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The drink’s popularity made tea-plant cultivation a major industry, often involving an entire community.
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The Chinese used large bombs that were as explosive as modern bombs.
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The Chinese had made the first weapon that used gunpowder. Early flamethrowers contained gunpowder mixed with oil. The Chinese used them to spray enemies with a stream of fire.
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The Chinese who first made gunpowder were alchemists. Alchemists experimented with mixtures of natural ingredients, trying
to find a substance that might allow people to live forever. -
Printers used woodblock printing to make the cards from thick paper and famous artists drew the designs that appeared on the backs of the cards.
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Before that time, coins were the only form of currency, it was printed with wood blocks.
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Dripping water made the wheel turn. Every quarter hour, drums would beat; and every hour, a bell would chime.
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The Chinese invented a technique called woodblock
printing. The printer first drew characters (symbols) on
paper. He then glued the paper to a wooden block. When
the glue was dry, the printer carved out the wood around
the characters, leaving the characters raised on the wood. -
The first Chinese compasses were pieces of a magnetic mineral called lodestone because Earth itself is like a giant magnet with north and south poles.
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The earliest Chinese paper was probably made from hemp and then the bark of the mulberry tree. Later, the Chinese used rags.
