilling for [[mining]] projects are shown.<ref name="loewe 1968 191 194"/> They show towering [[derrick]]s lifting liquid [[brine]] through [[Pipeline transport|bamboo pipes]] to the surface so that the brine could be [[Distillation|distilled]] in evaporation pans over the heat of furnaces and produce [[salt]].<ref name="loewe 1968 191 194">Loewe (1968), 191–194.</ref> The furnaces were potentially heated by natural gas brought by airtight jointed bamboo pipes for miles to towns and villages, yet gas brought up from perhaps {{convert|610|m|ft|abbr=on}} below the surface could cause an explosion if it was not properly mixed with oxygen first, so the Han dynasty Chinese possibly built underground [[carburetor]] chambers and siphoned some of the gas off with [[Exhaust system|exhaust pipes]].<ref name="loewe 1968 191 194"/> 
* '''[[Nail polish|Nail Polish]]:''' Originated in 3000 BCE.<ref name=toedt49>{{cite book |first1=John |last1=Toedt |first2=Darrell |last2=Koza |first3=Kathleen van |last3=Cleef-Toedt |title=Chemical Composition Of Everyday Products |year=2005 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |page=[https://archive.org/details/chemicalcomposit0000toed/page/49 49] |isbn=978-0-313-32579-3 |url=https://archive.org/details/chemicalcomposit0000toed/page/49 }}</ref><ref name=sher119>{{cite book|last=Sherrow|first=Victoria|title=For appearance' sake: The historical encyclopedia of good looks, beauty, and grooming|year=2001|publisher=Oryx Press|location=Phoenix|isbn=978-1-57356-204-1|page=[https://archive.org/details/forappearancesak00sher/page/119 119]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/forappearancesak00sher/page/119}}</ref> In 600 BCE, the royal house in the [[Zhou dynasty]] preferred the colors gold and silver. However, red and black eventually replaced these metallic colors as royal favorites. During the [[Ming dynasty]], nail polish was often made from a mixture that included [[beeswax]], [[Egg white|egg whites]], [[gelatin]], vegetable dyes, and [[gum arabic]]. 
* '''[[Naval mine|Naval Mine]]''': The ''[[Huolongjing]]'' military manuscript written by Ming dynasty military writer, strategist, and philosopher [[Jiao Yu]] (fl. 14th to early 15th century) and Chinese military strategist, philosopher, statesman and poet [[Liu Bowen]] (1311–1375) also describes naval mines used at sea or on rivers and lakes; made of [[wrought iron]] and enclosed in an ox bladder, it was a timed device in that a burning [[joss sticks]] floating above the mine determined when the fuse was to be ignited; the text explicitly mentions that without air and doused in water the fuse would not burn, so the fuse was protected by a long [[waterproof]] tube made out of goat's intestine; a later model shown in Ming Chinese scientist and encyclopedist [[Song Yingxing]]'s (1587–1666) encyclopedia of 1637 shows the ox bladder replaced with a [[Lacquerware|lacquered leather]] bag while the mine is ignited by a rip cord pulled from the shore to rotate a flint-and-steel firing mechanism.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 203–205.</ref>
* '''[[Negative number|Negative Number]]''': Negative number appear for the first time in history in the Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art but may well contain much older material. The mathematician Liu Hui (c. 3rd century) established rules for the addition and subtraction of negative numbers.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Genxing |first1=Luo |title=NINE CHAPTERS ON THE MATHEMATICAL ART |url=https://history-maps.com/story/History-of-Mathematics/event/Nine-Chapters-on-the-Mathematical-Art}}</ref>
* '''[[Nickel silver]]''': Nickel silver was first known and used in China during the modern Manchu-led [[Qing dynasty]].<ref>{{cite book |title=Machinery's Encyclopedia |url=https://archive.org/details/machinerysencyc00jonegoog |last1=Oberg |first1=Erik |last2=Jones |first2=Franklin Day |page=412 |year=1917 |publisher=The Industrial Press; [etc., etc.] |quote=The alloy came originally from China, where its composition is said to have been known}}</ref> During the [[Qing dynasty]], it was "smuggled into various parts of the [[East Indies]]", despite a government ban on the export of nickel silver.<ref>{{cite book |title=Manual of Mineralogy |last=Dwight Dana |first=James |page=265 |year=1869 |quote=smuggled into various parts of the East Indies... and is not allowed to be carried out of the empire}}</ref>

===O===
* '''[[Zhaozhou Bridge|Open-spandrel segmental arch bridge]]''': The earliest known fully stone open-spandrel segmental arch bridge is the [[Zhaozhou Bridge]] in southern [[Hebei]] province, China, completed in 605 by the [[Sui dynasty]] (581–618) engineer Li Chun.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 177–179.</ref><ref>Day & McNeil (1996), 434.</ref> The bridge span is {{convert|37.5|m|ft|abbr=on}}; the structure weighs relatively little, because of the four semi-circular arch spandrels, which allow flood waters to pass through. Other Chinese bridges would be influenced by this design, such as the open-spandrel [[Yongtong Bridge]] of [[Zhao County]], Hebei built in 1130, and the simple segmental arch [[Lugou Bridge]] built in 1698 (originally in 1189).<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, Plate CCCL</ref> The latter, just west of Beijing, has eleven segmental arches.
* '''[[Oil refinery#History|Oil refining]]''': The Chinese were among the first civilizations to refine oil.<ref name="Deng 2011 40">{{Cite book |title=Ancient Chinese Inventions |last=Deng |first=Yinke |year=2011 |page=40 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521186926}}</ref> During 512 A.D. and 518 A.D., in the late [[Northern Wei]] dynasty, the Chinese geographer, politician, and writer [[Li Daoyuan]] introduced the process of refining oil intro various lubricants in his famous work ''[[Commentary on the Water Classic]]''.<ref name="Deng 2011 40"/><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Chinese Oil Industry: History and Future |last1=Feng |first1=Lianyong  |last2=Hu |first2=Yan  |last3=Hall |first3=Charles A. S |last4=Wang |first4=Jianliang  |publisher=Springer |year=2013 |isbn=978-1441994097 |publication-date=November 28, 2012 |page=2}}</ref><ref name="Spataru 2017">{{Cite book |title=Whole Energy System Dynamics: Theory, Modelling and Policy |last=Spataru |first=Catalina  |publisher=Routledge |year=2017 |isbn=978-1138799905}}</ref> During the first century AD, the Chinese were among the first peoples to refine oil for use as an energy source.<ref name="Deng 2011 40"/><ref name="Spataru 2017"/> During the [[Northern Song dynasty]], a workshop called the "Fierce Oil Workshop", was established in the city of Kaifeng to produce refined oil for the Song military as a weapon. The troops would then fill the iron cans with refined oil and threw them toward the enemy troops, causing a fire – effectively the world's first "[[Incendiary device|fire bomb]]" The workshop was one of the world's earliest oil refining factories where thousands of people worked to produce Chinese oil powered weaponry.<ref name="Deng 2011 41">{{Cite book |title=Ancient Chinese Inventions |last=Deng |first=Yinke |year=2011 |page=41 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521186926}}</ref> 
* '''[[Oil well]]''': The earliest record of an oil well dates from AD 347, in China.<ref name="Vogt">{{cite book |author=Kristiina A. Vogt |title=Sustainability Unpacked: Food, Energy and Water for Resilient Environments and Societies |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oTI2rOXbEAwC&pg=PT47 |date=25 June 2012 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-136-53060-9 |page=47 |quote=The first record of drilling for oil occurred in China in 347 CE}}</ref> Petroleum was used in ancient China for "lighting, as a lubricant for cart axles and the bearings of water-powered drop hammers, as a source of carbon for [[inkstick]]s, and as a medical remedy for sores on humans and [[mange]] in animals."<ref name="Golas">{{cite book |author=Peter J. Golas |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 13, Mining |date=25 February 1999 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-58000-7 |page=202}}</ref> The earliest depiction of an oil well dates from AD 1762.<ref name="Golas"/>

