• Metal Casting: Casting of bronze objects developed very early in the Shang Civilization of the Yellow River Valley of about 1800 BCE. Religious objects, as well as tools and weapons, of great artistic merit were cast. Later when the superiority of iron over bronze was recognized superior blast furnaces were developed. These furnaces achieved high enough temperatures that the iron flowed like water and could then be cast. In the West there were blast furnaces that smelt iron from its ores but the temperature was only high enough to produce a mass of iron and slag melted together. This mass had to be hammered to consolidate the iron and drive out the rock-like slag. It was known as wrought iron. In China cast iron was produced. Cast iron has one disadvantage; it has such high carbon content that it is relatively brittle. The Chinese learned to reduce the carbon content to a level such that the metal was strong and resilient instead of being brittle. This is called steel.
• The Compass: The compass was invented n ancient China. People learned to use naturally occurring magnets, called lodestones, to magnetize an iron pointer. The first pointers had a shape somelike a balanced spoon. The handle of the spoon pointed to the south rather than to the north. The early compasses that were borrowed in the West also pointed to the south and only later were modified to point to the north. The Chinese compasses were used in the geomancy called Feng Shui as well as in navigation.
• Paper: The first paper was made from fiber obtained by pounding linen cloth. Initially it was used for clothing rather than writing material. It was even used to make body armor for soldiers. A thick layer of cotton was enclosed between two layers of the tough rag paper. Some soldiers preferred it to the heavy, awkward metal armor.
• Gunpowder: Gun powder developed out of the experiments of Chinese shamans in throwing mineral powders into fires to produce interesting effects in terms of colors and enhancements of the flames. Later the gunpowder was used for making fireworks. The use of gunpowder as an explosive came after its use was borrowed by the West.
• Deep drilling and the use of natural gas: In the search for salt wells the ancient Chinese developed a technology of driving bamboo poles deep into the earth. Depths up to a kilometer were achieved through this technique. In addition to brine this drilling also often tapped into reservoirs of natural gas. This natural gas was captured in barrels and used as fuel to evaporate the water from brine to produce salt.
• Mechanical clock mechanisms: Accurate mechanical clocks were developed in ancient China because of a belief in a form of astrology that was based upon the moment of conception rather than the time of birth. Retainers listened outside the royal bedrooms to record the possible times of conception of royal children. This was considered important enough that considerable effort was devoted to developing accurate timing mechanisms. These clock mechanisms were borrowed in the West and perfected for other purposes. When Jesuits presented such mechanical clocks to the Chinese emperor many centuries later the technology had be forgotten in China and no one knew that the mechanical clock had been invented in China.
• Row crop farming: In ancient times field were planted by broadcasting (throwing) the seed randomly. It was the Chinese who in ancient times realized that if the seeds were planted in separated rows the plants could be irrigated more effectively and the weeds could be chopped down with a hoe. This greatly increased the crop yields.
• Silk: The discovery that the cocoons of silk worms could be unwound and the filaments used to weave an especially light, strong and beautiful cloth was of course made in China.
• Porcelain: In very ancient times the Chinese discovered that with the right choice of clay and firing techniques pottery could be made so thin that it was translucent. Such porcelain became universally known as china.
• Rudders for navigating ships:
• Suspension bridges:
• Wheelbarrows:

These are just some of the technological acheivements of ancient China. There were also major early developments in mathematics, astronomy, philosophy and literature. There were also numerous inventions of less technological significance such as kites. There are some technologies that are important in China that were never adopted in the West such as bamboo scaffolding in building construction and renovation.

Chinese technology did not immediately stagnate under the control of the Mandarins. In the fifteenth century China sent armadas of ships vastly larger than those of the Europeans. The story of the treasure fleets of the early fifteenth century is told elsewhere. Without a doubt that technology was explicitly destroyed by the Mandarins.

(To be continued.)