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Four Great Inventions

Index Four Great Inventions

The Four Great Inventions are inventions from ancient China that are celebrated in Chinese culture for their historical significance and as symbols of ancient China's advanced science and technology. [1]

81 relations: A. Hyatt Mayor, Arsenal, Banknote, Bast fibre, Berthold Laufer, Bi Sheng, Bourgeoisie, Cai Lun, Capitalism, Cast iron, Charles Wentworth Dilke, Chinese alchemy, Chinese characters, Chinese culture, Classic Chinese Novels, Compass, Diamond Sutra, Dream Pool Essays, Early modern warfare, Elixir of life, Fishnet, Five Elders, Floruit, Fortune-telling, Four Beauties, Four Books and Five Classics, Four Great Books of Song, Frederick Denison Maurice, Geomancy, Grenade, Han dynasty, Hemp, History of China, History of gunpowder, History of printing, History of science and technology in China, Hongkong Post, Huolongjing, Japanese people, Jikji, Joseph Edkins, Joseph Needham, Karl Marx, Li (unit), List of Chinese inventions, Lodestone, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Morus (plant), Movable type, Nitrate, ..., Old master print, Papermaking, Playing card, Print culture, Printing press, Qing dynasty, Round shot, Routledge, Science, Science and technology of the Han dynasty, Science and technology of the Song dynasty, Shen Kuo, Sinology, Song dynasty, Tang dynasty, Tea bag, Technology, Textile, The Athenaeum (British magazine), The Isis Magazine, Thomas Kibble Hervey, Three Hundred Tang Poems, Toilet paper, Wang Zhen (inventor), Weiyang District, Yangzhou, William Hepworth Dixon, Woodblock printing, Wujing Zongyao, Xinhua News Agency, Yuan dynasty, 2008 Summer Olympics. Expand index (31 more) »

A. Hyatt Mayor

Alpheus Hyatt Mayor (1901–1980) was an American art historian and curator at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a leading figure in the study of prints, both old master prints and popular prints.

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Arsenal

An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned.

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Banknote

A banknote (often known as a bill, paper money, or simply a note) is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank, payable to the bearer on demand.

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Bast fibre

Bast fibre (also called phloem fibre or skin fibre) is plant fibre collected from the phloem (the "inner bark", sometimes called "skin") or bast surrounding the stem of certain dicotyledonous plants.

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Berthold Laufer

Berthold Laufer (October 11, 1874 – September 13, 1934) was an anthropologist and historical geographer with an expertise in East Asian languages.

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Bi Sheng

Bì Shēng (990–1051 AD) was a Chinese artisan and inventor of the world's first movable type technology, one of the Four Great Inventions of Ancient China.

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Bourgeoisie

The bourgeoisie is a polysemous French term that can mean.

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Cai Lun

Cai Lun (CE 48– 121), courtesy name Jingzhong (敬仲), was a Chinese eunuch, inventor, and politician of the Han dynasty.

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Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system based upon private ownership of the means of production and their operation for profit.

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Cast iron

Cast iron is a group of iron-carbon alloys with a carbon content greater than 2%.

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Charles Wentworth Dilke

Charles Wentworth Dilke (1789–1864) was an English liberal critic and writer on literature.

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Chinese alchemy

Chinese alchemy is an ancient Chinese scientific and technological approach to alchemy, a part of the larger tradition of Taoist body-spirit cultivation developed from the traditional Chinese understanding of medicine and the body.

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Chinese characters

Chinese characters are logograms primarily used in the writing of Chinese and Japanese.

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Chinese culture

Chinese culture is one of the world's oldest cultures, originating thousands of years ago.

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Classic Chinese Novels

In sinology, the Classic Chinese Novels are two sets of the four or six best-known traditional Chinese novels.

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Compass

A compass is an instrument used for navigation and orientation that shows direction relative to the geographic cardinal directions (or points).

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Diamond Sutra

The Diamond Sūtra (Sanskrit:Vajracchedikā Prajñāpāramitā Sūtra) is a Mahāyāna (Buddhist) sūtra from the Prajñāpāramitā sutras or 'Perfection of Wisdom' genre.