===P===
* '''[[Paper cup]]''': Paper cups have been documented in [[Ancient China|imperial China]], alongside paper napkins. Paper cups were known as ''chih pei'' and were used for the serving of [[tea]].<ref name="Paper and Printing"/> They were constructed in different sizes and colors, and were adorned with decorative designs.<ref name="Paper and Printing">{{cite book |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Paper and Printing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA122 |year=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-08690-5 |author=Joseph Needham |page=122 |quote=At this time tea was served from baskets made of rushes which held... a set of several tens of paper cups (chih pei) in different sizes and colors with delicate designs}}</ref>
* '''[[Paper lantern]]''': The paper lantern is a lighting device made of paper. Early lanterns in China were constructed with [[silk]], paper, or animal skin with frames made of bamboo or wood.<ref name="NeedhamJPaper">{{cite book |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Paper and Printing |author=Joseph Needham |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA122 |access-date=16 April 2013 |year=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-08690-5 |page=128}}</ref> One of the earliest descriptions of paper lanterns is found in records from [[Khotan]], which describe a "mounting lantern" made of white paper.<ref name="NeedhamJPaper"/>
* '''[[Napkin|Paper Napkin]]''': Paper napkins, or ''chih pha'', accompanied tea cups and were folded into squares. Textual evidence of paper napkins appears in a description of the possessions of the Yu family, from the city of [[Hangzhou]].<ref name="Paper and Printing"/>
* '''[[Packaging and labeling|Paper packaging]]''': The first use of paper used in packaging was for treated mulberry barks in the early first of second century BC.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Paula |first1=Hook |title=A History of Packaging |url=https://ohioline.osu.edu/factsheet/cdfs-133}}</ref>
* '''[[Pendulum]]''': [[Han dynasty]] scientist [[Zhang Heng]] created a pendulum in the 1st-century for a [[seismometer]]. Its function was to sway and activate one of a series of levers after being disturbed by the tremor of an [[earthquake]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Morton |first1=W. Scott |last2=Lewis |first2=Charlton M. |title=China: Its History and Culture |date=2005 |publisher=New York: McGraw-Hill, Inc. |page=70}}</ref>
* '''[[Hammer drill#Percussion|Percussion drilling]]''': Ancient China's principal drilling technique, percussive drilling, was invented during the Han dynasty. The process involved two to six men jumping on a level at rhythmic intervals to raise a heavy iron bit attached to long bamboo cables from a bamboo derrick.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Transforming the Twentieth Century: Technical Innovations and Their Consequences |last=Smil |first=Vaclav  |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2006 |isbn=978-0195168754 |publication-date=April 4, 2006}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Why America Is Not a New Rome |last=Smil |first=Vaclav  |publisher=The MIT Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-0262195935 |pages=96}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Sources of Power: How Energy Forges Human History by Manfred Weissenbacher |last=Weissenbacher  |first=Manfred  |publisher=Praeger  |year=2009 |pages=362}}</ref> Utilizing cast iron bits and tools constructed of bamboo, the early Chinese were able to use percussion drilling to drill holes to a depth of 3,000&nbsp;ft. The construction of percussion drilling machines took more than two to three generations of workers.<ref>{{Cite book |chapter-url=http://www.bu.edu/remotesensing/files/2015/09/Han_Extraterrestrial_Drilling_Ch2_2009.pdf |title=Principles of Drilling and Excavation |last1=Han |first1=Gang |last2=Dusseault |first2=Maurice B. |last3=Detournay |first3=Emmanuel |last4=Thomson |first4=Bradley J. |last5=Zacny |first5=Kris |publisher=Wiley |year=2009 |publication-date=August 31, 2009 |pages=60 |chapter=2 |access-date=December 23, 2017 |archive-date=July 13, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190713121536/http://www.bu.edu/remotesensing/files/2015/09/Han_Extraterrestrial_Drilling_Ch2_2009.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> The cable tool drilling machines developed by the early Chinese involved raising and dropping a heavy string of drilling tools to crush through rocks into diminutive fragments.<ref name="Cable Tool Drilling">{{Cite web|url=http://waterfinder.ca/cable-tool-drilling/ |title=Cable Tool Drilling |website=Seismic Water Finder}}</ref> In addition, the Chinese also used a cutting head secured to bamboo rods to drill to depths of 915 m.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Applied Principles of Hydrology |last= Manning |first=John C. |publisher=Prentice Hall |year=1996 |isbn= 978-0135655320 |pages=250}}</ref> The raising and dropping of the bamboo drill strings allowed the drilling machine to penetrate less dense and unconsolidated rock formations.<ref name="Cable Tool Drilling"/>
* '''[[Petroleum|Petroleum as fuel]]''': The use of petroleum dates from ancient China more than 2,000 years ago. In ''[[I Ching]]'', one of the earliest Chinese writings cites the use of oil in its raw state without refining was first discovered, extracted, and used in China in the first century BC. In addition, the Chinese were the first to use petroleum as fuel as the early as the fourth century BC.<ref name="Deng 2011 40"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Environmental Regulation of Oil and Gas |last=Gao |first=Zhiguo |publisher=Kluwer Law International |page=8 |year=1998}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Archaeomineralogy |last=Rapp |first=George |date=1985 |publisher=Springer |page=237}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Nanotechnology: The Business |last=Burke |first=Michael |date=September 8, 2008 |page=3 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |publication-date=2008 |isbn=9781420053999}}</ref> 
* '''[[Pig iron]]''': The earliest pig iron dates from the Zhou dynasty. By the 5th century, archaeological evidence indicates that pig iron was melted to produce cast iron.<ref name="wagner 7 36 37 64 68"/> In [[Europe]], the process was not invented until the late [[medieval ages]].<ref>Several papers in ''The importance of ironmaking: technical innovation and social change: papers presented at the Norberg Conference, May 1995'' ed. Gert Magnusson (Jernkontorets Berghistoriska Utskott H58, 1995), 143–179.</ref>
* '''[[Pinhole camera]]''': The ancient [[Chinese philosophy|Chinese]] philosopher [[Mozi]] (c. 470 BC&nbsp;– c. 391 BC)—founder of [[Mohism]] during the establishment of the [[Hundred Schools of Thought]]—is the claimed author of the ''Mojing'' (perhaps compiled by his disciples) which described the pinhole camera.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 82">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 1, 82.</ref> The ''Mojing'' stated that the "collecting place" (pinhole) was an empty hole "like the sun and moon depicted on the imperial flags," where an image could be inverted at an intersecting point which "affects the size of the image."<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 82"/> The ''Mojing'' seems to be in line with the [[Epicureanism|Epicurean theory]] of light traveling into the eye (and not vice versa like in [[Pythagoreanism]]),<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 85">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 1, 85.</ref> since the ''Mojing'' states that the reflected light shining forth from an "illuminated person" becomes inverted when passing through the pinhole, i.e. "The bottom part of the man becomes the top part (of the image) and the top part of the man becomes the bottom part (of the image)."<ref name="needham volume 4 part 1 82"/> In his ''[[Book of Optics]]'' (1021), [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (965–1039) wrote of his experimentation with [[camera obscura]], which was followed by Song dynasty polymath [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095), the latter who alluded that the Tang dynasty (618–907) writer [[Duan Chengshi]] (died 863)—in his ''[[Miscellaneous Morsels from Youyang]]''—described inverted images of [[Chinese pagoda]]s.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 1, 97–98.</ref>
* '''[[Playing card]]s''': The first reference to the card game in world history dates from no later than the 9th century, when the ''Collection of Miscellanea at Duyang'', written by Su E (fl. 880), described the Wei clan (family of Princess Tongchang's husband) of the Tang dynasty (AD 618–907) enjoying the "leaf game" in 868.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 131 132">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 1, 131–132.</ref><ref name="zhou 1997 34">Zhou (1997), 34.</ref><ref>Lo (2000), 390.</ref> The ''Yezi Gexi'' was a book on the card came which was allegedly written by a Tang woman and commented on by Chinese scholars in subsequent dynasties.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 132">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 1, 132.</ref> In his ''Notes After Retirement'', the Song dynasty (960–1279) scholar [[Ouyang Xiu]] (1007–1072) asserted that playing card games existed since the mid Tang dynasty and associated this invention with the simultaneous evolution of the common Chinese writing medium from paper rolls to sheets of paper that could be printed.<ref name="zhou 1997 34"/><ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 132"/> During the Ming dynasty (1368–1644), characters from popular [[novel]]s such as the ''[[Water Margin]]'' were widely featured on the faces of playing cards.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 132"/> By the 11th century playing cards could be found throughout the Asian continent.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 309">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 1, 309.</ref> Playing cards were some of the first printed materials in Europe, appearing by the 14th century (i.e. in Spain and Germany in 1377, in Italy and Belgium in 1379, and in France in 1381) and produced by European [[woodblock printing]] before the innovation of the early modern [[printing press]] by German inventor, printer, publisher and blacksmith [[Johannes Gutenberg]] (c. 1400–1468).<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 309"/>
* '''[[Pontoon bridge]]''': The [[Zhou dynasty]] Chinese text of the ''[[Shi Jing]]'' (''Book of Odes'') records that [[King Wen of Zhou]] was the first to create a pontoon bridge in the 11th century BC. However, the British scientist, sinologist and historian [[Joseph Needham]] has pointed out that in all likely scenarios, the temporary pontoon bridge was invented during the 9th or 8th century BC in China, as this part was perhaps a later addition to the book (considering how the book had been edited up until the [[Han dynasty]], 202 BC–220 AD). Although earlier temporary pontoon bridges had been made in China, the first secure and permanent ones (and linked with iron chains) in China came first during the [[Qin dynasty]] (221 BC–207 BC). The later [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279 AD) Chinese statesman Cao Cheng once wrote a description of the early pontoon bridges in China.<ref>Needham, Volume 4, Part 3, 160.</ref> During the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220 AD), the Chinese created a very large pontoon bridge that spanned across the width of the [[Yellow River]]. There was also the [[Naval history of China#Early literature|rebellion of Gongsun Shu]] in 33 AD, where a large pontoon bridge with fortified posts was constructed across the [[Yangtze]] River, eventually broken through with [[ramming]] ships by official Han troops under Commander Cen Peng. During the late Eastern Han into the [[Three Kingdoms]] period, during the [[Battle of Chibi]] in 208 AD, the Prime Minister [[Cao Cao]] once linked the majority of his fleet together with iron chains, which proved to be a fatal mistake once he was thwarted with a fire attack by [[Sun Quan]]'s fleet. The armies of [[Emperor Taizu of Song]] had a large pontoon bridge built across the Yangtze River in 974 in order to secure supply lines during the [[Song dynasty]]'s conquest of the [[Southern Tang]].<ref>Graff, 87.</ref>
* '''[[Porcelain]]''': [[Chinese ceramics|Although glazed ceramics existed beforehand]], the author and historian Samuel Adrian M Adshead writes that the earliest type of vitrified, translucent ceramics that could be classified as true porcelain was not made until the Tang dynasty (618–907).<ref>Adshead (2004), 80.</ref> The archaeologist Nigel Wood of the University of Oxford states that true porcelain was manufactured in northern China from roughly the beginning of the Tang dynasty in the 7th century, and true porcelain was not manufactured in southern China until about 300 years later, during the early 10th century [this sentence contradicts itself].<ref>Wood (1999), 49.</ref>
* '''[[Pound lock]]''': Indirect evidence suggests that pound locks may have been used in antiquity by the [[Ptolemaic Egypt|Ptolemaic Greeks]] and the [[Roman Empire|Roman]]s.<ref>Moore, Frank Gardner: "Three Canal Projects, Roman and Byzantine", ''[[American Journal of Archaeology]]'', Vol. 54, No. 2 (1950), pp. 97–111 (99)</ref> In China, although the one gate canal [[flash lock]] existed beforehand, the two-gate pound lock was invented in 984 by an official of [[Huainan]] and engineer named Qiao Weiyo, during the early Song dynasty (960–1279), so that ships could safely travel along canal waterways having gated and segmented chambers where water levels could be regulated.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 350 352">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 350–352.</ref><ref>Day & McNeil (1996), 582.</ref> The economic and transport benefits of this innovation were described by the polymath official and inventor [[Shen Kuo]] (1031–1095) in his ''[[Dream Pool Essays]]''.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 350 352"/>
* '''[[Ma Jun (mechanical engineer)|Puppet theater, waterwheel-powered]]''': The mechanical toys of [[Roman Egypt]], especially the weight-driven [[puppet]] theater of [[Heron of Alexandria]] (c. 10–70 AD), are well known and discussed by historians such as Beck, Prou, and de Rochas d'Aiglun.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 156">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 156.</ref> In China, [[Zhang Heng]] (78–139) wrote of plays with artificial fish and dragons, and a 6th-century text ''Xijing Zaji'' states that when Liu Bang (reigned as [[Emperor Gaozu of Han]] from 202 to 195 BC) came upon the treasury of the deceased [[Qin Shihuang]] (r. 221–210) in 206 BC, he found an entire mechanical [[orchestra]] of {{convert|1|m|ft|abbr=on}} tall puppets dressed in [[silk]] and playing [[Free reed aerophone|mouth organs]], all powered by pulling ropes and blowing into tubes.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 158">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 158.</ref> As written in the ''[[Records of the Three Kingdoms]]'', the engineer [[Ma Jun (mechanical engineer)|Ma Jun]] (fl. 220–265)—already associated with the [[Differential (mechanical device)|differential gear system]] of the [[south-pointing chariot]]—invented a mechanical theater powered by a rotating wooden [[waterwheel]] for the entertainment of [[Cao Rui|Emperor Ming's]] (r. 226–239 AD) court.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 158"/> With the waterwheel in motion, a number of mechanical puppets performed tricks, such as singing girls who played music and danced, other puppets who would beat drums and sound flutes when one puppet entered the scene, puppets dancing on balls, throwing swords, hanging upside down on rope ladders, etc.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 158"/> Other mechanical puppets dressed as government officials did tasks in their offices, puppets dressed as laborers did jobs of pounding and grinding ([[trip hammer]] and [[millstone]]), while others watched [[cockfighting]], all moving simultaneously.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 158"/> Water-powered puppet theaters in the tradition of Ma Jun were created in later dynasties as well.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 164">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 164.</ref>

