Science and technology are the primary productive forces and the revolutionary force that pushes history forward. Although in modern times, China's science and technology have lagged behind. However, China's ancient scientific and technological achievements were extremely brilliant and occupied a leading position in the world for a long historical period. The numerous scientific and technological achievements of the Chinese nation have not only greatly enriched the material and cultural life of the people of the world, but also effectively promoted the development of human science and culture and the process of world history.
1. The advanced scientific and technological achievements of the mainland in ancient times
From the end of primitive society to the Xia, Shang and Zhou periods of slave society, China's rice cultivation, silk weaving, bronze smelting, astronomy, mathematics, medicine and other aspects led the world with its original scientific and technological achievements. In the period of feudal society, science and technology culture developed rapidly. Bian Que, Mo Zhai, Hua Tuo, Zhang Zhongjing, Zhang Heng, Cai Lun, Zu Chongzhi, Jia Sixun, Sun Simiao, Yixing, Shen Kuo, Bi Sheng, Guo Shoujing, Huang Daoba, Li Shizhen, Song Yingxing, Xu Xiake, Xu Guangqi and a large number of scientists, inventor Guangyao Huaxia, famous Zhen Huanyu; "Zhou Qiu Suanjing", "Nine Chapters of Arithmetic", "Huangdi Neijing", "Typhoid Miscellaneous Diseases", "Qi Min Zhishu", "Mengxi Pen Talk", "Wujing General Essentials", "Compendium of Materia Medica", "Tiangong Kaiwu", "The Complete Book of Agriculture and Government", "Xu Xiake's Travels" and other scientific and technological masterpieces, as vast as a sea of smoke; The list goes on and on.
In terms of technology, there are sericulture, tea, iron smelting, silk and cotton textile, papermaking, shipbuilding, compass, printing, gunpowder, sugar refining, construction, ceramics, bridges, water rows, water transport instrument elephant platform, compass car, jili drum car, keel water and continental car, water mill, water mill, wheelbarrow, acupuncture, human pox inoculation, hemp boiling, horse neck sleeve, crossbow, tubular firearms, natural gas, coal, oil, etc.
In terms of science, solar and lunar eclipses, comets, guest stars, meteors, sunspot observations, the Ming calendar, the chronological calendar and many other calendars on the astronomical calendar. Mathematical decimal value notation, calculation, quotient high theorem, open square, cubic, high power, univariate quadratic and cubic equation solution, "profit and deficit" algorithm, emblem rate, ancestral rate, "Zu Wei axiom", Jia Xian triangle, etc.
Physical lever principle, small hole imaging, concave mirror, convex mirror, plane mirror imaging, lens, resonance phenomenon, sound reflection, etc. Chemical production of mercury sulfide, wet copper smelting, gunpowder, zinc smelting, etc.
Geographical karst landforms, karst caves, Chinese water system research, mineral records, map making, fossil genesis, etc.
Agronomy and biology in crop rotation, fruit tree grafting, artificial selection, plant classification, etc. Medical theory in medicine, diagnosis and treatment of diseases, drug understanding, etc. Among the achievements of the continent's ancient science and technology leading the world, there is far more than that. These great scientific and technological achievements spread to many countries in the world, thus influencing the development of world history.
Second, the influence of ancient mainland science and technology on the world
Ancient Chinese science and technology spread abroad and had a great impact, when the first four great inventions were promoted------ the compass, gunpowder, papermaking and movable type printing.
The introduction of the compass enabled Columbus's discovery of the New World of America, Magellan's circumnavigation of the globe and other great undertakings to succeed, promoted the great geographical discoveries of the fifteenth century, and set off an upsurge of navigation exploration by the European bourgeoisie for the purpose of plundering colonial wealth, thereby accelerating the primitive accumulation of capital and promoting the rapid development of capitalism. Since then, the development of the West has surpassed that of the East, changing the pattern formed in the world for a long time.
The import of gunpowder, especially tubular firing gunpowder weapons, revolutionized the methods of warfare. The fortified castles of the feudal rulers of the European Middle Ages collapsed under artillery bombardment and were vulnerable; A stubborn knight, useless in the face of muskets. It greatly accelerated the collapse of the European feudal ruling class and became a powerful tool for the European bourgeoisie to conquer the New World and defeat many peoples and countries in the East.
