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"The Four Great Chinese Inventions - compass, gun-powder, paper, and print - are legendary. Less talked about are meritocracy and banknotes." -- Thorsten J. Pattberg

A British historian named Joseph Needham [ 1900 to 1995]. Wrote a huge coffe table book called " Science and Technology in Ancient China. ". It still might be available in print form. This book details over 50 inventions in many fields. I recommend it. It may be available at your local library.

For those crying out about papyrus... though paper, parchment and papyrus are all used to write on.... they all have different processes and there is a specific reason paper is commonly used today and not the other two.

Small error from 8:11 to 8:17 You're describing the Chinese inventor and his accomplishments while showing what I assume is his picture, but the name is that of the French inventor instead.

Do you think all of Simon’s clones know that they’re clones? Or would they all lose their mind if they realised that they were clones locked in a basement with a few writers?

Simon forgot to mention that China also used debit vouchers and traveler's checks rather than coins or gold pieces for people who don't want to travel with large sums of money. So they already had American Express and bank ATMs before "modern financing".

it occurs to me that "a BILLION cubic meters" sounds so much more impressive than "a cubic kilometre" 🤔🤷

So “Made in China” is timeless. Nice.

The Chinese compass was not different, and the west did not tweak it to point North. The compass needle has two ends, so it points North AND south, the west just looked at the other side of the needle because it was aligned with the North Star, which they were used to using.

13:40 Here I thought paper was first created 2900 BCE in Egypt with papyrus. Turns out, Papyrus (paper plant) wasn't technically paper. What the...

The pronuncation of "C" in Chinese Pinyin is more like an English "T" and "S" combined if you didn't know. (Or if you speak German, it's like German alphabet "C".) Hence the old Wade-Giles romanization would spell out paper inventor's name as Tsai Lun or Ts'ai Lun.

Your production team on today's releases seem to be off their usual high quality: Iraq War scenes placed in the video about WWI; mistitled chapters in this video; and mislabeled graphics (a French name next to a Han inventor circa 5rh c BC? What's up?)

"Gaping mouths ready to catch balls"... OH MY!

They had a lot of things, of that there is no doubt. What they didn't have so much of though however was glass. Quite important for consistency of experimentation.

I adore videos like this. In so many ways, the East was lightyears ahead of the West. It's about time the rest of the world recognizes their achievements.

Could you imagine if Simon had a photographic memory? He would be the smartest man ever with all his channels.😂

That spoon looked familiar, sort of like deja vu. Just less bent in weird directions

Ex congressman Steve King asked on live TV to name contributions of non western people(thinking there weren't any I suppose). Where to begin...

0:35 - Mid roll ads 2:20 - Chapter 1 - The compass 5:00 - Chapter 2 - Irrigation 7:45 - Chapter 3 - Earthquake detector 10:20 - Chapter 4 - Paper 14:05 - Chapter 5 - Gunpowder

Given how much of China has just been devastated by enormous floods, the later generations seem to have forgotten how to do it. Case in point, in this flood the 800 year old original Marco Polo bridge survived the onslaught however the close by modern version was totally destroyed!

You know I've just realised every day has me watching a little Fact Boi in his many shows..... nice.

The Chinese were unable to produce effective firearms because they did not possess the screw thread. This made it very difficult to seal the breach. They tried other methods like shrink fitting.

2:06 I guess everyday carry has multiple meanings...

Another well chosen & delivered topic.

Simon im a locksmith shouldn't ever show keys on tv love your content watch you stuff for last few years

Hey Simon, I've got so many ideas for different episodes for you. Being a violinist obviously I think it would be great if you would make an episode on the creation of the violin and the progress to the modern instrument we know today. Actually any modern instrument, guitar and whatnot, piano and more. Thanks 👍.

The British museum has a very cool earthquake detector. I believe the one you're showing is that one

Regarding that Chinese earthquake detector, there's actually a lot of controversy surrounding it, the man who supposedly reconstructed it was, in fact, a gov propaganda, and Wang Zheng's version doesn't actually work. The problem with a pendulum in the middle is that if there are seismic movements, the pendulum would swing back and forth, knocking more than one ball out of dragons' mouth, seismic disturbance also does not travel in a narrow linear path, thus causing only the ball of one direction to fall out is improbable. In more recent years even the Chinese gov has removed this invention from their school textbook, so chances are even the original one from the Han dynasty didn't actually work.

what if Cai Lun perhaps discovered the people who made peper, then figured out how to optimize the manufacturing process?