===R===

* '''[[Raised-relief map|Raised-relief map (Terrain Model)]]''': The raised-relief map may have existed in China since the 3rd century BC, if the accounts in the ''[[Records of the Grand Historian]]'' (by [[Sima Qian]], 91 BC) about [[Qin Shi Huang]]'s (r. 221–210 BC) tomb prove correct (if it is excavated).<ref name="needham volume 3 580 581"/> It is known that [[Ma Yuan (Han Dynasty)|Ma Yuan]] (14 BC&nbsp;– 49 AD) created a raised-relief map in 32 AD made out of rice, a type of map described in detail during the Tang dynasty (618–907) by Jiang Fang in his ''Essay on the Art of Constructing Mountains with Rice'' (c. 845).<ref>Crespigny (2007), p 659.</ref> Xie Zhuang (421–466) of the [[Liu Song dynasty]] (420–479) created a {{convert|0.93|m2|ft2|abbr=on}} wooden raised-relief map of the empire (showing mountains and rivers) which could be taken apart and pieced together like a giant [[jigsaw puzzle]]. The Song dynasty polymath [[Shen Kuo]] also created his own raised-relief map using sawdust, wood, beeswax, and wheat paste.<ref>Sivin (1995), III, p. 22.</ref><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 3, pp 579–580.</ref>
* '''[[Menu|Restaurant menu]]''': During the early Song dynasty (960–1279), expanding trade and commerce brought money and people to the Song Chinese capital. The first restaurants sprang up and food like dumplings and noodles became available to the masses for a small price. Urban shopkeepers of the [[Four occupations|merchant middle class]] often had little time to eat at home, so they ventured out to eat at a variety of establishments such as temples, taverns, tea houses, food stalls, and [[restaurant]]s which provided business for nearby brothels, singing-girl houses, and [[Culture of the Song Dynasty#Performing arts|drama theaters]]; this along with [[Society of the Song Dynasty#Ethnic, foreign and religious minorities|traveling foreigners]] and Chinese who migrated to urban centers from regions with different cooking styles encouraged a demand for a variety of flavors served at urban restaurants, giving rise to the menu.<ref>West (1997), 70–76.</ref><ref>Gernet (1962), 133–134, 137.</ref>
* '''[[Bookcase|Revolving bookcase]]''': Revolving bookcases, known as ''zhuanluntang'', have been documented in ancient China, and its invention is credited to Fu Xi in 544.<ref name="Chinese Classical Furniture"/> Descriptions of revolving bookcases have been found in 8th- and 9th-century Chinese texts. Revolving bookcases were popularized in Buddhist monasteries during the [[Song dynasty]] under the reign of [[Emperor Taizu of Song|Emperor Taizu]], who ordered the mass printing of the Buddhist [[Tripiṭaka]] scriptures.<ref name="Chinese Classical Furniture"/> An illustration of a revolving bookcase is depicted in Li Jie's architectural treatise the ''[[Yingzao Fashi]]''.<ref name="Chinese Classical Furniture">{{cite book |title=Austere Luminosity of Chinese Classical Furniture. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-EKkblrm6sUC&pg=PA247 |year=2001 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-21484-2 |pages=246–247}}</ref>
* '''[[Rockets]]''': The first gunpowder-powered rockets were developed during the Song dynasty and by the 13th century. The Chinese rocket technology was adopted by the Mongols and the invention was spread via the [[Mongol invasions]] to the Middle East and Europe in the mid-13th century.<ref>"Rockets appear in Arab literature in 1258 A.D., describing Mongol invaders' use of them on February 15 to capture the city of Baghdad." {{cite web|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/rocket-history.txt|title=A brief history of rocketry|work=NASA Spacelink|access-date=2006-08-19|archive-date=2006-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060805203537/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/history/rocket-history.txt|url-status=dead}}</ref> Rockets were used by the Song navy in a military exercise in 1245. Combustion rocket propulsion is mentioned in a reference to 1264, recording that the "ground-rat", a type of [[firework]], had frightened the Empress-Mother Gongsheng at a feast held in her honor by her son the [[Emperor Lizong]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Crosby | first = Alfred W. | title = Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology Through History | year = 2002 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | isbn = 0-521-79158-8 | pages = 100–103}}</ref> Subsequently, rockets are included in the military treatise ''[[Huolongjing]]'', also known as the Fire Drake Manual, written by the Chinese artillery officer [[Jiao Yu]] in the mid-14th century. This text mentions the first known [[multistage rocket]], the 'fire-dragon issuing from the water' (huo long chu shui), thought to have been used by the Chinese navy.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 510">Needham, Volume 5, Part 7, 510.</ref>
* '''[[Huolongjing#Fire arrows and rockets|Rocket bombs, aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads]]''': The first known rockets fitted with aerodynamic wings are described as the 'flying crows with magic fire' in the oldest strata of the ''[[Huolongjing]]'' (early-to-mid 14th century), compiled by [[Jiao Yu]] and [[Liu Bowen]] during the early Ming dynasty (1368–1644).<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 498 501">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 498–501.</ref> The body of the rocket was shaped like a bird (specifically a [[crow]]), packed with [[gunpowder]], and made of [[bamboo]] [[lath]]s forming a long basketwork frame that was reinforced with [[glue]]d paper.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 500">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 7, 500.</ref> A decorative head and tail were attached to the front and back ends, and the wings were nailed to the sides.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 500"/> Under each wing were two slanting rockets to propel the weapon; a main fuse was lit that ignited a fourfold fuse connected to each rocket and running through a drilled hole in the back of the bird.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 500"/> The book then claims that the rocket, after being launched high into the air and aimed at encampments or enemy boats, automatically produced an explosion upon impact that could be seen from considerably long distances.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 502">Needham (1986), Volume 5, Part 2, 502.</ref>
* '''[[Booster (rocketry)|Rocket boosters]]''': An illustration and description in the 14th century Chinese military treatise ''[[Huolongjing]]'' by the Ming dynasty military writer and philosopher [[Jiao Yu]] shows the oldest known multistage rocket with rocket boosters. The ''Huolongjing'' describes and illustrates the oldest known [[multistage rocket]].<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 510"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.csonline.com.cn/zt/ztchangsha/ht/htz_2/t20031226_84913.htm|title=火龙出水（明）简介|publisher=星辰在线|date=2003-12-26|access-date=July 17, 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090303144715/http://www.csonline.com.cn/zt/ztchangsha/ht/htz_2/t20031226_84913.htm|archive-date=March 3, 2009}}</ref> It was a two-stage rocket that had carrier or [[booster rocket]]s that would automatically ignite a number of smaller rocket arrows that were shot out of the front end of the missile, which was shaped like a dragon's head with an open mouth, before eventually burning out.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 510"/> This multi-stage rocket may be considered the ancestor to the modern [[C-602|YingJi-62]] [[Anti-ship missile|ASCM]].<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 510"/><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://shizheng.daqi.com/editor/slide/focus_huandeng/1635618/18.html#t|title=中国YJ-62新型远程反舰导弹|publisher=大旗网|date=2007-09-30|access-date=July 17, 2008}}{{dead link|date=November 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> The British scientist, sinologist, and historian [[Joseph Needham]] points out that the written material and depicted illustration of this rocket come from the oldest stratum of the ''Huolongjing'', which can be dated roughly to AD 1300–1350.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 510"/> Solid rocket boosters finds its roots in the Chinese invented [[fire arrows]] invented during the medieval Song dynasty more than 1000 years ago, using gunpowder as solid rocket propellants. Gunpowder was packed into a bamboo case cylinder and an opening was created on the cylinders other end. As the gunpowder was ignited, it began to burn rapidly and created large amounts of gas that would rush out to create thrust.<ref>{{Cite book |title=All About Rockets |last=Das |first=SK |publisher=Random House India  |year=2010 |isbn= 978-0143331636}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Inventions |last1=Crawford |first1=Jean |last2=Kinney |first2=Karin  |publisher=Time-Life Books |year=1994 |page=21}}</ref>
* '''[[Rocket launcher]]''': The earliest rocket launchers documented in imperial China launched [[fire arrow]]s with launchers constructed of wood, basketry, and bamboo tubes.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 488">Needham (1974), Volume 5, Part 7, 488.</ref> The rocket launchers divided the fire arrows with frames meant to keep the arrows separated, and were capable of firing multiple arrow rockets at once. Textual evidence and illustrations of various early rocket launchers are found in the 11th-century [[Northern Song dynasty]] text ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]''. The ''Wujing Zongyao'' describes the "long serpent" rocket launcher, a rocket launcher constructed of wood and carried with a wheelbarrow, and the "hundred tiger" rocket launcher, a rocket launcher made of wood and capable of firing 320 rocket arrows.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 493">Needham (1974), Volume 5, Part 7, 493.</ref> The text also describes a portable rocket arrow carrier consisting of a sling and a bamboo tube.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 7 495">Needham (1974), Volume 5, Part 7, 495.</ref>
* '''[[Fan (mechanical)|Rotary fan, manual and water-powered]]''': For purposes of [[air conditioning]], the Han dynasty craftsman and mechanical engineer [[Ding Huan]] (fl. 180 AD) invented a manually operated rotary fan with seven wheels that measured {{convert|3|m|ft|abbr=on}} in diameter; in the 8th century, during the Tang dynasty (618–907), the Chinese applied [[Hydraulics|hydraulic power]] to rotate the fan wheels for air conditioning; the rotary fan became even more common during the Song dynasty (960–1279).<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 99, 134, 151, 233.</ref><ref>Day & McNeil (1996), 210.</ref> The first rotary fan used in Europe was for mine ventilation during the 16th century, as illustrated by German mineralogist and metallurgist [[Georg Agricola]] (1494–1555).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 154">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 154.</ref>
* '''[[Rudder|Rudder, stern-mounted and vertical axial]]''': Lawrence V. Mott, who defines a steering oar as a rudder, states the [[ancient Egypt]]ian use of stern-mounted rudders can be traced back to the [[Sixth dynasty of Egypt|6th dynasty]] (2350–2200 BC).<ref name="mott 2 3 92">Mott (1991), 2–3, 92, 84, 95f.</ref> Mott states that the method of attachment for rudders in the Arab, Chinese, and European worlds differed from each other, leading him to doubt the spread of the Chinese system of attachment by socket-and-jaws or [[block and tackle]] (versus European [[pintle]]-and-[[gudgeon]] invented by c. 1180 AD).<ref name="mott 2 3 92"/><ref name="adshead 2000 156"/> In regard to Mott's definition of a steering oar as a rudder, [[Joseph Needham]], [[Richard Lefebvre des Noëttes]], K.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Tom, Chung Chee Kit, S.&nbsp;A.&nbsp;M.&nbsp;Adshead, Paul Johnstone, and Sean McGrail state that a steering oar is not a rudder; the steering oar can interfere with handling of the sails (limiting the potential for long ocean voyages) and it was fit more for small vessels on narrow, rapid-water transport; the rudder did not disturb the handling of the sails, took less of the [[helmsman]]'s energy to operate, was better fit for larger vessels on ocean travel, and first appeared in China.<ref name="tom 1989 103"/><ref name="adshead 2000 156">Adshead (2000), 156.</ref><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 627–628.</ref><ref>Chung (2005), 152.</ref><ref>Johnstone & McGrail (1988), 191.</ref> Leo Block writes of the use of the steering oar in the ancient [[History of the Mediterranean region|Mediterranean world]] (specifically in regards to the [[Phoenicia]]ns, 1550–300 BC): "A single sail tends to turn a vessel in an upwind or downwind direction, and rudder action is required to steer a straight course. A steering oar was used at this time because the rudder had not yet been invented. With a single sail, a frequent movement of the steering oar was required to steer a straight course; this slowed down the vessel because a steering oar (or rudder) course correction acts like a break."<ref>Block (2003), 8–9.</ref> The oldest depicted rudders at the back of a ship, without the use of [[oar]]s or a steering oar, comes from several ceramic models of Chinese ships made during both the Western and Eastern eras of the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD).<ref name="tom 1989 103"/><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 649–650.</ref><ref>Fairbank (2006), 192.</ref><ref name="deng 1997 42">Deng (1997), 42.</ref> According to the scholars Zhang Zunyan and Vassilios Christides, there is literary evidence to suggest that the axial stern rudder existed in China since the 1st century BC;<ref>Christides (1996), 66–67.</ref> Gang Deng asserts the first reference was made in the ''[[Huainanzi]]'' of the 2nd century BC,<ref name="deng 1997 42"/> and K. S. Tom says that the first clear reference is from the 5th century AD.<ref name="tom 1989 103"/> However, K.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Tom points to the fact that all Chinese pottery models of ships before this Guangzhou tomb model show steering oars instead of a rudder, which he states is strong evidence for the rudder's invention only by the 1st century AD.<ref>Tom (1989), 103–104.</ref> Jacques Gernet states that, although the Chinese had invented the rudder in the 1st century AD, it was not completely fixed to the sternpost of Chinese ships until the end of the 4th century.<ref>Gernet (1996), 378.</ref> The bulkhead ship design of the ''[[junk (ship)|junk]]'', which appeared roughly the same time as the rudder, provided the essential vertical components for the hinged axial rudder.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 3 391">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 391.</ref> Deng points out that an Eastern Han (25–220) model distinctly shows a rudder in its own, separate cabin, suggesting that helmsmanship had already become an established profession.<ref name="deng 1997 42"/> Tom and Deng state that, after the invention of the balanced rudder pivoted on an axis, the Chinese then innovated the fenestrated rudder by the Song dynasty (960–1279), with deliberate puncturing and boring out of holes in shapes such as diamonds, which, according to Tom, made the rudder "easier to steer, reduced turbulence drag, did not affect efficiency and was hydrodynamically sound."<ref name="deng 1997 42"/><ref name="tom 1989 104">Tom (1989), 104.</ref>

