What would a world be without China?
China as a country may have garnered quite the attention and bad publicity from the global stage due to controversies especially with international relations. But as a civilization, China has been productive in the area of innovation which became the steppingstone for human tasks to become much easier and for technology to evolve. Some of its contributions could be seen through literature, art, and science, but the basic technological processes and industries prevalent today are spearheaded by China.
One of the most notable creations of the Chinese civilization is paper & printing. Writing letters and mails became possible because papermaking provided the medium for humans to convey a message through a written work. While printing as an advancement to hasten the process of writing. Without these, mass printing of textbooks, notebooks, magazines would never be possible. Written literature, poems, newspapers could be less prominent. Media would be less influential and impactful. It is also less likely for trees to be commercialized further than it is today. Lastly, it would have been much more difficult for historians to archive written or printed history due to the lack of medium, in this case, the paper.
Another great innovation of China is to keep track of direction—the compass. Although it is less prominent in the modern age to physically bring a compass as such is available to smartphones, a compass has been of great use during the early times. For instance, cartography could be much more difficult with a compass. Social mobilization would be slower due to unavailability of tools for travelling. Urban designs in city development would have been different due to lack of insight on the most optimal residential, industrial, or commercial spots. Domestic and international daily traveling may not be possible or less likely to occur unplanned. Also, there may be more islands left undiscovered or a vast majority of the world could have stayed disoriented from the world. Lastly, globalization may happen slower than the current pace today.
Next is the creation of gunpowder to spearhead the advancement of weapon industry. Without gunpowder, weaponry could be less focused on guns and may have possibly veered towards melee type of weapons. The police and army forces of various countries could be equipped differently and less reliant over long-range weapons. There would be fewer possessors of firearms, and advanced artillery may not have innovated which results in the modification of heavy military weapons. Also, the incentives to mine ore and minerals to create more gunpowder would be much less significant for businesses. Lastly, guns would not be commercialized, thus its removal overall as an industry.
China has made necessary innovations for the world that paved way for more inventions where technology could significantly contribute its advancement to China. If we consider what China has done through the years, we will see how China played an important role in history and advanced not only the interest of its civilization, but for the rest of the world. While some of its inventions are quite normal for us today, these have proved to be revolutionary and game-changing during the time of its creation, thus, these attest to the significance of the Chinese civilization in the course of history.
DON MANUEL R. YANGA
Student #: 202040328
BAC2102-3