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Dream Pool Essays

The Dream Pool Essays or Dream Torrent Essays (Pinyin: Mèng Xī Bǐ Tán; Wade-Giles: Meng⁴ Hsi¹ Pi³-t'an²; Chinese: 夢溪筆談/梦溪笔谈) was an extensive book written by the Han Chinese polymath, genius, scientist and statesman Shen Kuo (1031-1095) by 1088 AD, during the Song dynasty (960-1279) of China.

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Early modern warfare

Early modern warfare is associated with the start of the widespread use of gunpowder and the development of suitable weapons to use the explosive, including artillery and firearms; for this reason the era is also referred to as the age of gunpowder warfare (a concept introduced by Michael Roberts in the 1950s).

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Elixir of life

The elixir of life, also known as elixir of immortality and sometimes equated with the philosopher's stone, is a potion that supposedly grants the drinker eternal life and/or eternal youth.

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Fishnet

In the field of textiles, fishnet is hosiery with an open, diamond-shaped knit; it is most often used as a material for stockings, tights, or bodystockings.

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Five Elders

In Southern Chinese folklore, the Five Elders of Shaolin, also known as the Five Generals are the survivors of one of the destructions of the Shaolin temple by the Qing Dynasty, variously said to have taken place in 1647, in 1674 or in 1732.

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Floruit

Floruit, abbreviated fl. (or occasionally, flor.), Latin for "he/she flourished", denotes a date or period during which a person was known to have been alive or active.

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Fortune-telling

*For the origami, see Paper fortune teller.

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Four Beauties

The Four Beauties or Four Great Beauties are four Chinese women, renowned for their beauty.

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Four Books and Five Classics

The Four Books and Five Classics are the authoritative books of Confucianism in China written before 300 BC.

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Four Great Books of Song

The Four Great Books of Song was compiled by Li Fang (925–996) and others during the Song dynasty (960–1279).

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Frederick Denison Maurice

John Frederick Denison Maurice (29 August 1805 – 1 April 1872), often known as F. D. Maurice, was an English Anglican theologian, a prolific author, and one of the founders of Christian socialism.

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Geomancy

Geomancy (Greek: γεωμαντεία, "earth divination") is a method of divination that interprets markings on the ground or the patterns formed by tossed handfuls of soil, rocks, or sand.

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Grenade

A grenade is a small weapon typically thrown by hand.

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Han dynasty

The Han dynasty was the second imperial dynasty of China (206 BC–220 AD), preceded by the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and succeeded by the Three Kingdoms period (220–280 AD). Spanning over four centuries, the Han period is considered a golden age in Chinese history. To this day, China's majority ethnic group refers to themselves as the "Han Chinese" and the Chinese script is referred to as "Han characters". It was founded by the rebel leader Liu Bang, known posthumously as Emperor Gaozu of Han, and briefly interrupted by the Xin dynasty (9–23 AD) of the former regent Wang Mang. This interregnum separates the Han dynasty into two periods: the Western Han or Former Han (206 BC–9 AD) and the Eastern Han or Later Han (25–220 AD). The emperor was at the pinnacle of Han society. He presided over the Han government but shared power with both the nobility and appointed ministers who came largely from the scholarly gentry class. The Han Empire was divided into areas directly controlled by the central government using an innovation inherited from the Qin known as commanderies, and a number of semi-autonomous kingdoms. These kingdoms gradually lost all vestiges of their independence, particularly following the Rebellion of the Seven States. From the reign of Emperor Wu (r. 141–87 BC) onward, the Chinese court officially sponsored Confucianism in education and court politics, synthesized with the cosmology of later scholars such as Dong Zhongshu. This policy endured until the fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911 AD. The Han dynasty saw an age of economic prosperity and witnessed a significant growth of the money economy first established during the Zhou dynasty (c. 1050–256 BC). The coinage issued by the central government mint in 119 BC remained the standard coinage of China until the Tang dynasty (618–907 AD). The period saw a number of limited institutional innovations. To finance its military campaigns and the settlement of newly conquered frontier territories, the Han government nationalized the private salt and iron industries in 117 BC, but these government monopolies were repealed during the Eastern Han dynasty. Science and technology during the Han period saw significant advances, including the process of papermaking, the nautical steering ship rudder, the use of negative numbers in mathematics, the raised-relief map, the hydraulic-powered armillary sphere for astronomy, and a seismometer for measuring earthquakes employing an inverted pendulum. The Xiongnu, a nomadic steppe confederation, defeated the Han in 200 BC and forced the Han to submit as a de facto inferior partner, but continued their raids on the Han borders. Emperor Wu launched several military campaigns against them. The ultimate Han victory in these wars eventually forced the Xiongnu to accept vassal status as Han tributaries. These campaigns expanded Han sovereignty into the Tarim Basin of Central Asia, divided the Xiongnu into two separate confederations, and helped establish the vast trade network known as the Silk Road, which reached as far as the Mediterranean world. The territories north of Han's borders were quickly overrun by the nomadic Xianbei confederation. Emperor Wu also launched successful military expeditions in the south, annexing Nanyue in 111 BC and Dian in 109 BC, and in the Korean Peninsula where the Xuantu and Lelang Commanderies were established in 108 BC. After 92 AD, the palace eunuchs increasingly involved themselves in court politics, engaging in violent power struggles between the various consort clans of the empresses and empresses dowager, causing the Han's ultimate downfall. Imperial authority was also seriously challenged by large Daoist religious societies which instigated the Yellow Turban Rebellion and the Five Pecks of Rice Rebellion. Following the death of Emperor Ling (r. 168–189 AD), the palace eunuchs suffered wholesale massacre by military officers, allowing members of the aristocracy and military governors to become warlords and divide the empire. When Cao Pi, King of Wei, usurped the throne from Emperor Xian, the Han dynasty would eventually collapse and ceased to exist.