===S===
[[File:EastHanSeismograph.JPG|thumb|upright|A replica of [[Zhang Heng]]'s (78–139 AD) [[seismometer]] that employed a pendulum sensitive to [[inertia]] of ground tremors; while placed in [[Luoyang]] in 133, it detected an [[earthquake]] {{convert|400|to|500|km|mi|abbr=on}} away in [[Gansu]]]]
[[File:Chruche á feu+Balliste.jpg|thumb|upright|A depiction demonstrating the use of the Chinese stinkpot shown in the ''Traité sur les feux d'artifice pour le spectacle et pour la guerre'' by French pyrotechnician [[Jean-Charles Perrinet d'Orval]], 1745]]
[[File:SancaiHorseTang7-8thCentury.JPG|thumb|upright|A [[sancai]]-glazed horse statue from the Tang dynasty (618–907) showing a rider's [[stirrup]] connected to the [[saddle]]]]
[[File:Luding bridge.jpg|thumb|upright|The [[Luding Bridge]] in [[Sichuan]], an iron-chain suspension bridge]]
[[File:Songrivership3.jpg|thumb|upright|A Chinese Song dynasty naval [[Louchuan|tower ship]] with a Xuanfeng traction trebuchet catapult, taken from the ''[[Wujing Zongyao]]'', 1044 AD]]
[[File:Hydraulic-Powdered Trip Hammers.jpg|thumb|upright|Hydraulic-powered [[trip hammer]]s, from a Ming dynasty encyclopedia published in 1637 by [[Song Yingxing]] (1587–1666)]]
[[File:Bo of Duke of Qin.jpg|thumb|upright|An ornate bronze bell belonging to [[Duke Mu of Qin]] (d. 621 BC) from the [[Spring and Autumn period]] (722–481 BC)]]

