China Popular Itineraries |
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The Spreading of Oriental Culture to the West |
China is one of the countries with an ancient civilization. In its long course of historical development, the Chinese people of all nationalities have, with their infinite wisdom and indomitable spirit, created a splendid culture, adding an illustrious chapter to the annals of human history. In ancient times, China took the lead all over the world in culture, especially in science and technology, with its culture radiating and spreading through various channels to other countries. As far back as in the Han and the Tang dynasties, there were considerable cultural exchanges between China and the rest of the world, such as Gan Ying's accreditation to the Roman Empire as a diplomatic envoy of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the journey of Xuan Zang, an eminent monk of the Tang Dynasty, to India for "the Buddhist Scriptures", and the stormy voyage of Jian Zhen, another esteemed monk of the Tang Dynasty, to Japan, to name just a few. The splendid ancient Chinese culture, while exerting an influence on the cultures of Asia, Africa and Europe to varying degrees, ab-sorbed and assimilated different foreign cultures, such as the introduction of Buddhism from India to China. As ancient Chinese culture remained, with its abundance and profundity, for a considerably long period of time as the leader of the world, it literally exported more than it imported. That is to say, for-eign cultures, which posed no threat to the existence of traditional Chinese culture, were, in nine cases out of ten, assimilated, transformed and utilized in ancient China.
Papermaking, printing, gunpowder and compass, the four great invent tions representing the splendid achievements of the ancient Chinese culture, are important contributions made by the Chinese nation to the whole world. They have exercised a great deal of impact on the development of world civi-lization. With regard to the value and role of the Chinese culture in the devel-opment history of human civilization, the four great inventions, everlasting monuments in human history, embody a concentrated reflection of the wisdom and creativity of the Chinese nation.
Of the four great inventions, papermaking was the first to be introduced to the west. During the Tang Dynasty, owing to convenient transportation and extensive trade contacts, many of the scientific achievements of China gradually spread to Europe via India and Arab countries. It was exactly during this period that papermaking got to Egypt by way of India and Arab countries and eventually to Europe. By the 12th century, papermaking industry, the first of its kind in the Old Continent, began to appear in Spain. In 1276, the first paper mill was born in Italy. From then on, Italy witnessed a vigorous development of its papermaking industry and soon became an important paper supply base for Europe.
The 14th century turned out to be a century for the rapid development of Europe's papermaking industry. In 1320, paper mills were established in Cologne and Mainz in southern Germany. In 1391, Nščrnberg, one of the ear-liest printing centers in Europe, also had its own paper mills. By the end of the 14th century, paper, which could be made in Italy, France, Spain and Southern Germany, gradually became an important writing material in Eu-rope. From the 15th century onwards, papermaking technique began to spread from Germany to other parts of Europe. From 1491 to 1690, Poland, Austri-a, England, Russia, Denmark and Norway saw the construction of paper mills in succession. There paper was made by hand with Chinese equipment and technology. In the 16th century, paper and papermaking technique were taken to America as a result of the colonial movement. In 1868, paper mills emerged in Melbourne in Australia. Up to then, China's papermaking technology was used in every corner of the earth.
During the Song and the Yuan or Mongol dynasties, printing, gunpow-der and compass were introduced to Europe one after another.
Korea and Japan were the first countries to which printing was taken in the early years of the 8th century. Carved on a wood tortoise in Japan in 770, the book Tuo Luo Ni Jing, turned out to be the first extant block print in the world. During the reign of the Mongol Dynasty, photoxylography was intro-duced to Europe. The Yili Khan State established by the Mongolians became the medium through which printing found its way to Europe. In the 14th cen-tury, the paper playing cards printed by the Persians reached Europe and en-joyed popularity for a long time, which resulted in the rise and development of printing industry in Germany, Spain, France and Italy. In the meantime, ty-pography or movable-type printing was also introduced to Europe. In the mid-die of the 15th century, Italy's Venice became the center of printing in Eu-rope. In 1450, Guddenberg, a German, printed the first Bible in Latin with the types. The introduction of movable-type printing to Europe brought to an end the situation in which only clergymen were entitled to read and write and receive a better education, thus promoting the development of the cultural and educational undertakings of Europe.
Gunpowder was invented in ancient China by alchemists trying to make pills of immortality. Shortly after its invention, it was put into effective use in wars. During the Tang Dynasty, the Chinese alchemy was practised in the Is-lamic world. As a result, the Arabians and Persians got to know nitre. But for a considerable period of time, they used it only in medicines, metallurgy and glassmaking. In the early 13th century, gunpowder and its manufacturing pro-cess were taken to Arabia. From the end of the 13th century to the beginning of the 14th century, the Arabians made a new tabular weapon by referring Chinese firearms and put them into extensive use in the wars.
Gunpowder and firearms were soon introduced to Europe by way of Ara-bia. In the latter half of the 13th century, an Arabian book on warfare entitled Defeat the Enemy with Firearms was translated and published in Europe. Consequently, the Europeans began to know the formula for making gunpow-der and the manufacturing engineering of firearms. The people of Florence in Italy, being the first to master the manufacturing technology of firearms, pro-duced the first batch of tabular firearms in Europe in 1326. England, France and Germany began to make firearms and use them to equip their army in wars in the first half of the 14th century. So did Russia in the latter half of the 14th century. In short, the invention and ensuing introduction of firearms to the West had a great impact on the West and even on the course of historical development of the whole world. The rapidly emerging European countries began their extensive colonial expansion everywhere in the world. As a tool of invasion, firearms gradually found their way to all parts of the world.
The introduction of the compass to the west was an immediate result of the developed navigation and foreign trade of the Southern Song Dynasty. With the growing trade contacts of the dynasty mentioned above with South-east Asian countries, India and the Arabian countries along the Persian Gulf, the compass was taken to Arabian countries at about the end of the 12th centu-ry and the beginning of the 13th century and soon after to Europe via the Ara-bians. It was used in navigation. The possession of the compass by Europe played a crucial role in its opening of new sea routes, expansion of foreign trade, establishment of colonies and the birth and development of capitalism. It not only led to the success of sailing around Africa, but also prepared the ground for the discovery of America.
As capitalism was established and capitalist culture set in the west, the value of China' s four great inventions with their influence on the birth and de-velopment of capitalism in the west became more and more obvious. Joseph Lee, a famous scholar of contemporary England, after making an extensive and thorough analysis of the inventions in ancient China and their populariza-tion, came the following conclusion, without the great contributions made by ancient China in terms of science and technology, the whole process of West-ern civilization would be impossible. It might well be asked, he said, without gunpowder, paper, printing and compass, how could we imagine that we would have abolished feudalism in Europe and adopted capitalism? |
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