What were the contribution of ancient China to the society in terms of science and technology?
The technology of papermaking,which was invented by ancient Chinese people and improved by Cailun,an eunuch of the Han Dynasty.Before the invention of papermaking, ancient Chinese usually wrote on bamboo slips, and Europeans wrote on sheepskins. It is no doubt that these materials are very inconvenien,the bambok slips are heavy and the sheepskins are too expensive.But paper completely overcomes these drawbacks.Paper is made from bark, rags and fishing nets,these materials are cheap and easy to find.What’s more,paper is very easy to carry and save.However, the meaning of paper is not just here.It provides a very good carrier for the cultural spread between East and west，and all kinds of civilizations created by human beings can be better recorded.It is because of the continuous accumulation and spread of civilization that we are wiser.
What is the importance of paper?
Paper is a material that has been around for about 2000 years. It was developed in China in the the first or second century AD, and it’s made by pressing together the moist fibers of cellulose derived from plants and then dried to result in flexible sheets.Paper, and the ability to mass product it, has resulted in the development of writing as a means to pass down information through the ages. This in turn has accelerated information duplication and exchange, and led to the cultural and technological advancements that we have seen in the last two millennia (for better or worse).Paper is extremely important to us now. It’s still a major way that our culture stores information. And while the benefits of digital storage are many, paper still offers some advantage like ease of storage, no need for file conversions, and the fact that it can be produced sustainably (although it often is not unfortunately). It also holds a special place in history, and many of our latest discoveries about the past are made by investigating the written remains of culture that has preserved until now.
How many trees are cut down a day for paper?
Nearly 4 billion trees worldwide are cut down each year for paper, representing about 35 percent of all harvested trees. This world map shows the Earth's vegetation.Source: NASATake a minute to look around the room you’re in and notice how many things are made out of paper. There may be books, a few magazines, some printer paper, and perhaps a poster on the wall. Yet, if you consider that each person in the United States uses 749 pounds (340kg) of paper every year (adding up to a whopping 187 billion pounds (85 billion kg) per year for the entire population, by far the largest per capita consumption rate of paper for any country in the world), then you realize that paper comes in many more forms than meets the eye.World consumption of paper has grown 400 percent in the last 40 years. Now nearly 4 billion trees or 35 percent of the total trees cut around the world are used in paper industries on every continent. Besides what you can see around you, paper comes in many forms from tissue paper to cardboard packaging to stereo speakers to electrical plugs to home insulation to the sole inserts in your tennis shoes. In short, paper is everywhere.
Which great innovator do most people not know about?
Most of the other answers are quite Western-centric so I feel compelled to add an innovation from the East which has been a monumental contribution to civilizations around the world: paper.The root of the word paper is the Greek word papyros, a precursor of paper made from the papyrus plant in Ancient Egypt around 2000 BC. Other writing materials of that time included clay tablets, leather, parchment, wood, bark, bamboo and silk. As you can imagine, they were not terribly convenient, compact and easy to find.Cai Lun (CE 48–121), a Chinese eunuch and inventor is often regarded as the inventor of paper and the papermaking process. He mixed fibers from textile and from tree bark in water and produced sheets of paper. With access to the Emperor and a vision for the potential of his invention to drastically change the world, he gained imperial attention and successfully drove its widespread adoption.This invention replaced earlier writing materials such as bamboo and silk and enabled China to develop its civilization and written history rapidly. They invented woodblock printing and newspaper in the 7–8th centuries.The Chinese tried to keep this technology a secret but it then spread to other East Asian countries. The Arabs captured some Chinese paper makers after a battle in the 8th century and built their own paper industry in Baghdad. They tried to keep it a secret as well. In the 13th century, the knowledge of paper spread from China through the Middle East to medieval Europe. Later, the invention of the printing press in Europe rapidly accelerated the transmission of knowledge and propelled Europe into the Renaissance.
What are some important events throughout history that have mainly been forgotten?
Let me start with:The End of the Bronze Age, see The End of the Bronze Age The end of the Bronze Age ‘Palace Economies’ and the replacement of Linear B with the Phoenician alphabet.The Babylonian Captivity of the Hebrews- because of the loss of a homeland, the Levites decided to transcribe the oral testament- what we now call the ‘Old Testament’.The capture of Egypt by Cambyses II of Persia. It subsequently went to Alexander, to Ptolemy, to Rome and fed the Roman Empire for centuries.The defection of Alcibiades from the Athenian expedition to Sicily. The Athenian hegemony was fatally weakened and Greece remained militarily impotent- setting the stage for Macedonia.The survival of literacy in Ireland How the Irish Saved Civilization - WikipediaThe defeat of the Tang Empire by the Arabs Tang dynasty - Wikipedia according to Wikipedia, this resulted in the discovery of papermaking by the West. Papermaking - Wikipedia This defeat also determined the socio-religious aspect of the Turkish regions of Central Asia.The Battle of Tours (Charles Martel) and the Reconquista- Spain became Christian and supported ColumbusThe alliance between Cortez and the Tlaxcala Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire - Wikipedia Spain gains Mexico.The capture of Constantinople by the Turks, 1453 AD and the migration of many Greek scholars to the West.But I digress.