| | Chinese Science, Technology - It's Effect On Chinese Society - History Forum |
 | | The earliest sign of higher civilization in China was its Bronze Age, which began around 2100-2000 BCE when the smelting mixture of copper and tin in fiery kilns, once used exclusively for firing clay pottery in the Neolithic period, became a widespread practice throughout the ancient settlements of the Yellow River region of north-central China. |
 | | Bronze technology also allowed the innovation of the bronze-trigger mechanism of the 5th century BCE crossbow, “invented in the southern state of ChuÂ…[it] allowed a foot soldier to shoot farther than a horseman carrying a light bow,” (Ebrey, 29). |
 | | Guided by large teams of charioteers (later superseded by cavalry-based armies, enhanced further by the 4th century north-Chinese invention of the stirrup) with bronze spoke-wheeled chariots, bronze technology was essential to China’s early military success and survival amongst surrounding hostile foes such as northern nomads massed on horseback and numerous indigenous tribes to the south. |
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