* '''[[Salt well]]''': The Chinese have been using brine wells and a form of salt solution mining as part of their civilization for more than 2000 years.<ref name="Warren 2016 1034"/> The first recorded salt well in China was dug in the Sichuan province about 2,250 years ago. This was the first time that ancient water well technology was applied successfully for the exploitation of salt, and marked the beginning of Sichuan's salt drilling industry.<ref name="Kuhn">{{Cite journal |last=Kuhn |first=Oliver  |date=2004-06-30 |title=Ancient Chinese Drilling |url=https://csegrecorder.com/articles/view/ancient-chinese-drilling |journal=Canadian Society of Exploration Geophysicists |volume=29 |issue=6}}</ref> Shaft wells were sunk as early as 220 BC in the Sichuan and Yunnan provinces.<ref name="Warren 2016 1034"/> By 1035 AD, Chinese in the Sichuan area were using percussion drilling to recover deep brines, a technique that would not be introduced to Europe and the Western World for another 600 to 800 years. Medieval and modern European travelers to China between 1400 and 1700 AD reported salt and natural gas production from dense networks of brine wells.<ref name="Warren 2016 1034"/> Archaeological evidence of Song dynasty salt drilling tools used are kept and displayed in the [[Zigong]] Salt Industry Museum.<ref>{{cite book|author1=Xianyao Li|author2=Zhewen Luo|title=China's Museums|url=https://archive.org/details/chinasmuseums0000lixi_n4y6|url-access=registration|date=3 March 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-18690-2|pages=[https://archive.org/details/chinasmuseums0000lixi_n4y6/page/210 210]–211|quote=By the time of the Song Dynasty, Chinese craftsmen had invented special tools for digging small-mouth-diameter wells}}</ref> Many of the wells were sunk deeper than 450 m and at least one well was more than 1000 meters deep. The medieval Venetian traveler to China [[Marco Polo]] reported an annual production in a single province of more than 30,000 tonnes of brine during his time there.<ref name="Warren 2016 1034"/> According to ''Salt: A World History'', a Qing dynasty well, also in Zigong, "continued down to 3,300 feet [1,000&nbsp;m] making it at the time the deepest drilled well in the world."<ref name="Kurlansky">{{cite book|author=Mark Kurlansky|title=Salt: A World History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNEaD1g7XScC&pg=PT364|date=18 March 2011|publisher=Random House|isbn=978-0-307-36979-6|page=364}}</ref>
* '''[[Seismometer]]''': The Chinese polymath and inventor [[Zhang Heng]] (78–139) of the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) invented the first seismometer in 132, a large metal urn-shaped instrument which employed either a suspended [[pendulum]] or [[inverted pendulum]] acting on inertia (i.e. ground tremors from [[earthquake]]s) to dislodge a metal ball by a lever trip device; this ball would fall out of dragon-shaped metal mouth into the corresponding metal toad mouth indicating the exact cardinal direction of where a distant earthquake had occurred in order for the state to send swift aid and relief to the affected regions; several subsequent recreations of his device were employed by Chinese states up until the Tang dynasty (618–907), when use of the device fell into obscurity, a fact noted by the writer Zhou Mi about 1290, during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368).<ref name="tom 1989 104"/><ref>Minford & Lau (2002), 307.</ref><ref>Balchin (2003), 26–27.</ref><ref>Needham (1986), Volume 3, 627–635.</ref><ref>Krebs (2003), 31.</ref><ref>Wright (2001), 66.</ref><ref>Huang (1997), 64.</ref><ref>Yan (2007), 131–132.</ref>
* '''[[Sky lantern]]''': The Chinese military strategist, politician, writer, and inventor [[Zhuge Liang]] of the Three Kingdoms era is credited with its invention, and reportedly used it during military campaigns. According to the British scientist, historian, and sinologist Joseph Needham, sky lanterns have been used in China since the 3rd century BC.<ref name="Wittmer">{{cite book |author=Andreas Wittmer |title=Aviation Systems |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jPThSsfgfFgC&pg=PA7 |date=1 January 2011 |publisher=Springer |isbn=978-3-642-20080-9 |page=7 |quote=It all began with hot air balloons and kites in China. The Kongming lantern (proto hot air balloon) was known in China from ancient times. Its invention is usually attributed to the general Zhuge Liang... According to Joseph Needham, hot air balloons in China were known since the third century BC}}</ref> In 1783, the French entrepreneurs and inventors [[Montgolfier brothers|Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Etienne Montgolfier]] took part in the first modern manned hot air balloon flight.<ref name="Shectman">{{cite book |author=Jonathan Shectman |title=Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the 18th Century |url=https://archive.org/details/groundbreakingsc0000shec |url-access=registration |year=2003 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32015-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/groundbreakingsc0000shec/page/12 12]}}</ref>
* '''[[Snow gauge]]''': The first use of snow gauges were precipitation gauges that was widely used in 1247 during the [[Southern Song dynasty]] to gather meteorological data. The Song Chinese mathematician and inventor [[Qin Jiushao]] records the use of gathering rain and snowfall measurements in the Song mathematical treatise ''[[Mathematical Treatise in Nine Sections]]''. The book discusses the use of large conical or barrel-shaped snow gauges made from bamboo situated in mountain passes and uplands which are speculated to be first referenced to snow measurement.<ref name="Selin 2008 736"/><ref name="Strangeways 2011 140">{{Cite book |title=Precipitation: Theory, Measurement and Distribution |last=Strangeways |first=Ian |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2011 |isbn=978-0521172929 |publication-date=April 14, 2011 |page=140}}</ref>
* '''[[Solid-propellant rocket]]''': The medieval Song dynasty Chinese invented the solid-propellant rocket at a time when bows, arrows, and catapult-based projectile launchers were state of the art military technology in medieval Europe.<ref name="Hu 1997 15">{{Cite book |title=Space Science in China |last= Hu |first=Wen-Rui |year=1997 |isbn= 978-9056990237 |publication-date=August 20, 1997 |page=15|publisher= CRC Press }}</ref> Illustrations and descriptions in the 14th century Chinese military treatise ''[[Huolongjing]]'' by the Ming dynasty military writer and philosopher [[Jiao Yu]] confirm that the Chinese in 1232 used proto-solid propellant rockets then known as "[[fire arrows]]" to drive back the Mongols during the [[Siege of Kaifeng (1234)|Siege of Kaifeng]].<ref name="Greatrix 2012 1">{{Cite book |title=Powered Flight: The Engineering of Aerospace Propulsion |last=Greatrix |first= David R.  |publisher=Springer |year=2012 |isbn=978-1447124849 |pages=1}}</ref><ref name="Nielsen 1997 2–4">{{Cite book |title=Blast Off!: Rocketry for Elementary and Middle School Students P |last= Nielsen  |first= Leona |publisher= Libraries Unlimited  |year=1997 |isbn= 978-1563084386 |pages=2–4}}</ref> Each arrow took a primitive form of a simple, solid-propellant rocket tube that was filled gunpowder. One open end allowed the gas to escape and was attached to a long stick that acted as a guidance system for flight direction control.<ref name="Greatrix 2012 1"/><ref name="Nielsen 1997 2–4"/>
* '''[[South-pointing chariot]]''': Although the claim of [[Cao Wei|Wei dynasty]] mechanical engineer and statesman [[Ma Jun (mechanical engineer)|Ma Jun]] (fl. 220–265) that the south-pointing chariot was first invented by the mythological [[Yellow Emperor]] are dubious, his south-pointing chariot was successfully designed and tested in 255 AD with many later models recreated in subsequent dynasties; this device was a wheeled vehicle with [[Differential (mechanical device)|differential gears]] that ensured a mounted wooden figurine would always point in the southern direction no matter how the vehicle turned, in essence a non-magnetic [[compass]].<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 40, 286–298.</ref><ref>Day & McNeil (1996), 461.</ref><ref>Tom (1989), 98.</ref> The ''[[Book of Song]]'' written in the 6th century states that the device was successfully reinvented by the mathematician and astronomer [[Zu Chongzhi]] (429–500) during the [[Liu Song dynasty]] (420–479).<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 287.</ref> The Japanese historical text ''[[Nihon Shoki]]'', compiled by 720, states that the device was crafted and presented as a gift to [[Emperor Tenji]] (661–672) on two different occasions (658 and 666) by the Tang dynasty (618–907) [[Chinese Buddhism|Chinese Buddhist]] monks Zhi Yu and Zhi You.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 289.</ref> The wheeled vehicle device was described in intricate detail in the historical text covering the Song dynasty (960–1279), i.e. the ''Song Shi'' (compiled 1345); for example, it revealed the number of gear teeth on each mechanical gear wheel, the diameter of each gear wheel, and how these gear wheels were properly positioned.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 291–292.</ref>
* '''[[Soybean oil]]''': Chinese records from before 2000 BC mention the use of cultivated soybeans to produce edible soy oil.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Trading Commodities and Financial Futures: A Step-by-Step Guide to Mastering the Markets |last=Kleinman  |first= George  |publisher=Financial Times Press |year=2013 |isbn=978-0134087184 |edition=4th |publication-date=March 11, 2013 |pages=100}}</ref> Ancient Chinese literature reveals that soybeans were extensively cultivated and highly valued as a use for the soybean oil production process before written records were kept.<ref>{{Cite book |title=Flavor Chemistry of Fats and Oils  |last=Min |first=David B. |publisher=American Oil Chemists Society |year=1986 |isbn=978-0935315127 |editor-last=Smouse  |editor-first=Thomas H. |publication-date=January 1, 1986 |pages=85}}</ref>
* '''[[Soy sauce]]''': Soy sauce in its current form was created about 2,200 years ago during the [[Han dynasty#Western Han|Western Han dynasty]] and was soon spread throughout East and Southeast Asia where it is used in cooking and as a condiment.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.flavorandfortune.com/dataaccess/article.php?ID=239|title=Soy Sauce, China's Liquid Spice|website=www.flavorandfortune.com|access-date=2016-11-07|archive-date=2016-11-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108052336/http://www.flavorandfortune.com/dataaccess/article.php?ID=239|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name="web1" /><ref name="needham2000jiang" /><ref>
Tanaka, Norio. [http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/publish/periodic/jfn/pdf/jfn27_2.pdf "Shōyu: The Flavor of Japan,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226200239/http://www.jpf.go.jp/e/publish/periodic/jfn/pdf/jfn27_2.pdf |date=2009-02-26 }}  ''The Japan Foundation Newsletter'' Vol. XXVII, No. 2 (January 2000), p. 2.
</ref> The condiment considered almost as old as ''soy paste'' — a type of fermented paste (Jiang, [[:zh:酱|酱]]) obtained from soybeans — which had appeared during the [[Han dynasty#Western Han|Western Han dynasty]] and was listed in the bamboo slips found in the archaeological site [[Mawangdui]].<ref name="web1">[https://web.archive.org/web/20120130171757/http://big5.xinhuanet.com/gate/big5/www.godpp.gov.cn/wmzh/2007-10/11/content_11376810.htm 调料文化：酱油的由来]</ref><ref name="needham2000jiang">{{cite book|last=Hsing-Tsung|first=Huang|title=Joseph Needham: Science and Civilisation in China, Vol.6, Part 5|publisher=Cambridge University Press|date=2000|isbn=0521652707|page=346}}</ref>
* '''[[Steelmaking|Steel made from cast iron through oxygenation]]''': The earliest known production of steel is a piece of ironware excavated from an [[archaeological site]] in [[Anatolia]] ([[Kaman-Kalehoyuk]]) and is about 4,000 years old.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ironware piece unearthed from Turkey found to be oldest steel |url=http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200903261611.htm |access-date=2009-03-27 |location=Chennai, India |work=The Hindu |date=2009-03-26 |archive-date=2009-03-29 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090329111924/http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200903261611.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> Other ancient steel comes from [[Eastern Africa|East Africa]], dating from 1400 BC.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAFRCA/IRONAGE.HTM |title=Civilizations in Africa: The Iron Age South of the Sahara |publisher=Washington State University |access-date=2007-08-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070924145657/http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/CIVAFRCA/IRONAGE.HTM |archive-date=2007-09-24 }}</ref> In the 4th century BC steel weapons like the [[Falcata]] were produced in the [[Iberian Peninsula]], and [[Noric steel]] was used by the [[Military of ancient Rome|Roman military]].<ref>"Noricus ensis," [[Horace]], Odes, i. 16.9</ref> The Chinese, who had been producing [[cast iron]] from the late [[Spring and Autumn period]] (722–481 BC), produced [[steel]] by the 2nd century BC through a process of [[decarburization]], i.e. using [[bellows]] to pump large amounts of [[oxygen]] on to molten cast iron.<ref name="pigott 1999 186"/><ref>Wang (1982), 125.</ref> This was first described in the Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) book ''[[Huainanzi]]'', compiled by scholars under Prince [[Liu An]] (179–122 BC). For steel, they used both [[quench]]ing (i.e. rapid cooling) and [[tempering (metallurgy)|tempering]] (i.e. slow cooling) methods of [[heat treatment]]. Much later, the American inventor [[William Kelly (inventor)|William Kelly]] (1811–1888) brought four Chinese metallurgists to [[Eddyville, Kentucky]] in 1845, whose expertise in steelmaking influenced his ideas about air injection to reduce carbon content of iron; his invention anticipated the [[Bessemer process]] of English inventor [[Henry Bessemer]] (1813–1898).<ref>Wagner (2008), pp 363–5.</ref>
* '''[[Stinkpot (weapon)|Stinkpot]]''': The stinkpot was an earthenware incendiary weapon, part of which was filled with sulphur, gunpowder, nails, and shot, while the other part was filled with noxious materials designed to emanate a highly unpleasant and suffocating smell when ignited.<ref name="Needham, Joseph 1986 Pages 189">Needham, Joseph (1986). ''Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 7, Military Technology: the gunpowder epic''. Taipei: Caves Books Ltd. Pages 189.</ref> The weapon was used in the 19th century during the Qing dynasty, where the British Admiral [[William Kennedy (Royal Navy officer)|Sir William Robert Kennedy]] recorded the use of the stinkpot in 1856 during the [[Second Opium War]] in his book ''Hurrah for the Life of a Sailor – Fifty Years in the Royal Navy''. These incendiary weapons were wrapped in calico bags and were then hoisted in a basket to the truck of the mast.<ref name=hurrah-ch5>{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Vice-Admiral Sir William|title=Hurrah for the Life of a Sailor – Fifty Years in the Royal Navy|isbn=978-1-4368-7869-2|chapter-url=http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Hurrah/Chap_05.htm|chapter=Chapter 5: War With China|date=June 2008|publisher=Kessinger |access-date=2017-11-26|archive-date=2017-08-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810123137/http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Hurrah/Chap_05.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> When an enemy ship was alongside, one of the crew members would climb up the mast and primed the stinkpots with lighted joss sticks.<ref name=hurrah-ch5/> The stinkpots were then launched onto the enemy deck by cutting the rope by which the basket had been hoisted.<ref name=hurrah-ch7>{{cite book|last=Kennedy|first=Vice-Admiral Sir William|title=Hurrah for the Life of a Sailor – Fifty Years in the Royal Navy|isbn=978-1-4368-7869-2|chapter-url=http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Hurrah/Chap_07.htm|chapter=Chapter 7: Evacuation of Canton|date=June 2008|publisher=Kessinger |access-date=2017-11-26|archive-date=2017-08-10|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170810123145/http://www.pbenyon.plus.com/Hurrah/Chap_07.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> The ensuing noise, flying debris, and pungent smell it would create, would cause the enemy crew sufficient confusion and blow them into disarray.<ref name="Needham, Joseph 1986 Pages 189"/> 
* '''[[Stir frying]]''': Stir frying is a Chinese cooking technique used for preparing food in a wok. It originates from the Han dynasty, but did not fully develop until the Song dynasty.<ref name="Newman">{{cite book |author=Jacqueline M. Newman |title=Food Culture in China |date=1 January 2004 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-32581-6 |pages=90–91|author-link=Jacqueline M. Newman }}</ref> Although there are no surviving records of Han dynasty stir frying, archaeological evidence of [[wok]]s and the tendency to slice food thinly indicate that the technique was likely used for cooking.<ref name="Anderson">{{cite book |author=E. N. Anderson |title=The Food of China |year=1988 |publisher=Yale University Press |isbn=978-0-300-04739-4 |page=52}}</ref> It was not until the [[Ming dynasty]] that stir frying was popularized as primary cooking method of Chinese cuisine.<ref>{{Harvnb|Newman|2004|p=5}}</ref> Stir frying was brought to America by early [[Chinese American|Chinese immigrants]], and has been used for non-Asian cuisines.<ref name="Smith">{{cite book |author=Merril D. Smith |title=History of American Cooking |date=9 January 2013 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=978-0-313-38712-8 |page=65}}</ref>
* '''[[Suspension bridge|Suspension bridge using iron chains]]''': Although there is evidence that many early cultures had suspension bridges with cabled ropes, the first written evidence of iron-chain suspension bridges comes from a local history and topography of [[Yunnan]] written in the 15th century, which describes the repair of an iron-chain bridge during the reign of the [[Yongle Emperor]] (r. 1402–1424); although Ming dynasty (1368–1644) Chinese claims that iron-chain suspension bridges had existed since the Han dynasty are questionable, their existence in the 15th century is the earliest known anywhere.<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 3, 196–197.</ref> K.&nbsp;S.&nbsp;Tom mentions this same repaired Ming suspension bridge described by Needham, and adds that recent research has revealed a document that lists the names of those said to have built an iron chain suspension bridge in Yunnan about AD 600.<ref>Tom (1989), 105–106.</ref>

