Chinese Technologies Introduced into the West via Silk Road

 

       cultural exchange between China and the West offered mutual benefit and achieved common progress. The ,paper making,Sexy silk dresses, printing, gunpowder and compass) as well as the skills of silkworm breeding and silk spinning were transmitted to the West. This greatly sped up the development of the entire world.

Apart from Chinese exquisite goods, many Chinese advanced technologies were also exported to the west, such as the silkworms breading, silk spinning, paper making, printing with movable type and gunpowder.

In Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), China had a monopoly on silk trade by keeping the silk's production technology a secret. A Han princess smuggled silkworms and mulberry seedlings as well as skilled workmen into Yutian (now Hetian). It was not until the 12th century AD that this technology reached to West Europe.

In 750, a war between the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the Arab Empire broke out in Bishkek City and the Tang troops were defeated. As a result, Arabs took Chinese prisoners to Samarkand along the Silk Road. Among them there were paper making workmen.

In Tang Dynasty, Printing Technique had been introduced into the Central Asia. In the thirteenth century, many European travelers reached China through the Silk Road and brought back Printing Technique to Europe. In 1444, Gutenberg, a German inventor of letterpress printing, printed the Bible using a similar printing technique.

During the early period of the thirteenth century, Mongolian hordes used gunpowder to flatten resistance against them in their westward conquests. That was equivalent to weapons of mass destructions in those days.

What's more, the technique of karez was introduced into the Western Regions in the Han Dynasty. The Han troops stationed in the West Regions used the technique to storing water under desolate conditions. From the Three Kingdoms (220-280) to the Tang Dynasty (618-907), the music, dance, acrobatics and arts of West Asia and Central Asia spread into China. The Kung-hou (23-stringed instrument) and lute of Persia joined Chinese traditional musical instruments in the Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD).

Material culture exchange was also underway on this long trade road. A large number of products of the West flowed into China, such as grapes, clover, walnuts, carrots, peppers, beans, spinach, cucumbers, pomegranates, rare animals, medicinal materials, flavorings and jewelry. Chinese porcelains and lacquers were traded into the West as well.