page_title: List of Chinese inventions
section_title: I
hierarchical_section_title: List of Chinese inventions / Shang and later / I
caption_attribution_description: 中文: 靜聽松風 - 軸 - 絹本　設色畫 - 226.6x110.3 公分 English: Quietly Listening to Wind in the Pines - Hanging Scroll - Color on silk - 226.6x110.3 cm. National Palace Museum, Taibei, Taiwan. See http://painting.npm.gov.tw/npm_public/System/View.jsp?type=1&amp;ObjectID=347 for museum asset information. Français&#160;: En écoutant paisiblement la brise sous les pins, XIIIe Siècle. Ma Lin (1180-ap. 1256). Rouleau vertical, encre et couleurs sur soie, 226,6 x 110,3 cm. Taipei. Musée national du palais. Bibl.&#160;: Emmanuelle Lesbre et Liu Jianlong. La peinture chinoise Hazan 2004. p. 288&#160;: il pourrait s'agir du taoïste Tao Hongjing.
context_page_description: China has been the source of many innovations, scientific discoveries and inventions. This includes the Four Great Inventions: papermaking, the compass, gunpowder, and printing. The list below contains these and other inventions in China attested by archaeological or historical evidence.
  The historical region now known as China experienced a history involving mechanics, hydraulics and mathematics applied to horology, metallurgy, astronomy, agriculture, engineering, music theory, craftsmanship, naval architecture and warfare. By the Warring States period, inhabitants of the Warring States had advanced metallurgic technology, including the blast furnace and cupola furnace, while the finery forge and puddling process were known by the Han Dynasty. A sophisticated economic system in imperial China gave birth to inventions such as paper money during the Song Dynasty. The invention of gunpowder during the mid 9th century led to an array of inventions such as the fire lance, land mine, naval mine, hand cannon, exploding cannonballs, multistage rocket and rocket bombs with aerodynamic wings and explosive payloads.
context_section_description: Incense: According to biological anthropologist and ecologist David Michael Stoddart of the University of Tasmania, "the earliest recorded use of incense comes from the Chinese who burned various herbs and plant products." Sandalwood, casia, styrax, and cinnamon were used by the Chinese.
  India ink: Although named after carbonaceous pigment materials originating from India, Indian ink first appeared in China; some scholars say it was made as far back as the 3rd millennium BC, while others state it was perhaps not invented until the Wei Dynasty (220–265 AD).
  Inkstone: The inkstone is a stone mortar used in Chinese calligraphy for grinding and mixing ink. Other than stone, inkstones are also manufactured from clay, bronze, iron, and porcelain. The device evolved from a rubbing tool used for rubbing dyes dating around 6000 to 7000 years ago. The earliest excavated inkstone is dated from the 3rd century BC, and was discovered in a tomb located in modern Yunmeng, Hubei. Usage of the inkstone was popularized during the Han Dynasty.
  Inoculation, treatment of smallpox: As Europeans would not begin to develop vaccinations for smallpox until 1796, historical Chinese records show that Chinese physicians have been inoculating against the same disease hundreds of years earlier. The British scientist, sinologist, and historian Joseph Needham states that a case of inoculation for smallpox may have existed in the late 10th century during the Song Dynasty (960–1279), yet they rely on a book Zhongdou xinfa (種痘心法) written in 1808 by Zhu Yiliang for this evidence. Wan Quan (1499–1582) wrote the first clear reference to smallpox inoculation in his Douzhen xinfa (痘疹心法) of 1549. The process of inoculation was also vividly described by Yu Chang in his Yuyi cao (寓意草), or Notes on My Judgment published in 1643, and Zhang Yan in his Zhongdou xinshu (種痘新書), or New book on smallpox inoculation in 1741. As written by Yu Tianchi in his Shadou jijie (痧痘集解) of 1727, which was based on Wang Zhangren's Douzhen jinjing lu (痘疹金鏡錄) of 1579, the technique of inoculation to avoid smallpox was not widespread in China until the reign of the Longqing Emperor (r. 1567 – 1572) during the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644).
caption: A Song painting by Ma Lin, dated 1246, using India ink on silk
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