Gunpowder early weapons: these are exactly the things I pictured for the first uses of weaponized gunpowder... can't be alone in that.

Simon you always ask for topics could you do a video on the invention and development of abs brakes

simon, what's happened to your biographic channel? do you no longer upload on it anymore??

Also my Chinese mom : "Oh you're sick? It's because you didn't drink enough water." "Oh there's an earthquake? It's because you didn't drink enough water." "Oh there's a nuclear war? It's because you didn't drink enough water."

When I initially read the title of this entry into side projects I assumed it would have been more of the fitting to into the Shadows were Simon Just crashes on things wow had no idea that the Chinese had invented all of these things I knew they figure it out eyeglasses and gunpowder well before us but didn't know about these ones. They invented the freaking compass 😮

I hate it when people say "they had unexpectedly advanced technology" in reference to any ancient/ old culture. They just had the technology for the time. It's only advanced compared to Europeans of the same time.

Didn't the ancient Egyptians have paper, made from papyrus? Until the 19th century, paper was made from plant fibers such as linen and cotton. The process to make paper from wood pulp was invented in the West in the 19th Century. Incidentally, modern paper yellows and becomes brittle with age because of the acids used to soften wood pulp. Fiber-based papers don't yellow and turn fragile with age. I once read a book printed in the 1600s, that was in better shape than most printed in the 1960s.

China has always been wildin’ with epic projects 😅

I just discovered this channel. For nerds like me, this is heaven. It's kind of a mix between my 2 other favorite channels. You remind me a Kalen from "Slapped Ham"... appearance wise... while simultaneously reminding me of AJ from "The Why Files" , by the way that you do deep dives. This is AWESOME! 😎

China went from developing cutting edge tech in the ancient era to copying handbag designs in the modern era.

For frog’s snacks, lay off the cocaine, Fact Boi! I thought I was listening on 1.5x.

The Grand Canal was completed more like sixth or seventh century AD not BC.

the romans also never needed anything on that scale.

Geomancer that’s a dope word right there lol sounds like an earth bender from avatar

Have you seen the reasent studys of the viking thunderstick? something in the old sagas in iceland about them also discovering gunnpowder on iceland about the same time as the chinese

Crazy how thousands of years later, the Chinese still make everything.

The Grand Canal was built in 536 AD, not BC.

Simon I have a seismic detector in the bedroom, It's a robot with a bell on it's finger It locates local fracking

"with gaping mouths, ready to catch balls" 😆

Once upon a time China was the place where all kinds of technological innovation took place and everyone else copied them. Weird how it's the exact opposite in modern times.

Mistake naming at 8:15

So... a bunch of Chapter Ones and an ancient Chinese Man given the caption of the preceding (French?) European Man mentioned? Sweet. (They churn these things out WAY too quickly)

How many Chapter One's are there?

The best earthquake detector is 2 googly eyes on a wall

It's truly remarkable how slow inventions were shared around civilizations in that time. There weren't enough "messengers" like Marco Polo. But then, life was so tenuous back then. Another wellspring of invention was Mesopotamia and Semitic tribes. Worth exploring this too!

Sorry kids humour you mentioned in a previous video on one of your channels was wang kinn a bro. Sorry dude please we would never dis you, but we love the way you say ' wang' ♥️

That Chinese guy had an awfully French looking name

That was the funniest way of saying "feng shui" we'll ever hear

*0:01* Hahahaha, annals of history... Sphincter

I get it Simon. When you got the Platinum Latnum Kryptonite Master Card. Why would you need room for 12 cards. I have the same problem 😏😏😏

Has molten lava or magma ever been used as a mortar for building structures all walls, and yes there would be issues collecting into storage for it transporting. Or is it possible to artificially keep Magna fluid sorry viscous?

If you believe in a afterlife I guess you could say it is an elixir for eternal life.

