An amazing country China has achieved great heights since ancient times. It was here that gunpowder was invented, important astronomical discoveries were made here, and what’s really there, here many hundreds of years ago a progressive taxation scale was invented! But since Ancient China was a rich country, many wanted to profit from the property of its inhabitants. Alas, the Chinese did not know how to fight in the past, and lost all the wars, but they found an amazing way to deal with the attacks of the barbarians – losing battles to them, they accepted them, assimilated and simply dissolved in their culture.
Facts about the Ancient China
- Scattered possessions and Chinese provinces were united into a single state around 260 BC.
- Once upon a time, Ancient China was the only country that supplied priceless porcelain products to the West.
- Cheating during the exam to get into public service was punishable by death in ancient China.
- It was the Chinese who long ago invented silk fabric, and they kept the technology of its manufacture a secret for almost 2000 years.
- Chinese historians claim that football originated in ancient China. There is evidence that the sport was played by the Chinese as early as 1000 BC
- Documentary evidence confirms that the Chinese introduced mushrooms into their diet about 3000 years ago (interesting facts about mushrooms).
- It was in ancient China that the oldest printed book in the world, the Diamond Sutra, was made.
- The entire male population of China was required to collect hair in a ponytail. This happened during the reign of the Qing Empire, when the Manchus captured Ancient China. It was they who ordered the Chinese to collect their hair in a ponytail under pain of death. Apparently, this was done in order to distinguish the Chinese from the Manchus: the latter wore their hair gathered in a low ponytail. This law did not last very long.
- It was in ancient China that the world’s first lunar calendar was created. It happened more than 4000 years ago.
- It was in ancient China that the custom was born to tightly bandage the feet of young girls and enclose them in wooden blocks. As a result, over the years, the feet were terribly deformed, but in this form they were considered very attractive. Fortunately, this wild custom is not practiced in modern China (interesting facts about China).
- Hundreds of years ago, the Chinese got the hang of flying kites. They were used to intimidate enemies in battles.
- The most large-scale and at the same time useless structure built in those distant times was the Great Wall of China. The nomads simply bypassed it instead of storming it (interesting facts about the Great Wall of China).
- Ice cream was first made in ancient China about 4000 years ago.
- Chinese emperors always kept Pekingese dogs with them.
- In ancient China, dark glasses were common, where smoky quartz was used instead of glasses. They were used to hide the eyes from others, and were widely used, for example, in court hearings.
- Doctors of ancient China invented a special cure for lice poisoning. In this case, poisoning means excessive eating of lice.
- Once upon a time, the Chinese in some provinces never washed at all, believing that various diseases entered the body through water.
- Becoming a eunuch and working in the imperial palace was the only way in ancient China for a poor person to secure a decent existence. Many parents castrated boys immediately after birth so that he could have some chance in life.
- It was here that toilet paper was invented in an almost familiar form.
- Despite the beliefs of other peoples, in ancient China, the dragon was considered an honorable creature. He was depicted in mythology only as a positive creature.
- The ancient Chinese believed that while writing hieroglyphs, a person goes through a process of self-improvement and acquires morality.
- Another invention of the ancient Chinese is lacquer. They covered wooden products and shoes with a special composition to protect them from getting wet.
- In ancient China, scientists knew that blood moves through the vessels thanks to the beating of the heart, as early as the 2nd century BC. This fact was unknown to European Aesculapians until the 17th century (interesting facts about blood).
- It is known that the writing traditions of all European peoples are rooted in the ancient Sumerians, but the Chinese managed to invent it completely on their own.
- Suspension bridges were invented in ancient China.