===T===
* '''[[Tangram]]''': The tangram is a [[dissection puzzle]] consisting of seven flat shapes, which are put together to form shapes. The objective of the puzzle is to form a specific shape using all seven pieces, which may not overlap. The game is reputed to have been invented in China during the [[Song dynasty]],<ref name="inthandbook">{{cite book |author=Jiannong Shi |title=International Handbook of Intelligence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbNLJl_L6MMC&pg=PA330 |date=2 February 2004 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-00402-2 |editor=Robert J. Sternberg |pages=330–331}}</ref> and was popularized in Europe and United States during the 19th century.<ref name="Bolt">{{cite book |author=Brian Bolt |title=Mathematical activities: a resource book for teachers |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1982 |isbn=978-0-521-28518-6 |page=45}}</ref> The word tangram is likely derived from two words, the Chinese word ''tang'', referring to the medieval Chinese [[Tang dynasty]], and the Greek word ''gramma'', a synonym of "graph".<ref name="The Words of Mathematics">{{cite book |title=The Words of Mathematics: An Etymological Dictionary of Mathematical Terms Used in English |url=https://archive.org/details/wordsofmathemati0000schw |url-access=registration |year=1994 |publisher=Mathematical Association of America |isbn=978-0-88385-511-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/wordsofmathemati0000schw/page/218 218]}}</ref>
* '''[[Tea]]''': The tea plant is indigenous to western [[Yunnan]];<ref>Martin (2007), 8.</ref> it is thought that by the mid 2nd millennium BC, tea was consumed in Yunnan for medicinal purposes,<ref>Heiss (2007), 4–6.</ref> but the earliest physical evidence (discovered in 2016) comes from the tomb of [[Emperor Jing of Han]], dated to the 2nd century BC.<ref>{{cite journal |title=Earliest tea as evidence for one branch of the Silk Road across the Tibetan Plateau|volume=6|pages=18955|author=Houyuan Lu|journal=[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]|doi=10.1038/srep18955|pmid=26738699|pmc=4704058| date=7 January 2016|display-authors=etal|bibcode=2016NatSR...618955L}}</ref> Tea drinking was already an established custom in the daily life in this area as shown by the ''Contract with a Slave'', written by [[Wang Bao]] in 59 BC,<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 6, Part 5, 513.</ref> the first source to mention boiling of tea.<ref>Mair & Hoh (2009), 29–30.</ref> This written record also reveals that [[tea processing|tea was processed]] and used as a drink instead of a medicinal herb, emerged no later than the 1st century BC.<ref>Wang (2005), 2–3, 11.</ref> Early [[Chinese tea culture]] began from the time of Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) to the [[Northern and Southern dynasties]] (420–589) when tea was widely used by Chinese gentry, but only took its initial shape during the Tang dynasty (618–907).<ref>Wang (2005), 17–20.</ref>
* '''[[Teapot]]''': The teapot was invented during the [[Yuan dynasty]], tea preparation in previous dynasties did not utilize a teapot.<ref name="Lo">{{cite book |author=Kuei-Hsiang Lo |title=The Stonewares of Yixing: From the Ming Period to the Present Day |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3zAP3tBBPEcC&pg=PA18 |access-date=8 February 2013 |year=1986 |publisher=Hong Kong University Press |isbn=978-962-209-112-2 |page=18}}</ref> In the Tang dynasty, a cauldron was used to boil ground tea, which was served in bowls. Song dynasty tea was made by pouring water boiled using a kettle into a bowl with finely ground tea leaves. A brush was then used to stir the tea. The innovation of the teapot, a vessel that steeps tea leaves in boiling water, occurs during the late Yuan dynasty. Written evidence of a teapot appears in the Yuan dynasty text, ''Jiyuan Conghua'', which describes a teapot that the author, Cai Shizhan, bought from the scholar Sun Daoming. By the Ming dynasty, teapots were widespread in China.<ref name="Lo"/>
* '''[[Thyroid|Thyroid hormones to treat goiters]]''': In 239 BC, ''[[Lushi Chunqiu|Master Lu's Spring and Autumn Annals]]'' stated that where water is too light, people suffer widespread [[baldness]] and [[goiter]].<ref name="slater 2011 web">Slater, Stefan. "The Discovery of Thyroid Replacement Therapy. Part 1: In the Beginning." ''Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine'' 104.1 (2011): 15–18. PMC. Web. 24 Aug. 2016.</ref> It was not until the 1860 that French physician [[Gaspard Adolphe Chatin]] (1813–1901) linked goiter with the lack of [[iodine]] in soil and water; iodine was discovered in the thyroid gland in 1896 by German chemist [[Eugen Baumann]], and thyroid extract was used to treat patients in 1890. The Tang dynasty (618–907) physician Zhen Quan (d. 643 AD), in his ''Old and New Tried and Tested Prescriptions'', stated that the thyroid glands taken from [[Gelding|gelded]] [[Domestic sheep|rams]] were used to treat patients with goiter; the thyroid hormones could be swallowed in pill form (the body of the pill made from crushed [[jujube]] pulp) or as a solid thyroid gland with the fat taken off.<ref name="slater 2011 web"/> The ''Pharmacopoeia of the Heavenly Husbandman'' asserted that iodine-rich [[sargassum]] was used to treat goiter by the 1st century BC ([[Ge Hong]], 284–364, also suggested using a [[tincture]] derived from sargassum seaweed in about 340 AD),<ref name="medvei 1993 48">Medvei (1993), 48.</ref> a treatment later recorded in the Western World by Italian practrica [[Roger II of Sicily|Roger of Palermo]] in his ''Practica Chirurgiae'' of 1180 AD.
* '''[[Tofu]]''': Although both popular tradition and Song dynasty philosophers like [[Zhu Xi]] (1130–1200 AD) credit the invention of [[tofu]]—along with [[soymilk]]— to [[Liu An]] (179–122 BC), a [[Kings of the Han dynasty|Han dynasty King]] of [[Huainan]], no mention of tofu is found in the extant ''[[Huainanzi]]'' (compiled under Liu An).<ref name="shurtleff aoyagi 2001 92">Shurtleff & Aoyagi (2001), 92.</ref><ref name="liu 1999 166">Liu (1999), 166.</ref><ref name="yang 2004 217 218">Yang (2004), 217–218.</ref> The earliest known mention of tofu was made in ''Records of the Extraordinary'' (''Qingyi lu'' 清異錄), which reported that tofu was sold at [[Qingyang County|Qingyang]] ([[Anhui]]).<ref>Shinoda (1963), 4.</ref> The earliest explanation of how to make tofu is found in the ''[[Bencao Gangmu]]'', written by the Ming dynasty polymath [[Li Shizhen]] (1518–1593).<ref name="yang 2004 217 218"/> According to Liu Keshun (1999), Liu An's process for making tofu was essentially the same as today.<ref>Liu (1999), 166–167.</ref>
* '''[[Toilet paper]]''': Toilet paper was first mentioned by the Sui Chinese politician and artist [[Yan Zhitui]] (531–591) in the year 589 during the [[Sui dynasty]], with full evidence of continual use in subsequent dynasties.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 123">Needham, Volume 5, Part 1, 123.</ref><ref>Hunter (1978), 207.</ref> By the mid 14th century during the Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), it was written that ten million packages of 1,000 to 10,000 sheets of toilet paper were manufactured annually in [[Zhejiang]] province alone.<ref name="needham volume 5 part 1 123"/>
* '''[[Trebuchet|Traction trebuchet]]''': The earliest type of trebuchet catapult was the traction trebuchet, developed first in China by the 5th or 4th century BC, the beginning of the [[Warring States period]] (403–221 BC); to operate the trebuchet, a team of men pulled on ropes attached to the butt of the shorter segment of a long wooden beam separated by a rotating axle fixed to a base framework, allowing the longer segment of the beam to lunge forward and use its sling to hurl a missile; by the 9th century a hybrid of the traction and [[Trebuchet#History|counterweight trebuchet]], employing manpower and a pivoting weight, was used in the Middle East, [[Mediterranean Basin]], and [[Northern Europe]]; by the 12th century, the full-fledged counterweight trebuchet was developed under the [[Ayyubid dynasty]] of Islamic Syria and Egypt (described by [[Mardi bin Ali al-Tarsusi]]) and used in the [[Third Crusade]]; by the 13th century, the counterweight trebuchet found its way into Song dynasty (960–1279) China via the [[Mongol invasion of China|Mongol invaders]] under [[Kublai Khan]] (r. 1260–1294) who used it in the [[Battle of Xiangyang|Siege of Xiangyang]] (1267–1273).<ref>Chevedden (1998), 179–222.</ref><ref>Turnbull (2001), 9, 45–46.</ref><ref>Chevedden (1999), 36.</ref>
* '''[[Trip hammer]]''': The ancient Chinese used [[pestle and mortar]] to pound and decorticate grain, which was superseded by the treadle-operated tilt hammer (employing a simple [[lever]] and [[wikt:fulcrum|fulcrum]]) perhaps during the Zhou dynasty (1122–256 BC) but first described in a Han dynasty (202 BC&nbsp;– 220 AD) dictionary of 40 BC and soon after by the Han dynasty philosopher and writer [[Yang Xiong (author)|Yang Xiong]] (53 BC&nbsp;– 18 AD) in his ''[[Fangyan (book)|Fangyan]]'' dictionary written in 15 BC; the next stage in this evolution of grain-pounding devices was to apply [[Hydraulics|hydraulic power]], which the Han dynasty philosopher and writer [[Huan Tan]] (43 BC&nbsp;– 28 AD) mentioned in his ''Xinlun'' of 20 AD, although he also described trip hammers powered by the labor of horses, oxen, donkeys, and mules.<ref>Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 183–184, 390–392.</ref> After Huan Tan's book was written, numerous references to trip hammers powered by [[waterwheel]]s were made in subsequent Chinese dynasties and in medieval Europe by the 12th century.<ref>Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 379, 392–395.</ref> However, trip hammers were also attested by both literary ([[Pliny the Elder|Pliny]], ''[[Natural History (Pliny)|Natural History]]'' 18.97) and archaeological evidence in fairly widespread use in the [[Roman Empire]] by the 1st century AD.<ref>Wilson (2002), 1–32.</ref><ref>Burnham (1997) 333–335.</ref>
* '''[[Bianzhong|Tuned bells]]''': The earliest complete set of tuned bells, sixteen in all, were found in Tomb 8 of [[Jin (Chinese state)|Marquis Su of Jin]] at Qucun, southern [[Shanxi]].<ref>Wang (2007), 8 & 26.</ref> The tomb has been dated by [[Accelerator mass spectrometry|AMS]] radiocarbon techniques to 815–786 BC, during the period of the Zhou dynasty.<ref>Guo et al. (1996), 1112–1114.</ref> Of the [[Bianzhong of Marquis Yi of Zeng|sixty-four bronze bells found]] in the [[tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng]] interred by 433 BC, forty-seven of them produce two notes with [[Interval (music)|minor third intervals]] and sixteen produce two notes with [[Interval (music)|major third intervals]].
* '''[[Tung oil]]''': The tung oil tree originates in southern China and was cultivated there for tung oil, but the date of cultivation remains unknown.<ref name="Keightley">{{cite book |author=David N. Keightley |title=The Origins of Chinese Civilization |year=1983 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-04229-2 |pages=50–}}</ref> During the Song dynasty, tung oil was used for [[waterproofing]] on ships.<ref>Ebrey, Walthall, and Palais (2006), 133.</ref> Tung oil is etymologically derived from the Chinese ''tongyou''.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Tung oil |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tung%20oil |dictionary=Merriam Webster |access-date=5 October 2012}}</ref> The earliest references for Chinese use of tung oil is in the writings of Confucius around 500 to 400 BC<ref>{{Cite book |title=Industrial Oil Crops |last1= McKeon |first1= Thomas |last2= Hayes |first2=Douglas |last3= Hildebrand |first3=David |last4= Weselake |first4=Randall |publisher=AOCS Press |year=2016 |isbn=978-1893997981 |publication-date=March 8, 2016 |page=243}}</ref><ref>{{Cite thesis |last=Xia |first= Wenwen |title=An Investigation of Chinese Historical Grey Bricks of Soochow, Jiangsu and the Effect of Tung Oil Treatment |date=2015 |degree=Masters |publisher=University of Pennsylvania 
|url=https://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1595&context=hp_theses}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.sutherlandwelles.com/what-is-tung-oil.html |title=The History of Tung Oil |website=Sutherland Welles |access-date=2017-11-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180504061101/http://www.sutherlandwelles.com/what-is-tung-oil.html |archive-date=2018-05-04 |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.richmondwoodturners.org/pdf/newsletter/2017_04_newsletter.pdf |title=Finishing Tips and Tricks |last=Deyo |first=Ray |date=April 1, 2017 |work=American Association of Woodturners}}</ref> The Chinese have used tung oil, also known as China wood oil, for at least 2500 years for building waterproof boats and paper parasols, wood finishing, wood waterproofing, caulking, inks and paints.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.canadianwoodworking.com/get-more/tung-oil-debunking-myths |title=Tung Oil: Debunking the Myths – Canadian Woodworking Magazine |last=White |first=Cynthia |date=July 1, 2012 |website=Canadian Woodworking}}</ref>