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Hemp

Hemp, or industrial hemp (from Old English hænep), typically found in the northern hemisphere, is a variety of the Cannabis sativa plant species that is grown specifically for the industrial uses of its derived products.

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History of China

The earliest known written records of the history of China date from as early as 1250 BC,William G. Boltz, Early Chinese Writing, World Archaeology, Vol.

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History of gunpowder

Gunpowder is the first physical explosive.

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History of printing

The history of printing goes back to the duplication of images by means of stamps in very early times.

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History of science and technology in China

Ancient Chinese scientists and engineers made significant scientific innovations, findings and technological advances across various scientific disciplines including the natural sciences, engineering, medicine, military technology, mathematics, geology and astronomy.

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Hongkong Post

Hongkong Post is a government department of Hong Kong responsible for postal services, though operated as a trading fund.

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Huolongjing

The Huolongjing (Wade-Giles: Huo Lung Ching; rendered in English as Fire Drake Manual or Fire Dragon Manual), also known as Huoqitu (“Firearm Illustrations”), is a 14th-century military treatise compiled and edited by Jiao Yu and Liu Bowen of the early Ming dynasty (1368–1683).

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Japanese people

are a nation and an ethnic group that is native to Japan and makes up 98.5% of the total population of that country.

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Jikji

Jikji is the abbreviated title of a Korean Buddhist document, whose title can be translated "Anthology of Great Buddhist Priests' Zen Teachings".

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Joseph Edkins

Joseph Edkins (19 December 1823 – 23 April 1905) was a British Protestant missionary who spent 57 years in China, 30 of them in Beijing.

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Joseph Needham

Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology.

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Karl Marx

Karl MarxThe name "Karl Heinrich Marx", used in various lexicons, is based on an error.

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Li (unit)

The li (lǐ, or 市里, shìlǐ), also known as the Chinese mile, is a traditional Chinese unit of distance.

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List of Chinese inventions

China has been the source of many innovations, scientific discoveries and inventions.

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Lodestone

A lodestone is a naturally magnetized piece of the mineral magnetite.

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Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the United States.

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Morus (plant)

Morus, a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, comprises 10–16 species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions.

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Movable type

Movable type (US English; moveable type in British English) is the system and technology of printing and typography that uses movable components to reproduce the elements of a document (usually individual letters or punctuation) usually on the medium of paper.

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Nitrate

Nitrate is a polyatomic ion with the molecular formula and a molecular mass of 62.0049 u.

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Old master print

An old master print is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition.

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Papermaking

The art, science, and technology of papermaking addresses the methods, equipment, and materials used to make paper and cardboard, these being used widely for printing, writing, and packaging, among many other purposes and useful products.

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Playing card

A playing card is a piece of specially prepared heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic, marked with distinguishing motifs and used as one of a set for playing card games.

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Print culture

Print culture embodies all forms of printed text and other printed forms of visual communication.

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Printing press

A printing press is a device for applying pressure to an inked surface resting upon a print medium (such as paper or cloth), thereby transferring the ink.

