China had advanced science and technology in ancient times, but why didn't it turn into productive forces?

It should be noted that it is not that the ancient science and technology in China did not turn into productive forces, but that the invention of the pedal loom in the Song Dynasty greatly improved the output of cloth and greatly promoted the development of productive forces. Therefore, it is completely wrong to say that ancient science and technology in China have not been transformed into productive forces.

The progress and decline of science and technology in China should have the following reasons:

China's ancient science and technology was always ahead of the world before16th century (before the Ming Dynasty). The main reasons are as follows: the establishment of feudal relations of production in ancient China promoted the rapid development of social productive forces and created conditions for the progress of science and technology; The establishment and development of autocratic centralization system provided good conditions for the continuity and diversity of scientific and technological development, which enabled China ancient science and technology to make continuous progress on the basis of predecessors' achievements through the collective wisdom of all ethnic groups; The government's attention and support to science and technology for the need of consolidating the rule also made China's ancient science and technology always in the leading position in the world; The development of ancient education in China laid a talent foundation for the development of science and technology. The development of China's ancient foreign exchanges also enabled China's ancient science and technology to absorb the wisdom of people from other countries and regions and further develop; The rich knowledge and experience accumulated by the ancient people in China in their long-term struggle with nature have become the source of ancient scientific and technological development; The individual efforts and unremitting exploration spirit of some famous scientists in ancient China are the subjective factors for the development of ancient science and technology in China. These not only provide conditions for the development of China's economy, especially the agricultural economy, but also make outstanding contributions to the development of human civilization in the world.

The characteristics of ancient science and technology development in China are: strong application in science and technology content, insufficient exploration of the development law of things; The research methods mainly adopt traditional classical collation and experience summary, lacking experiments; The application of science and technology mainly serves the development needs of feudal agricultural economy, and lacks the consciousness of effectively transforming science and technology into productive forces and becoming the driving force for the further development of science and technology.

The reasons for the irreversible decline of ancient science and technology in China from the16th century are as follows: the self-sufficient feudal economy is dominant, which limits the development of productive forces and makes the development of science and technology lack sufficient motivation; The feudal rulers' policy of "emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce" and the later policy of "closing the country to the outside world" further restricted the development of ancient science and technology in China; China's ancient Confucianism-based educational content and increasingly cruel cultural autocracy made China's ancient science and technology lack sufficient attention and talents. In the final analysis, the decadent feudal system in ancient China led to the decline of ancient science and technology in China after16th century.