Examples of ancient influences on the modern China world.

Four great inventions, medicine, martial arts, world outlook, culture and so on.

In ancient China, China people were very proud of a world outlook. This world outlook determined the scope of "the world" and the position of "China" in the hearts of ancient China people. It was formed about two or three thousand years ago. Although people in that era didn't really reach every corner of the world, they often called it "the world". They imagine: first, their place is the center of the world and the center of civilization; Second, the earth in the world is like a chessboard, or a zigzag, extending from the center to all directions; Third, the closer the geographical space is to the edge, the more barren and savage it is, and the lower the level of civilization is.

In the ancient books such as Shangshu Gong Yu before and after the Warring States Period, there are records of Kyushu and Five Blessingg. How did this concept come into being? It's not clear yet. But it is speculated that it may be related to China's ancient imagination of space. People in ancient China believed that "the sky is round". In their imagination, the sky is round, like a hat, covering the earth, centering on the position of the Big Dipper and the Big Dipper. It is said that Taiyi, the highest god in the sky, is there; The earth is square, just like a chessboard, with Luoyang in the middle, which should be where the king is. This kind of imagination about space is deeply rooted and is a perfect and reasonable layout. Therefore, many of the most important things in ancient times are imitations of this space, such as the Jade Cong Famous Hall used to worship heaven and earth, and the mound dome to the Temple of Heaven and so on. And we must simulate this model to get the right to worship heaven and earth; Like ancient palaces and ancient capitals, it is necessary to imitate the appearance of circular places and symbolize the legitimacy of this place. Even some tools like games and divination, such as Bo Ju, Style Disk and later Go, express a spatial pattern.

It is necessary to integrate modern elements without losing the essence of tradition, and to upgrade tradition with brand-new ideas, thus achieving the unity of history and modernity. For the contemporary era, in addition to "people-oriented", we should also fully consider the relationship between man and nature and ecology, not only from the use and service of design, but also from nature and ecology to achieve a harmonious design concept.

The invention of papermaking changed the history of writing with parchment in medieval Europe, which was beneficial to the spread of knowledge and culture.

In the first year of Yuan Xing in the Eastern Han Dynasty (105), Cai Lun reformed and popularized papermaking technology on the basis of predecessors' papermaking technology. In the first year of Yuan Xing in the Eastern Han Dynasty (105), Cai Lun reformed and popularized papermaking technology on the basis of predecessors' papermaking technology. The invention of papermaking is one of the greatest inventions in ancient China and the most outstanding achievement in the history of human civilization. The emergence of paper is the foundation of human civilization. As a new information carrier, it first appeared in China, making the civilization of Han Dynasty in China more prosperous than other civilizations. Around the 8th century, Arabs began to use China's technology and equipment to make paper. Papermaking was introduced to Portugal through Arabs. After13rd century, cheap and durable paper quickly replaced parchment and small kraft paper, which were long-used writing materials in medieval Europe. Many ancient books in the Middle Ages were copied on parchment by scribes at that time, then made into scrolls, and then preserved with China's paper and papermaking, first spread to Vietnam and Korea, and then spread from Korea to Japan. In the sixth year of Taikang in the Western Jin Dynasty (AD 285), a scholar named Dr. Wang Renbo from Baekje on the Korean Peninsula came to Japan with books such as The Analects of Confucius, all of which were manuscripts written on paper. In the sixth year of Yang Di the Great (AD 6 10), a North Korean monk, Tan Zheng, came to Japan, and he taught the Japanese the methods of making paper and ink he learned from China. Soon, Japan can also make a lot of paper. In 75 1 year, China's paper-making methods spread westward to Arabia. At that time, there was a powerful country in Arabia, which was called a big food country in our history. The territory of the big food once expanded to Central Asia. In the tenth year of Tianbao reign of Emperor Xuanzong of the Tang Dynasty (AD 75 1 year), Gao Xianzhi, the envoy of Anxi in the Tang Dynasty, led an army and fought a battle with the army led by Zeyad Ibugali, a big eater. As a result, Gao Xianzhi was defeated and many soldiers of the Tang Dynasty were captured. There are many paper workers among these soldiers, so our paper-making method has spread to big grain countries. People in food-producing countries set up paper mills in Samarkand and other cities, producing a lot of paper and exporting it to European countries. At that time, the paper used in European countries was made and supplied by Arabs.

Before paper was introduced to Europe, for a long time, Europeans wrote on stones, wax boards, papyrus and sheepskin. Papyrus paper-it will break when folded, and it is not easy to keep. Sheepskin is very expensive. It takes more than 300 sheepskins to copy a Bible. Who can afford this sheepskin book? It's too expensive.

