Four Great Inventions - Origins

Origins

Although Chinese culture is replete with lists of significant works or achievements (e.g. Four Great Beauties, Four Great Books of Song, Four Great Classical Novels, Four Books and Five Classics, Five Elders, Three Hundred Tang Poems, etc.), the concept of the Four Great Inventions originated with European scholars, and was only later adopted by the Chinese.

From their travels to the East, European sailors after 1500 frequently suggested to their contemporaries the Asian origins of printing, gunpowder, compass, and paper. The importance of these inventions to the Western world was perhaps first discussed by the British philosopher Francis Bacon (1561–1626), who in 1620 wrote: "Printing, gunpowder and the compass ... whence have followed innumerable changes, in so much that no empire, no sect, no star seems to have exerted greater power and influence in human affairs than these mechanical discoveries."

Later, Karl Marx also commented that, "Gunpowder, the compass, and the printing press were the three great inventions which ushered in bourgeois society. Gunpowder blew up the knightly class, the compass discovered the world market and founded the colonies, and the printing press was the instrument of Protestantism and the regeneration of science in general; the most powerful lever for creating the intellectual prerequisites."

Western books and other published works from the 19th century onwards attributed these inventions to China. Examples include: The Chautauquan by the Chautauqua Institution, The Journal of International Relations, and Johnson's New universal cyclopædia: a scientific and popular treasury of useful knowledge.

The modern list of the Four Great Inventions originated in the mid-19th century with the writings of missionary and sinologist Joseph Edkins (1823–1905). Edkins, comparing China with Japan, noted that for all of Japan's virtues, it did not make inventions as significant as paper-making, printing, the compass and gunpowder. In particular, Edkins' notes on these inventions were mentioned in an 1859 review in the journal Athenaeum, comparing the contemporary science and technology in China and Japan. In the 20th century, this list was popularized and augmented by the noted British biochemist, historian, and sinologist Joseph Needham, who devoted the later part of his life to studying the science and civilization of ancient China.