That's ironic 🤦‍♀️. Well if you believe in an after-life, then I guess gunpowder IS a catalyst for immortality..

Can you hold up the keys again? I didn't get the still in time for my 3d printer.

12:46 you can’t tell me the bottom two aren’t silhouettes of Bart and Homer Simpson

you have struck gold here. keep digging

Excellent.

I can't believe ancient chinese invented the ridge wallet

8:11 Surely it should say Chang Heng.

Jean de What?? And what the heck is "collaborating evidence"? I assume you mean "corroborating"?

The Song dynasty was a dynasty of scholars, hence many inventions. BTW, I'm not sure it's their invention but the first mention of small pox vaccine is from 200 AD.

0:00: 🔧 Discover five amazing pieces of ancient technology from China. 3:47: 🧭 The compass played a significant role in navigation and exploration during the Song Dynasty in China and later spread to Europe through trade networks. 7:10: 📜 Ancient Chinese technology surpassed European advancements in water transfer and seismographs. 10:59: 📚 The invention of paper during the Han Dynasty led to the development of printing and the spread of information, ultimately leading to the Renaissance and the Enlightenment in the West. 14:58: 🧪 Gunpowder was first mentioned in 142.80 by Wei Boyang, a writer and Taoist Alchemist of the Han Dynasty, who described a three-part composite substance that would eventually become gunpowder. Recap by Tammy AI

rockets even.. and paper money.

Last video "don't buy overpriced stuff". Current one "buy ridge wallet".

In terms of paper what about the Egyptian use and development of papyrus?

Hey Simon, you shouldn't show your keys on video because people can figure out the bidding for you keys and possible use it to break into your office/home

Interesting!

none of this is a surprise or particularly unexpected given the circumstances of china in the past

I could watch Simon narrate a ham sandwich

Is that a gold day date?

They also invented torpedoes. Little turtle shaped gunpowder charges propelled by gunoowder rockets

Compass and a clock we thinks

I think Chinese textbook removed this from their syllabi

There's no way ancients understood these things. It must have been aliens.😂

In before this episode is a mess of wrong labels and typos.

8:14 that's the wrong name

8:14 so THAT’S how his name was spelled

Hemp, the foundation of civilization.(And it's pesky cousin cannabis.)

Not only paper, the Chinese also invented toilet paper thank you very much, and paper money. And with today’s inflation you might as well wipe ass with paper money. It’s actually the same thing as toilet paper. Btw since its invention one thousand years ago, all paper money had collapsed no exception.

Why do you need to squeeze in little clips like introducing a lady with a spoon? The lady has no relevance to the story (which I will discover when the video closes at which time I can discard the bookmark in my brain that is waiting to discover the reason you flashed it so long ago, and a shiny spoon).. I love shiny.

5 greatest artisans of all time. Cai Lun Cai Lun Cai Lun Cai Lun Cai Lun Because he spits hot fire.

I recommend my videos of teaching Chinese language vividly and in a funny way to those who want to learn Chinese. I hope more people can learn Chinese to get comprehensive firsthand information about China and seek more job opportunities.

Suggestion: Female explorers ( besides Dora😉).

Maybe don't show your keys on screen lol. It's pretty simple to figure out a key's code if you can get a decent look at it. I don't have your address, but someone might. Idk, just a thought. Maybe I'm too paranoid.

Chapter One

Damn, he has an annoying habit of going down to a whisper at the end of his sentences. I'm up trying to work in the garage and listen, but then he trails down to a whisper and I miss the 'punchline' if you will. Like at when he says "... the mysteries of the cosmos". 03:26 You can't hear unless you are right on top of the speakers.

Burnt Titanium ftw 🔥

Why does it say chapter one at the third chapter. Oh both preceding say it as well. BRB for the final count i guess The fourth says four. (God I can’t even pay attention I’m too busy trying to get the editor fired I guess :x)

Track down the origin of the megalithic yard with Alan Butler and Christopher Knight and I promise you that you will never use that word ‘unexpectedly’ again! Indeed you may end up on your knees out of respect!❤

Sorry matey but you put the French guy's name up on screen instead of the Chinese fella's on the earthquake detector section