Arabs send paper to European countries, and Europeans get cheap writing materials. They usually write with paper instead of papyrus and sheepskin. 1 150, Arabs set up paper mills in Spain in Europe. In this way, China's papermaking spread to Spain. At this time, it has been 1000 years since I left Cai Lun to improve the papermaking method. Later, paper spread from Spain to other European countries; It didn't spread to the American continent until the end of the seventeenth century. China's paper and papermaking methods have finally spread all over the world. People all over the world use paper, which greatly promotes the economic and cultural exchanges and development of various countries.

The invention of papermaking in China spread all over the world, especially in Europe. Since then, he has changed the history of writing with parchment, wax board and papyrus, and also facilitated the spread of culture. Only in this way can the classics written by ancient Greek and Roman civilizations be copied to paper, which is more convenient for preservation and sorting, and enables ancient civilizations to be passed down and spread. Only in this way can the outstanding achievements of Hebrew civilization, Greek civilization and Roman civilization be inherited and spread on paper. The inheritance of civilization will lead to the Renaissance in14-17th century. On the basis of absorbing and drawing lessons from the outstanding cultural achievements of predecessors, a group of blank humanists cleared the way for the emerging capitalist and bourgeois ideology and culture, thus making people walk out of the darkness of the Middle Ages. At this time, a number of outstanding humanists emerged in various fields, including science, philosophy and so on.

The appearance of printing changed the situation that only monks can learn and receive education, which facilitated the spread of culture.

China mastered block printing in Sui and Tang Dynasties. The Diamond Sutra left by the Tang Dynasty is the earliest printed matter with exact date in the world (printed in 868). 165438+In the Song Dynasty in the middle of the 20th century, Bi Sheng invented movable type printing, which made printing widely popular. Engraving printing in China spread to Japanese in the 8th century, to Egyptian in the12nd century and to European travelers in the13rd century. From14th century to15th century, printing became popular in Europe. The earliest block printing with exact date in Europe was the Portrait of Saint Christopher in Nande (printed in 1423), which was about 600 years later than that in China. /kloc-around 0/450, influenced by Chinese movable type printing, Germans created movable type printing with European phonetic symbols to print books, which was 400 years later than Bi Sheng.

About the Tang Dynasty, China's printing technology first spread to North Korea, and in the tenth century, the Korean people also used block printing to print books. After Bi Sheng invented movable type printing, the Korean people began to print books with clay type, and later printed books with wood type. /kloc-In the 3rd century, they first invented printing books with copper movable type. China printed books with copper movable type later than North Korea. The Korean people also created lead movable type and iron movable type. /kloc-At the end of 0/6th century, Japan invaded Korea and took away a lot of Korean copper movable type and wooden movable type. As a result, the Japanese also learned movable type printing. Printing in China also spread to Vietnam. /kloc-In the 5th century, Vietnam began to print books with block printing. In the early 18th century, they also began to print books with wooden movable type.

The appearance of European printing was also deeply influenced by China printing. During the Yuan Dynasty, many Europeans came to China. They were very surprised to see that the paper money printed by the Yuan government could be used instead of gold and silver. In their travel notes, China's banknotes were recorded in great detail. Many Europeans who came to China at that time lived in Hangzhou and other places. There are many bookstores in Hangzhou, and the sculptors are also very skilled. Some Europeans have lived there for several years, so naturally they brought printing back to Europe.

Papermaking and printing have greatly promoted the spread of European culture and the development of society, regulations and economy. Therefore, after printing spread to Europe, it changed the situation that only monks could study and receive education, and provided important material conditions for the rapid development of European science after a long night and the Renaissance.

The use of gunpowder and firearms destroyed feudal castles and helped the bourgeoisie defeat feudal nobles.

One of the four great inventions of gunpowder in ancient China was invented by an ancient alchemist in China when refining Dan medicine. Tang Mi of the Northern Song Dynasty invented the fire tribulus, and the Southern Song Dynasty invented the musket, which is a great progress in the history of muskets, because it can shoot bullets and hit people. Both of them are tubular firearms with little power, but they are the ancestors of modern firearms. Modern guns developed slowly from them. Later, the Ming people invented two-stage rockets and missiles. At the end of the fourth century, some people in our country fantasized about flying with the power of rockets. This is a book written by Herbert Sem, a foreigner. He wrote,/kloc-At the end of the 4th century, there was an official in China who once put 46 big rockets behind a chair. People are sitting in chairs with two big kites in their hands. Then he asked people to light the rockets with torches. He tried to fly forward with the power of rocket propulsion and kite ascent, and the result was unsuccessful. Although the official fantasy has not come true, it is very valuable, and it is very similar to the principle of jet planes now.

