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The tea was made by letting tea leaves steep in boiling water, it was drunk mostly as medicine.
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Rockets were powered by
a black powder made of saltpeter, charcoal, and sulfur. -
The Chinese who first made gunpowder were alchemists, people who practiced a blend of science and magic known as alchemy. Alchemists experimented with mixtures of natural ingredients, trying to find a substance that might allow people to live forever.
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Famous artists drew the designs that appeared on the backs of the cards. Europeans were introduced to card games by the late 1300s.
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Like game cards, paper money was printed with wood blocks. By 1107, Song printers were using multiple wood blocks to print each bill.
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The Chinese devised a wheel that made one complete turn every 24 hours. Dripping water made the wheel turn. Every quarter hour, drums would beat; and every hour, a bell would chime.
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The earliest Chinese steel was made from cast iron. The Chinese were the first to learn how to make cast iron by melting and molding iron ore.
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The first Chinese compasses were pieces of a magnetic mineral
called lodestone. -
Porcelain is made by combining clay with the minerals quartz and feldspar. The mixture is baked in a kiln, or pottery oven, at very high temperatures.
