Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[qianxunta]

in my english textbook,there is an article The West's Debt to China.It seems that much of Western and Eastern knowledge of Chinese contributions have either been forgotten or overlooked. it said that many remarkable advances in science and technology in the west were based on the inventions of ancient China.So the fast developing during the last several centuries of the west owed a lot to China.but why the early Chinese advances did not continue?Why indeed did progress stall at about the time when Western civilization was awakening from their Dark Ages? F or example,The mechanical clock was invented in China in the 8th century, and then independently in Europe in 1310. When the Chinese imperial court was shown a mechanical clock by Jesuit missionaries in the 17th century, the scholars were awestruck.
i got a similar passage on www.computersmiths.com
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[element105]

IMHO,times of invasions of northern nomads � Mongol,Tartar,Manchu,etc. � broke up consistency of civilization,holding off development of society.

[element105]

Cultural revolution damaged the industrial production and the economy,but not science development,on the contrary,China's first abomb and first satellite were both the outcomes of that period.

The reason that today China is still a developing country is mulriple,WWII and civil war was considerable,but the cause of those tragedy,the declining of national power,I'm afraid,much was due to starting from a low basis which was a result of the nomads' invasion.Before Manchu's invasion,China's GDP took more than half part of the world's,but in the middle of Qing dynasty,less than one hundred years later,it dropped to only around 25%.I found something very interesting that every time throughout history,when China came up to a peak of prosperity,there must be a powerful nomad force living on the northern lano waitting for destroying that all,turning it started from scratch.Feudalism,however,had kept China ahead of the world for 1500 years,so I don't believe it's the point causing the situation of today nor latter day.In addition,a type of system form which similar to western council of ministers system was in fact adopted by emperors throughout Ming but abolished in Qing. Maybe that could clarify something.