Gunpowder was invented by China in the Tang Dynasty and was first used in military affairs. At the end of Tang Dynasty and the beginning of 65438+, artillery and rockets appeared, and the history of Song Dynasty was widely used in the war. Mongols learned to make gunpowder and firearms during the Song and Jin Dynasties, while Arabs learned to make firearms during the war with Mongols. /kloc-in the 1940s of 0/3, the Mongolian army marched westward into Central Europe, bringing China's gunpowder to Europe. From the14th century, Europeans used artillery for the first time in the war. The use of cannons and muskets made feudal castles vulnerable, and the knight class that relied on cold weapons to throw its weight around declined day by day. The progress of firearms promoted the development of mining industry and metal manufacturing industry, and the relatively sufficient metal supply in turn stimulated the weapons manufacturing industry. From the middle of15th century, Europe began to take the lead in world weapons manufacturing. 1453, when the Ottoman army besieged Constantinople, it hired European craftsmen to fire giant artillery outside the city, which caused the city wall to collapse and destroyed the Eastern Roman Empire. At the same time, gunpowder also played a great role in the anti-feudal struggle of European urban citizens. Engels pointed out: "Firearms were the weapons of the city and the new military and political system based on the city against the feudal aristocracy from the beginning. The stone walls of aristocratic castles that were impregnable before could not stand the fire of the citizens; The citizen's gun ejected through the knight's armor, and the aristocratic system died with the aristocratic cavalry wearing armor. "

Of course, gunpowder, as one of China's four great inventions, has a great influence on Europe, including its great role in opening up new air routes later. Among the conditions of the new sea route: the development of productivity, knowledge and technology in western Europe has equipped the sea-going ships with compasses, and at the same time, the spread of gunpowder has equipped the sea-going ships with artillery, greatly enhancing the military strength and doubling the confidence of marine explorers. Until later, after the opening of the new sea route, European adventurers were not satisfied with their existing world scope, but turned their eyes to the world, sought wealth, indulged in the "gold rush", regarded the East as the "paradise on earth" of peanut Durani, and stepped up the pace of external expansion. Since then, capitalism has discovered more colonies and plundered a lot of wealth from its external expansion. As the primitive accumulation of capital, it was obtained through bloody slaughter and brutal plunder, so Marx said that capital came to this world from head to toe dirty, bloody and full of bloody smell.

The arrival of the compass in the hands of European navigators made it possible for them to discover America and sail around the world, which laid the foundation for the bourgeoisie to develop world trade and workshop handicrafts.

As early as the Warring States period, our people made the original compass-Sina. Later, in the early years of the Northern Song Dynasty, he created a guiding tool-compass fish. In the Song Dynasty, compasses were used for navigation. Arabs learned how to navigate with a compass from their association with merchant ships in China, and it spread to Europe in about12nd century. The application of compass in navigation led to Columbus's voyage to discover the new continent of America and Magellan's voyage around the world. This has greatly accelerated the development of the world economy and provided an indispensable prerequisite for the development of capitalism.

China's maritime traffic started very early. Before the compass is discovered, it will be dangerous if the navigation direction is wrong. The problem was not solved until the compass was invented. During the Ming Dynasty, China was a developed country in the world and needed to strengthen economic and cultural exchanges with overseas countries. At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the government sent Zheng He to the Western Ocean. From 1405 to 1433, he sailed seven times. So Zheng He made seven voyages to the West. "Western Ocean" refers to the Nanyang Islands and the Indian Ocean, and is called the Western Ocean. Zheng He's voyages to the West were huge and numerous. Equipped with compasses and charts, these large ships sailed as far as zhina Peninsula, India, Persia and Arabia. As far as the east coast of Africa and the coast of the Red Sea, it passes through more than 30 countries and regions. In so many large-scale voyages, the compass played a considerable role.

The invention of compass not only played a great role in China's navigation, but also provided an important tool for the European bourgeois era, which opened up a new era of western ocean navigation and made capitalism know the world from now on. The discovery of America linked the world into a unified whole, breaking the era of isolation from each other 1500 years ago, and since then world history has become a real human history. It also found more places and expanded colonies in the world for the later capitalist industrial revolution, laying the foundation for bourgeois world trade and workshop handicraft industry.

To sum up, China's four great inventions greatly promoted the process of world history. Francis Bacon, the true ancestor of modern experimental science, once said: "If we want to observe the newly discovered strength, efficiency and results, the most obvious examples are printing, gunpowder and compass ... No empire, religion or prominent figure in history can have a greater impact on human things than these three great inventions." Marx pointed out more incisively: "gunpowder, compass and printing-these are the three great inventions that indicate the arrival of bourgeois society." Gunpowder blew the knight class to pieces, the compass opened the world market and established colonies, while printing became a tool of Protestantism, a means of scientific rejuvenation in general, and the most powerful lever to create the necessary premise of spiritual development. Before the formation of European civilization, the four great inventions were introduced to the west one after another, which became "a necessary prerequisite for the development of the bourgeoisie". "