SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY

3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Historical Antecedents in the Course of

Science and Technology:
Chinese Civilization
Consolidated by: Mrs. Lorna C. Aban
Presented by: Mrs. Gloria Vicky A. Antonio
Center for Natural Sciences
School of Health and Natural Sciences
Saint Mary’s University
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Objectives
• Explain how science and technology affected
the society and environment and vice versa
• Identify inventions and discoveries that
changed the world over the course of history
• Discuss the scientific and technological
developments in the Philippines

Reference: McNamara, D. J., Valverde, V. M., & Beleno, R. (2018) Science, Technology, and Society. C & E Publishing, Inc.
Quezon City. All Rights Reserved
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

History of Chinese Civilization

https://www.youtube.com/embed/kLStXl6CmS8

Reference: McNamara, D. J., Valverde, V. M., & Beleno, R. (2018) Science, Technology, and Society. C & E Publishing, Inc.
Quezon City. All Rights Reserved
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Chinese civilization
• Considered to be the oldest
civilization in Asia
• Also known as the middle
kingdom, located on the far
east Asia
• Not a great amount was
written about the ancient
Reference: McNamara, D. J., Valverde, V. M., & Beleno, R.
China partly due to its (2018) Science, Technology, and Society. C & E Publishing,
Inc. Quezon City. All Rights Reserved
distance from the other https://www.ancient.eu/image/4980/yuantong-temple/

civilizations
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Silk
• It is one of the things that connected
Far East China to the world.
• Although silk is naturally produced
by silk worms, the Chinese were the
ones who developed the technology
to harvest the silk and process it to
produce paper and clothing.
• Silk production resulted in the
creation of a product for trade,
McNamara, D. J., Valverde, V. M., & Beleno,
R. (2018) Science, Technology, and Society. C making way for cultural, economic,
& E Publishing, Inc. Quezon City. All Rights
Reserved and scientific exchange.
http://www.historyshistories.com/china-silk-
road-activity.html
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Tea Production
• Tea is a beverage produced by
pouring hot or boiling water over
crushed or shredded dried tea
leaves
• Tea production was developed when
an unknown Chinese inventor
Shennong (Chinese: 神农), whose
created a machine that was able to name means the Divine Farmer --
and who is considered as the ancient
shred tea leaves into strips. Chinese Father of Agriculture, is
• This production may have resulted honored with the discovery of tea.

in making tea as one of the most
popular beverages in the world
today.
McNamara, D. J., Valverde, V. M., & Beleno, R.
(2018) Science, Technology, and Society. C & E
Publishing, Inc. Quezon City. All Rights
Reserved
http://www.china.org.cn/learning_chinese/Chi
nese_tea/2011-07/15/content_22999489.htm
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Great Wall of China • Once considered the only man-

made structure that could be
seen from outer space.
• It is said to be the largest and
most extensive infrastructure
that the nation built.
• Constructed to keep out foreign
invaders and control the
originally conceived by Emperor Qin Shi
Huang in the third century B.C.
borders of China.
The best-known and best-preserved section • Made with stone, brick, wood,
of the Great Wall was built in the 14th
through 17th centuries A.D., during the earth, and other materials, it
Ming dynasty showcased the extent of
McNamara, D. J., Valverde, V. M., & Beleno, R. (2018)
Science, Technology, and Society. C & E Publishing, Inc.
Chinese engineering technology
Quezon City. All Rights Reserved at that time.
https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-china/great-wall-
of-china
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

• Originally, it was developed by Chinese Gunpowder

alchemists who aimed to achieve
immortality.
• They mixed charcoal, sulfur, and
potassium nitrate, but instead of creating
an elixir of life, they accidentally invented
a black powder that could actually
generate large amounts of heat and gas
in an instant.
• gunpowder is widely used to propel
bullets from guns and cannons which
cause countless deaths.
gunpowder is also used in
fireworks during important
celebrations in China
McNamara, D. J., Valverde, V. M., &
Beleno, R. (2018) Science,
Technology, and Society. C & E
Publishing, Inc. Quezon City. All
Rights Reserved
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_G
reat_Inventions
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Bronze Production
The bronze works of ancient China produced under the
Shang Dynasty (1766 – 1122 BCE) were technically perfect
and sophisticated beauty and style, the result of a long
story of experimental progress in combining varying
proportions of copper, tin, lead and zinc until the ideal mix
was attained (Greaves et al., 1990).

Bronze gu from Anyang, Henan province, China, Shang dynasty

(c. 1600–1046 BCE); and Bronze jia, Shang dynasty (18th–12th
century BCE); in the William Rockhill Nelson Gallery and Mary
Atkins Museum of Fine Arts, Kansas City, Mo.
https://www.britannica.com/art/Chinese-bronzes
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Bronze Production
The outstanding cultural contribution of the Shang included
the creation of magnificent bronze vessels; the discovery of
lacquer (varnish); the development of the horse-drawn war
chariots; silk production; and the establishment of a system
of writing.
Ox scapula with a
Zhou-era chariot, divination
perhaps such inscription from
chariots existed in the Shang
the Shang era dynasty. Image from
http://factsanddetails.co Wikipedia.
m/china/cat2/sub1/item4 https://www.khanacadem
2.html y.org/humanities/world-
history/world-history-
beginnings/shang-
dynasty-china/a/shang-
dynasty-article
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Medicine
• Chinese medical practices – particularly, apothecaries and
acupuncture – proven effective cures to most known
diseases, have been handed down almost unchanged to the
present (Dauben, 1990).
• Acupuncture was used to treat illnesses or pain by pricking
the patience body with needles at point believed to be
connected with the visceral organs causing the physical pain.
https://www.britannica.c The greatest
om/science/traditional-
Chinese-medicine
medical
https://www.healthcmi.c contribution of the
om/Acupuncture-
Continuing-Education-
Han culture was
News/2009-chinese- the discovery of
herbal-medicine-for-
covid-19-coronavirus-
healing drugs and
treatment herbs
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Paper Making
• The invention of paper making in
105 CE is generally credited to Cai
Lun.
• By using vegetable fibers made
from hemp rope ends, cloth rags,
and old fishing nets, Cai Lun
created an easy and affordable way
of making paper (Selin, 1993b).
• Evidence point to the fact that in
ancient China, paper was used not
only for writing (Selin, 1993b). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History
_of_paper
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

Paper Making
• Coarser and stronger paper was used
for clothing (it was warm and
impenetrable by cold winds), lacquer-
ware, wall decor, and even military
armor.
• The use of toilet paper was also traced
in China back to the 6th century.
• Soon after its invention, paper became
a setting for Chinese artistry: its use led
to the development of calligraphy, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/His
tory_of_paper
water color painting, and block printing.
 SAINT M ARY’S UNIVERSITY
3700 Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya Philippines

What are the other S and T influences

of the ancient Chinese civilization in
today’s time?