The import of papermaking and printing not only promoted the popularization and improvement of European science and culture, but especially provided great convenience for the emerging bourgeoisie and the sects representing their class interests in creating revolutionary or innovative public opinion.
Secondly, the astronomical calendar and medical achievements of ancient China also had a particularly significant impact on the world.
In astronomy, many astronomical records in ancient times on the mainland are continuous, detailed and complete, with high accuracy and earliest time. Such as the observation and recording of solar eclipses, comets, novae, sunspots, stars and other celestial phenomena. The continent's rich and accurate astronomical observation records are inseparable from advanced observation instruments. The armillary sphere created during the Warring States period was the world's first instrument to observe the position of celestial bodies. The water transport armillary sphere made by Eastern Han astronomer Zhang Heng can accurately and automatically demonstrate the operation of celestial bodies, which is the predecessor of modern planetariums and the world's earliest mechanical timer, from which modern mechanical clocks evolve. The Song Dynasty astronomers Su Song and Han Gonglian built a water transport observatory with a movable roof and a rotating mechanism, and modern observatories took this method to have a dome and tracking mechanism that could be opened. Guo Shoujing, an astronomer of the Yuan Dynasty, transformed the simple apparatus made by transforming the complex armillary sphere, and its principle has been widely used in modern large telescopes, various surveying and aviation navigation instruments.
In terms of calendar, the mainland has had a calendar since the Xia Dynasty. The lunar calendar, which is widely used among the people today, is also known as the summer calendar. In the calendar of the ancient world, it was a very progressive calendar. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the mainland pioneered the method of using the seven-leap period of 19 years to adjust the lunisolar calendar very precisely. This is a great contribution of worldwide significance. Guo Shoujing, a scientist of the Yuan Dynasty, calculated that there are 365.2425 days in a year, which is only 26 seconds away from the Earth's actual cycle around the sun. His Calendar of Times is the same as the current Gregorian calendar, which has the same one-year cycle. But 300 years before the Gregorian calendar.
In medicine, Chinese medicine is self-contained and complements Western medicine. In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture therapy is unique, and after the Qin and Han dynasties, it spread to all parts of Asia and Europe. So far, acupuncture treatment is not only still used in many countries in Europe and Asia, and is well received by people in all countries, but its treatment principle is still one of the topics discussed in modern science. The author of the "Medical Codex", long regarded as an authoritative in European medical circles, the Arab medical scientist Avicenna used a lot of Chinese medical knowledge when writing the book. Many of the veins in the book are taken from the Pulse Sutra, which had a certain influence on the development of Arabic diagnostics. The book also mentions the prognosis of measles and treatments such as leech drug use. There are also many Chinese medicines recorded in the Medical Codex. In addition, the Arab inhalation anesthesia method also originated from Hua Tuo's wine and numbness.
The world's forerunner of artificial immunization Chinese pox inoculation, by the middle of the 18th century, had spread throughout Eurasia. The French thinker at the time, Voltaire, said: "I have heard that this habit has been practiced in Chinese hundred years, and this is a great precedent and example for a people who is considered the wisest and most polite in the world." It can be seen that the impact of the mainland's human pox vaccination method.
There are many ancient medical works on the mainland, and many of them have been introduced overseas. In particular, the Ming Dynasty medicinal scientist Li Mingzhen's "Compendium of Materia Medica". It has been translated into Korean, Japanese, English, German, French, Russian, Latin and other languages and is widely circulated in countries around the world. Its plant taxonomy was the most scientific and detailed taxonomy in the world at that time. This is the contribution of continental pharmacology and biology to the world.
In addition, ancient Chinese science and technology is also one of the foundations of modern Western science and technology development. Ancient Chinese alchemy was transmitted to the West and transformed into alchemy, and Chinese alchemy and Western alchemy have accumulated a lot of primitive chemical knowledge, and ancient Chinese alchemy has become the precursor of modern chemistry. The power steam engine that drove the British Industrial Revolution, Watt was inspired by the crank linkage of the Chinese water drain in the process of improvement. Another example is the mathematical binary, which is the basis of modern computers, which Leibniz obtained from the study of Chinese gossip. The abacus invented in China is the earliest manual calculator, which can be said to be the ancestor of computers.
