12 replies to this topic

[AllStarZ]

The Chinese were way ahead of their time. in 1414, the Ming Dynasty Yongle Emperor had Admiral Zheng He launch his fleet of 300 ships with 30,000 men for a voyage in the name of the emperor. Unlike the Spanish (greedy bastards), they went with the simple aim of exploration and as a prestige voyage. They had travelled around the tip of Africa, and may have even been to North America. Among the ships they used were immense treasure ships, the largest about 146 m long, and dwarfing the largest sail warship ever made, the Santissima Trinidad, by being about more than twice the size. To truly understand how immense this ship is, check out this comparison chart to the ship Santa Maria of the Columbus expedition:

Edited by AllStarZ, 17 July 2006 - 23:58.

[Sgt. Nuker]

They had huge ships and are credited with inventing fireworks and gun powder. Leave it to the Chinese to be inventive geniuses. What else did they have in their bag of tricks?


Regards,

Major Nuker

[AllStarZ]

Compass, worlds first seismograph, kites, first people to go into the air for a prolonged period of time, possibly the first armored warship (although the Koreans were the first to invent one for sure), rudder, possibly nitroglycerin, rockets, firecrackers, guns, repeating crossbows, one of the first people to smelt bronze and iron, silk, excellent astronomy skills (although most of them kept believing in a geocentric universe), trebuchets, inventing their completely own language and writing, printing, paper, matches, drydocks, iron plough, suspension bridge, the propeller, the parachute (according to an old Chinese tale of an Emperor who survived a jump because he was holding an enormous rice hat), the wheelbarrow, etc.

I cannot remember or find any more.

Edited by AllStarZ, 18 July 2006 - 01:37.

[Jordan]

Wow. Emphasizes the "Made in china" text you see on half of non-edible products.

[AllStarZ]

Plus several Chinese scientists worked on the Manhattan Project.

[Sgt. Nuker]

Why am I not suprised. Nuclear science would take a great deal of math (not trying to generalize), and what you posted about the early Chinese would give a level of understanding as to why there were some Chinese on the Manhattan project team.


Regards,

Major Nuker

[AllStarZ]

Most importantly, we are attributed with inventing the gun, according to an old painting depicting a vaselike object in which fire was issued from and a ball object flew out.

Edited by AllStarZ, 19 July 2006 - 01:12.

[Prophet of the Pimps]

the Chinese biggest downfall was their prosperity. with peace everywhere the later Chinese rulers let their navies decay. during the Opium war their puny navy was totally fucked up by the British. If any European super power tried the same navy war just 100 years earlier they would have had their ass handed to them by the Chinese. Also the first ship to ship attack rocket with a range of 5km or so was made by the Chinese.

[Kris]

IIRC someone mentioned that the Chinese invented the Machine Gun....The Machine Gun fires a constant stream of uber sharp Arrows ...

IMO The Chinese still pwns today

Edited by Yayo01, 19 July 2006 - 14:14.

[Sic]

Everything plastic that I touch has a lababel in it : Made in CHINA

[AllStarZ]

Prophet of the Pimps, on 19 Jul 2006, 08:42, said:

the Chinese biggest downfall was their prosperity. with peace everywhere the later Chinese rulers let their navies decay. during the Opium war their puny navy was totally fucked up by the British. If any European super power tried the same navy war just 100 years earlier they would have had their ass handed to them by the Chinese. Also the first ship to ship attack rocket with a range of 5km or so was made by the Chinese.

No, the biggest mistake the Chinese ever made was to let the Manchu take over.

Also, nope, the Chinese did not invent the machine gun. A machine gun is best defined as a weapon which fires repeatedly through gases or recoil resulting from firing the weapon. The Chinese did invent the repeating crossbow, which at best, can be fired at the rate of 20 arrows a minute, but has significantly less penetrating power than the European models.

[DerKrieger]

Europe began to overtake China in the late 15th-early 16th century, especially in naval technology- though some emperors saw naval power and reliance on sea-borne trade useful (i.e. Song and Yüan dynasties), the Ming dynasty, faced with hostile neighbors and internal instability, chose to put sea exploration and trade on the backburner. Zheng He's grand fleet was China's last, as the Confucian scholars, who wanted isolationist policies won influence over the emperor.
China had already begun to decline well before the Manchus took over in the 19th century.

[AllStarZ]

Nope, China actually really lost their technological lead against the Europeans, because they did not believe in wealth, and because for the oft-said and above said reasons of being under pressure by neighbouring nations. China could've easily went to India or North America to become wealthy in trade or by subjugating people, but they chose not to. They chose exploration and showcasing their civilization instead. And Europe was definitely still behind China in naval technology during the 15th century. It wasn't till the 16th-17th century that China was really falling behind. By the 18th century, China was totally outclassed in naval terms, although they still possessed some technology unknown to the Europeans. However, at this time, the Manchu finally broke through and took over China. During the early years of their reign, everything was prosperous. Then the later emperors grew greedy, haughty, and paranoid, although many Manchu would go for Chinese traditions and the Chinese would subsequently adopt the Manchus as part of their own culture.