===W===
[[File:Winnowing machine.jpg|thumb|upright|Chinese rotary fan winnowing machine, from an encyclopedia published in 1637 by [[Song Yingxing]]]]
[[Image:Qingming Festival Detail 7.jpg|thumb|upright|The one-wheeled Chinese wheelbarrow, from the Song dynasty painter [[Zhang Zeduan]]'s (1085–1145) painting ''[[Along the River During Qingming Festival]]'', [[Song dynasty]].]]

* '''[[Well drilling]]''': The earliest record of well-drilling dates from AD 347, in China.<ref>{{cite book|author=Kristiina A. Vogt|title=Sustainability Unpacked: Food, Energy and Water for Resilient Environments and Societies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oTI2rOXbEAwC&pg=PT47|date=25 June 2012|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-136-53060-9|page=47|quote=The first record of drilling for oil occurred in China in 347 CE}}</ref> Petroleum was used in ancient China for "lighting, as a lubricant for cart axles and the bearings of water-powered drop hammers, as a source of carbon for [[inkstick]]s, and as a medical remedy for sores on humans and [[mange]] in animals."<ref>{{cite book|author=Peter J. Golas|title=Science and Civilisation in China: Volume 5, Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part 13, Mining|date=25 February 1999|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-58000-7|page=202}}</ref> In ancient China, deep well drilling machines were in the forefront of brine well production by the 1st century BC. The ancient Chinese developed advanced sinking wells and were the first civilization to use a well-drilling machine and to use bamboo well casings to keep the holes open.<ref name="Kuhn"/><ref>{{Cite book |title=Applied Principles of Hydrology |last=Manning |first=John C.  |publisher= Prentice Hall |year=1996 |isbn= 978-0135655320 |edition=3rd |publication-date=June 24, 1996 |page=154}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The Technology of Ancient China |last=Greenberger |first=Robert |publisher=Rosen Publishing Group |year=2005 |isbn=978-1404205581 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/technologyofanci0000gree/page/27 27] |url=https://archive.org/details/technologyofanci0000gree/page/27 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Alternative Fuels: The Future of Hydrogen |last=Frank Hordeski |first=Michael  |publisher=CRC Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-1420080162 |pages=51}}</ref> 
* '''[[Well-field system]]''': The well-field system was a Chinese land-distribution method used from the ninth century BC (late Western [[Zhou dynasty]]) to about the end of the [[Warring States period]]. Its name comes from [[Chinese character]] [[wikt:井|井]] (''jǐng''), which means 'well' and looks like the [[number sign|# symbol]]; this character represents the theoretical appearance of land division: a square area of land was divided into nine identically sized sections; the eight outer sections (私田; ''sītián'') were privately cultivated by serfs and the center section (公田; gōngtián) was communally cultivated on behalf of the landowning aristocrat.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Zhufu|1981|p=7}}</ref>
* '''[[Wheat gluten (food)|Wheat gluten]]''': The earliest description of wheat gluten comes from 6th century China.<ref name="sah">{{cite book |last1=Shurtleff |first1=William |author-link=William Shurtleff |last2=Aoyagi |first2=Akiko |last3=Huang |first3=H.T. |title=History of Soybeans and Soyfoods in China and Taiwan, and in Chinese Cookbooks, Restaurants, and Chinese Work with Soyfoods Outside China (1024 BCE to 2014) |year=2014 |publisher=Soyinfo Center |isbn=978-1-928914-68-6 |pages=2478–2479}}</ref> It was widely consumed by the Chinese as a substitute for meat, especially among adherents of Buddhism.<ref name=ftp>{{cite book|last=Anderson|first=E.N.|title=Food in Time and Place|year=2014|publisher=University of California Press|chapter=China|isbn=978-0-520-95934-7|page=44}}</ref> The oldest reference to wheat gluten appears in the ''[[Qimin Yaoshu]]'', a Chinese agricultural encyclopedia written by Jia Sixie in 535. The encyclopedia mentions noodles prepared from wheat gluten called ''bo duo''. Wheat gluten was known as ''mian jin'' by the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279).<ref name="sah"/>
* '''[[Wheelbarrow]]''': The earliest wheelbarrows with archaeological evidence in the form of a one-wheel cart come from 2nd century [[Han dynasty]] Emperor Hui's tomb [[mural]]s and brick tomb [[relief]]s.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 263 267">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 263–267.</ref> The painted tomb mural of a man pushing a wheelbarrow was found in a tomb at [[Chengdu]], [[Sichuan]] province, dated precisely to AD 118.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 265">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 265.</ref> The stone carved relief of a man pushing a wheelbarrow was found in the tomb of Shen Fujun in [[Sichuan province]], dated about AD 150.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 264-265">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 264–265.</ref> And then there is the story of the pious [[Dong Yuan]] pushing his father around in a single-wheel ''lu che'' barrow, depicted in a mural of the Wu Liang tomb-shrine of [[Shandong]] (dated to AD 147).<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 263">Needham, Volume 4, Part 2, 263.</ref> However, there are even earlier accounts than this that date from the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD. The 5th century ''[[Book of Later Han]]'' stated that the wife of the once poor and youthful [[Censorate|imperial censor]] [[Bao Xuan]] helped him push a ''lu che'' back to his village during their feeble wedding ceremony, about 30 BC.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 265"/> Later, during the [[Chimei|Red Eyebrows Rebellion]] (about AD 20) against [[Xin dynasty]]'s [[Wang Mang]] (45 BC – AD 23), the official [[Zhao Xi]] saved his wife from danger by disguising himself and pushing her along in his ''lu che'' barrow, past a group of [[Outlaw|brigand]] rebels who questioned him, and allowed him to pass after he convinced them that his wife was terribly ill.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 265"/> The first recorded description of a wheelbarrow appears in [[Liu Xiang (scholar)|Liu Xiang]]'s work ''[[Biographies of the Immortals|Lives of Famous Immortals]]''. Liu describes the invention of the wheelbarrow by the legendary Chinese mythological figure Ko Yu, who builds a "[[Wooden ox]]".<ref name="Rezende 2007 40"/> 
* '''[[Winnowing|Winnowing machine, Rotary fan]]''': Contemporary to the rotary air conditioning fan invented by Han dynasty mechanical engineer [[Ding Huan]] (fl. 180 AD) is a pottery tomb model of a [[Crank (mechanism)|crank-operated]] rotary winnowing fan from the Han dynasty, used for separating [[chaff]] from [[grain]].<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 118, 153–154, PLATE CLVI.</ref><ref>Wang (1982), 57.</ref> The winnowing fan was first described by the Tang dynasty writer and linguist [[Yan Shigu]] (581–645), in his commentary on the ''[[Jijiupian]]'' dictionary written earlier in 40 BC by Shi Yu; it was also mentioned in a poem by the Song dynasty artist Mei Yaochen in about 1060.<ref name="needham volume 4 part 2 153 154">Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 153–154.</ref> The earliest known drawn illustration of the winnowing fan comes from the ''Book of Agriculture'' published in 1313 by Yuan dynasty inventor and politician [[Wang Zhen (official)|Wang Zhen]] (fl. 1290–1333).<ref>Needham (1986), Volume 4, Part 2, 118, 151–153.</ref>
* '''[[Wrapping paper]]''' and '''paper [[envelope]]''': The use of wrapping paper is first documented in ancient China, where paper was invented in the 2nd century BC.<ref name="Tsienpaper">{{Cite journal |last=Tsien |first=Tsuen-Hsuin |series=Joseph Needham, Science and Civilisation in China, Chemistry and Chemical Technology |volume=5 part 1 |title=Paper and Printing |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1985 |page=38}}</ref> In the [[Southern Song]] dynasty, monetary gifts were wrapped with paper, forming an [[envelope]] known as a ''chih pao''. The wrapped gifts were distributed by the Chinese court to government officials.<ref name="Needham">{{cite book |author=Joseph Needham |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Paper and Printing |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Lx-9mS6Aa4wC&pg=PA122 |access-date=16 April 2013 |year=1985 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-08690-5 |page=122 |quote=In the Southern Sung dynasty, gift money for bestowing upon officials by the imperial court was wrapped in paper envelopes (chih pao)}}</ref> In the Chinese text ''Thien Kung Khai Wu'', Sung Ying-Hsing states that the coarsest wrapping paper is manufactured with rice straws and [[bamboo]] fiber.<ref name="Tsien123">{{harvnb|Tsien|1985|p=123}}</ref> Although the Hall brothers Rollie and Joyce Hall, founders of [[Hallmark Cards]], did not invent gift wrapping, their innovations led to the development of modern gift wrapping. They helped to popularize the idea of decorative gift wrapping in the 20th century, and according to [[Joyce Hall]], "the decorative gift-wrapping business was born the day Rollie placed those French envelope linings on top of that showcase."<ref name="Regan">{{cite book |author=Patrick Regan |title=Hallmark: A Century of Giving |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mwczWM4D9o4C&pg=PA45 |date=15 December 2009 |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing |isbn=978-0-7407-9240-3 |page=45}}</ref>

