Science and technology advanced during the Tang dynasty
and improved the lives of the Chinese people as well as those of
foreign nations. The Chinese invented gunpowder during the Tang
dynasty, but it was not used in warfare until the 10th century.
It was accidentally discovered by Taoist experiments and was initially
used only in special ceremonies. The fixation of the Chinese people
to find the potion for immortality led to other accidental discoveries
that greatly contributed to the field of medicine.
Another ingenious invention was block printing that
was invented around 710 A.D. and became very popular during the
late Tang dynasty. Originally, scholars copied books by hand. Block
printing increased the convenience of obtaining literary works and
soon bookstores were found in every city. The first printed book
was The Diamond Sutra, a Buddhist text, around 868 A.D.
First, the information was written by a calligrapher
on transparent paper and then glued on to the woodblocks. Then a
person would carve excess wood so as to produce raised characters.
Then, ink was placed on the wood and the paper was rubbed on to
it to make copies. Around the 9th century, biographies on Taoist
saints, Buddhist spells, almanacs, and dictionaries were being printed.
Since antiquity, the Chinese were fascinated with
the sky, resulting in invaluable records and methods of astrological
predictions. Permitted only for royalty, astrology was believed
to provide powerful knowledge over man; consequently, it was restricted
from ordinary men and reinforced with severe punishments for anyone
who possessed astronomical equipment or charts. I-hsing, a Buddhist
monk, and Liang Ling-tsan, a military engineer, created an astronomical
clock in the imperial palace in 721 A.D. in order to create a more
accurate calendar.
Porcelain was yet another one of China's inventions
that became extremely popular during the Tang dynasty. Though a
crude form was discovered during the Han dynasty, it was not until
the Tang dynasty that true white porcelain was made. If clay was
added with feldspar (a kind of mineral) it would produce porcelain,
but someone found that by adding the mineral with the clay before
it was heated resulted in the porcelain that the Tang dynasty was
famous for. Envied by foreigners, porcelain was traded with neighboring
countries and was even found in Mesopotamia and Africa!