China's neighboring countries, deeply influenced by Chinese civilization in history, are the earliest and most accepted ancient Chinese science and technology, so they are called "Chinese cultural circle" and "Chinese science and technology circle".
Ancient Japan was a country that only entered and did not export Chinese science and technology, and as a result, it promoted Japan's social progress and replacement. Between the third century BC and the first century BC, Japan leapt from the Jomon era of backward fishing and hunting economy to the Yayoi period of advanced agricultural economy, and its rice cultivation technology came from the lower reaches of the Yangtze River in China. A large number of Chinese who crossed east to Japan brought with them China's advanced culture and production technology, which made Japan's economy and culture develop rapidly, and accelerated the disintegration of Japan's primitive society and the formation of a civilized country. After the Sui and Tang dynasties, Japan rose to the climax of learning and absorbing Chinese culture, and sent Tang envoys and international students to China to visit and study. The advanced science and technology of ancient China were introduced to Japan by their hands, which not only profoundly affected all aspects of Japanese social life, but also created the studious character of the Japanese nation and promoted Japan's transition from a slave society to a feudal society.
North Korea has to be connected to China's mountains and rivers, and a large number of ancient Chinese technologies have been continuously transmitted to North Korea. Just as Japan used Chinese characters to create its own script, North Korea also adopted the method of using Chinese characters as Korean musical notes, and created the Korean character "Reading Reading", which provided an extremely convenient and effective tool for the dissemination of ancient Chinese science and technology culture.
Vietnam and Cambodia are also deeply influenced by Chinese science and technology culture. In the primitive society and slave society, China's stone tools and pottery making technology, bronze casting technology has long spread to Vietnam. During the Two Han Dynasty, Chinese immigrants and merchants introduced iron farming tools and production techniques to Vietnam. The palaces and cities built by various dynasties in Vietnam refer to the Chinese urban layout and use the Chinese calendar. During the Three Kingdoms period, the Eastern Wu envoys Kang Tai and Zhu Ying taught the people of Funan (present-day Shupuzhai) the scientific and technological knowledge of Chinese.
The ancient scientific and technological culture of the mainland, as well as silk fabrics, steel and other items, were introduced to Myanmar and India through the Southwest Silk Road very early on, and had a deep influence. During the Yuan Dynasty, the Chinese army also helped Burma build the Qi Water Conservancy Project and dig the Tutundu Canal, an ancient water conservancy project that still plays a role today. Before the Ming Dynasty, China's "hundred craftsmanship, yin and yang medicine" were introduced to India. There are many words for Chinese objects in Sanskrit, such as steel called "Qin Di Sheng" (秦地 means China). Many concepts in sugar and alchemy, Indian algebra, were also imported from China.
Southeast Asia is also a place deeply influenced by Chinese science and technology culture, which is the result of a large number of ancient Chinese migrating here. Immigrants have made great contributions to the development and construction of Southeast Asia. They imparted various scientific and technological knowledge to the local people, and imported many Chinese goods into the local area in large quantities, which promoted the development of the local society and the improvement of the people's material and cultural living standards. Even the Spanish colonists believed that "without the Chinese (and their science and technology), this colony would not have existed." Before the introduction of Chinese ceramics in large quantities, local indigenous peoples often used plant leaves as dietary tools. As the basis of Philippine Chinese, there are 38 Chinese words for the names of Chinese science and technology products, which shows the depth of influence of ancient Chinese science and technology.
In short, ancient China made outstanding contributions to human civilization in terms of science and technology, and had a profound impact on the development of human history. Marx, the revolutionary teacher, called gunpowder, the compass, and printing "the three great inventions that heralded the coming of bourgeois society," and Francis Bacon argued that "these three inventions changed the face and state of things in the world," and that nothing else "exerts greater power and influence in the cause of mankind" than these three inventions.