===X===
* '''[[Xiangqi]]''' (See also: [[List of Chinese inventions#L]] – [[Liubo]]): The exact origins of the Chinese chess board game known as ''xiangqi'' are ambiguous. Historian [[David H. Li]] asserts that it was first invented by [[Han Xin]] (d. 196 BC), a renowned military general of the early Han dynasty who fell victim to a purge instigated by [[Empress Lü Zhi]] (d. 180 BC).<ref>Li (1998), 214.</ref> Li states that it was revived under a different, camouflaged name of ''xiangxi'' by [[Emperor Wu of Northern Zhou]] (r. 561–578), which to this day has made the two terms synonymous and interchangeable for the same game.<ref name="li 1998 215">Li (1998), 215.</ref>

== Modern (1912–present) ==
* '''[[Artemisinin]]''', [[Tu Youyou]], [[Project 523]], [[Dihydroartemisinin]]. Derivative of Qing Hao herb originally identified many years earlier by the ancient Chinese medic - Ge Hong. Tested on Tu Youyou herself during the cultural revolution, shown to be effective against ''P. falciparum'', the cause of [[malaria]].
* '''[[Electronic cigarette]]''': Hon Lik, a Chinese pharmacist, is credited with the invention of the modern electronic cigarette. In 2003, he came up with the idea of using a piezoelectric ultrasound-emitting element to vaporise a pressurized jet of liquid containing nicotine diluted in a propylene glycol solution. This design produces a smoke-like vapour that can be inhaled and provides a vehicle for nicotine delivery into the bloodstream via the lungs. He also proposed using propylene glycol to dilute nicotine and placing it in a disposable plastic cartridge which serves as a liquid reservoir and mouthpiece.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.spectator.co.uk/2015/06/quitting-is-suffering-hon-lik-inventor-of-the-e-cigarette-on-why-he-did-it/ |title = 'Quitting is suffering': Hon Lik, inventor of the e-cigarette, on why he did it|date = 2015-06-20}}</ref>
* '''[[Generation IV reactor]]''': China was the first country to operate a demonstration generation-IV nuclear reactor, the [[HTR-PM]] in 2021. The reactor subsequently became the first fourth generation reactor to enter commercial service in 2023.<ref name = "reutersDec6">{{Cite news|last=Howe|first=Colleen|date=December 6, 2023|title=China starts up world's first fourth-generation nuclear reactor|work = Reuters|url = https://www.reuters.com/world/china/china-starts-up-worlds-first-fourth-generation-nuclear-reactor-2023-12-06/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=December 6, 2023|title=China's demonstration HTR-PM enters commercial operation|work = World Nuclear News|url = https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/Articles/Chinese-HTR-PM-Demo-begins-commercial-operation}}</ref>
* '''Non-invasive prenatal diagnostic testing for Down Syndrome''': Previously, women underwent invasive testing such as amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling (CVS). This new maternal blood test has the potential to reduce the number of women referred for invasive testing for [[Down syndrome]] by 98 percent. Developed by Chinese researchers in Hong Kong in 2008, this is hailed as a breakthrough.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Health/prenatal-test-down-syndrome-cut-baby-deaths-amniocentesis/story?id=12594077 |title=New Down Syndrome Test Could Cut Healthy Baby Deaths |work=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |author=James, Susan Donaldson |date=12 January 2011}}</ref> 
*'''[[Passenger drone]]''': The world's first passenger drone, a drone capable of carrying human cargo, [[Ehang UAV|Ehang 184]] was unveiled at the Computer Electronics Show (CES) 2016 by Chinese entrepreneurs.<ref>{{cite news |title=First passenger drone makes its debut at CES |url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jan/07/first-passenger-drone-makes-world-debut |access-date=24 February 2016 |agency=The Guardian |publisher=The Associated Press}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=World's first passenger drone unveiled at CES |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ces-passenger-drone-idUSKBN0UM0GW20160108 |access-date=16 June 2016 |work=Reuters}}</ref>
* '''[[Synthetic crystalline bovine insulin|Synthetic bovine insulin]]''': In 1965, Chinese scientists synthesized bovine insulin, with the "same crystalline form and biological activities as natural insulin."<ref>{{Citation |author1-link=Joseph Needham |last1=Needham |first1=Joseph |last2=Ho |first2=Ping-Yü |last3=Lu |first3=Gwei-Djen |year=1976 |title=Science and Civilisation in China: Chemistry and Chemical Technology, Part III: Spagyrical Technology and Invention, Historical Survey, from Cinnabar Elixirs to Synthetic Insulin |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=5|issue=3 }}</ref><ref>Li, Jie Jack (2006). Laughing Gas, Viagra, and Lipitor: The Human Stories Behind the Drugs We Use. [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-19-530099-4}}, p. 181</ref> The project began in 1958, and is considered one of the "first proteins ever synthesized in vitro".<ref>Zhang, You Shang (2010). "The first protein ever synthesized in vitro—a personal reminiscence of the total synthesis of crystalline insulin." ''Science China Life Sciences''. '''53(1)''', p. 16-18.</ref>
* '''Stem cell educator therapy''': Chinese and US researchers have produced remarkable results for this new treatment of obtaining stem cells from human cord blood to "re-educate" misbehaving immune cells. This result was published in the open-access journal ''BMC Medicine'' in January 2012, and offers hope for Type 1 diabetics and potentially may also be used to treat other auto-immune diseases if the approach lives up to early promise.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/health-science/treatment-offers-diabetes-sufferers-hope/story-e6frg8y6-1226241224479 |title=Treatment offers diabetes sufferers hope |newspaper=[[The Australian]] |author=Dayton, Leigh |date=January 11, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120109211827.htm |title=Stem Cell Therapy Reverses Diabetes: Stem Cells from Cord Blood Used to Re-Educate Diabetic's Own T Cells |website=[[Science Daily]] |date=January 10, 2012}}</ref>
*'''[[Quantum Experiments at Space Scale|Quantum communication satellite]]''': Launched in 2016, QUESS, or "Micius," is the world's first quantum communication satellite. It enables secure communication using quantum key distribution (QKD) and entangled photons, transmitted over 1,200 km, demonstrating the potential for unbreakable encryption.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.space.com/33760-china-launches-quantum-communications-satellite.html|title=China Launches Pioneering 'Hack-Proof' Quantum-Communications Satellite|work=Space.com|date=2016-08-16|access-date=2024-10-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aerospace-technology.com/projects/micius-quantum-communication-satellite/|title=Micius Quantum Communication Satellite|work=Aerospace Technology|access-date=2024-10-17}}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=28em}}
* [[Chinese exploration]]
* [[History of Chinese archaeology]]
* [[History of science in Classical Antiquity]]
* [[History of science and technology in China]]
* [[History of typography in East Asia]]
* [[List of China-related topics]]
* [[List of Chinese discoveries]]
* [[List of Japanese inventions]]
* [[List of Korean inventions]]
* [[List of Taiwanese inventions and discoveries]]
* [[Science and technology of the Han Dynasty]]
* [[Technology of the Song Dynasty]]

{{div col end}}

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{{refend}}

{{Clear}}
{{History of science}} 
{{Inventions |state = collapsed}}
{{S&T in China |state = uncollapsed }}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chinese Inventions}}
[[Category:China history-related lists|Inventions]]
[[Category:Chinese inventions| ]]
[[Category:History of science and technology in China|Inventions]]
[[Category:Lists of inventions or discoveries]]

[[fr:Liste des inventions chinoises]]