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Qing dynasty

The Qing dynasty, also known as the Qing Empire, officially the Great Qing, was the last imperial dynasty of China, established in 1636 and ruling China from 1644 to 1912.

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Round shot

A round shot (or solid shot, or a cannonball, or simply ball) is a solid projectile without explosive charge, fired from a cannon.

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Routledge

Routledge is a British multinational publisher.

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Science

R. P. Feynman, The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Vol.1, Chaps.1,2,&3.

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Science and technology of the Han dynasty

The Han dynasty (206 BCE – 220 CE) of ancient China, divided between the eras of Western Han (206 BCE – 9 CE, when the capital was at Chang'an), Xin dynasty of Wang Mang (r. AD 9–23), and Eastern Han (25–220 CE, when the capital was at Luoyang, and after 196 CE at Xuchang), witnessed some of the most significant advancements in premodern Chinese science and technology.

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Science and technology of the Song dynasty

The Song dynasty (960–1279 CE) provided some of the most significant technological advances in Chinese history, many of which came from talented statesmen drafted by the government through imperial examinations.

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Shen Kuo

Shen Kuo (1031–1095), courtesy name Cunzhong (存中) and pseudonym Mengqi (now usually given as Mengxi) Weng (夢溪翁),Yao (2003), 544.

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Sinology

Sinology or Chinese studies is the academic study of China primarily through Chinese language, literature, Chinese culture and history, and often refers to Western scholarship.

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Song dynasty

The Song dynasty (960–1279) was an era of Chinese history that began in 960 and continued until 1279.

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Tang dynasty

The Tang dynasty or the Tang Empire was an imperial dynasty of China preceded by the Sui dynasty and followed by the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period.

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Tea bag

A tea bag is a small, porous, sealed bag or packet containing dried plant material, which is immersed in boiling water to make a tea or an infusion.

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Technology

Technology ("science of craft", from Greek τέχνη, techne, "art, skill, cunning of hand"; and -λογία, -logia) is first robustly defined by Jacob Bigelow in 1829 as: "...principles, processes, and nomenclatures of the more conspicuous arts, particularly those which involve applications of science, and which may be considered useful, by promoting the benefit of society, together with the emolument of those who pursue them".

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Textile

A textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres (yarn or thread).

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The Athenaeum (British magazine)

The Athenaeum was a literary magazine published in London, England from 1828 to 1921.

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The Isis Magazine

The Isis Magazine is a student publication at the University of Oxford, where the magazine was established in 1892.

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Thomas Kibble Hervey

Thomas Kibble Hervey (4 February 1799 – 27 February 1859) was a British poet and critic.

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Three Hundred Tang Poems

The Three Hundred Tang Poems is an anthology of poems from the Chinese Tang dynasty (618 - 907) first compiled around 1763 by Sun Zhu (1722-1778Yu, 64-65), the Qing Dynasty scholar, also known as Hengtang Tuishi (衡塘退士 "Retired Master of Hengtang").

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Toilet paper

Toilet paper is a tissue paper product people primarily use to clean the anus and surrounding area of fecal material after defecation and to clean the perineal area of urine after urination and other bodily fluid releases.

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Wang Zhen (inventor)

Wang Zhen (1290–1333) was a Chinese agronomist, inventor, writer, and politician of the Yuan Dynasty (1271–1368).

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Weiyang District, Yangzhou

Weiyang District was a district of the city of Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, People's Republic of China.

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William Hepworth Dixon

William Hepworth Dixon (30 June 1821 – 26 December 1879) was an English historian and traveller.

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Woodblock printing

Woodblock printing is a technique for printing text, images or patterns used widely throughout East Asia and originating in China in antiquity as a method of printing on textiles and later paper.

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Wujing Zongyao

The Wujing Zongyao, sometimes rendered in English as the Complete Essentials for the Military Classics, is a Chinese military compendium written from around 1040 to 1044.

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Xinhua News Agency

Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English) or New China News Agency is the official state-run press agency of the People's Republic of China.

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Yuan dynasty

The Yuan dynasty, officially the Great Yuan (Yehe Yuan Ulus), was the empire or ruling dynasty of China established by Kublai Khan, leader of the Mongolian Borjigin clan.

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2008 Summer Olympics

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad and commonly known as Beijing 2008, was an international multi-sport event that was held from 8 to 24 August 2008 in Beijing, China.

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References

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Great_Inventions

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