# Historical

By [char0w3](https://paragraph.com/@char0w3) · 2021-10-29

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China was once a world leader in science and technology up until the [Ming dynasty](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_dynasty).[\[399\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-417) Ancient [Chinese discoveries](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_discoveries) and [inventions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_inventions), such as [papermaking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Papermaking), [printing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_typography_in_East_Asia), the [compass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass), and [gunpowder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunpowder) (the [Four Great Inventions](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Inventions)), became widespread across East Asia, the Middle East and later to Europe. Chinese mathematicians were the first to use [negative numbers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negative_numbers#History).[\[400\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-418)[\[401\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-419) By the 17th century, Europe and the Western world surpassed China in scientific and technological advancement.[\[402\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-420) The causes of this early modern [Great Divergence](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Divergence) continue to be debated by scholars to this day.[\[403\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-421)

After repeated [military defeats](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eight-Nation_Alliance) by the European colonial powers and [Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Sino-Japanese_war) in the 19th century, Chinese reformers began promoting modern science and technology as part of the [Self-Strengthening Movement](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-Strengthening_Movement). After the Communists came to power in 1949, efforts were made to organize science and technology based on the model of the [Soviet Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union), in which scientific research was part of central planning.[\[404\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-422) After Mao's death in 1976, science and technology was established as one of the [Four Modernizations](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Modernizations),[\[405\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China#cite_note-423) and the Soviet-inspired academic system was gradually reformed.

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*Originally published on [char0w3](https://paragraph.com/@char0w3/historical)*