ABSTRACT
A number of inventions from ancient China stand out as extraordinary. A machine for detecting earthquakes, and clocks that could chart the movements of the heavens, can only be described as truly astonishing. Zhang Heng is most famous for inventing the first seismograph, a machine for detecting earthquakes. The Chinese sometimes claim that they invented the water clock independently of other civilizations that also used this device in ancient times. Gunpowder is a mixture of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal. Alchemists in ancient China experimented with these ingredients in their search for the secret of eternal life. Wheelbarrows are normally thought of as commonplace tools used by laborers and farmers, but in China they were used as a piece of top-secret military equipment with several different functions. A blast furnace is so-called because air is blasted into the bottom of the furnace while the raw material is fed in at the top.
