7.9.2 Also made in China Today, we buy many goods from China. Long ago, China invented things like gunpowder, improved medicine, detected earthquakes and even created kites. Gunpowder Long ago, the Chinese wanted to ýnd a drug for eternal life and accidentally discovered gunpowder. At ýrst, it was used for ýreworks and ceremonies. Later, they made bombs with bamboo and cannons from cast iron. The Chinese also created the ýrst multi-stage rockets, þame-throwers and hand grenades for their armies. Acupuncture has been used in China since the third century BCE. It was thought to help balance yin and yang in the body. By 200 CE, the Chinese knew about blood circulation and used hemp as an anaesthetic . Human dissection was banned because it went against Confucian beliefs.
SOURCE5 Gunpowder was ýrst used in ýreworks.
Seismographs
SOURCE6 Zhang Heng’s seismograph
Zhang Heng invented the ýrst seismograph in 132 BCE ( SOURCE6 ). A ball dropped from a dragon’s mouth into a toad’s mouth, showing the earthquake’s direction. Kites Kites were ýrst made from bamboo and silk, then paper. They were used in festivals, battles, ýshing and scaring birds away from crops. 7.9.3 Conserving China’s cultural heritage
UNESCO is a global group that protects important natural and cultural sites. These include ancient remains. UNESCO keeps a list of World Heritage Sites, which you can see online. China has many listed sites, including the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang (see SOURCE7 ) and the Great Wall of China (see SOURCE8 ).
SOURCE7 Terracotta soldiers and horses at the Mausoleum of Qin Shihuang
SOURCE8 The Great Wall of China is over 21 000 km in length and, on average, more than 10 million people visit it each year.
TOPIC7 Ancient China 217
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