Advanced Technologies in Ancient China and Egypt

Egypt is a place where the climate is dry and hot with little rainfall and most areas of Egypt is covered up by a desert. However, the Nile River that runs across Egypt flooded every year so that the Egyptians were able to build up their crops to build food surpluses. On the other hand, China contained deserts, forests, and mountains and many of the Chinese adapted to the environment by building up irrigation systems, fishing, and building up crops. Although Ancient Egypt and Ancient China stood in two different places, their technology in mostly industrial, agriculture, and weapons had similarities and differences.

The industrial technology in Ancient Egypt and Ancient China has a similarity in paper but there were a more significant number of differences, which are the money system and printing. The biggest similarity in the industrial technology between Ancient Egypt and Ancient China was paper. Although the similarity was that both civilizations were able create paper, the way and how it was made were different. In Ancient Egypt, paper, also known as ‘papyrus’ was made out beaten strips of papyrus plant. On the other hand, the paper that was made in Ancient China was not made out of papyrus plant or wood pulp. Instead the Chinese first made paper out of hemp fiber and silk but found the quality to be far from satisfactory so, in 105 A.D, paper with worn fishnet, bark, and cloth. These materials were essay to find and the cost of processing paper out of materials were much cheaper than making paper out of hemp fiber and silk.

The first difference in the industrial technology between Ancient Egypt and Ancient China was the money system in both civilizations. One of the greatest technologies that Ancient China made was the paper money also known as ‘flying money’ was made in the ninth century A.D. In Ancient Egypt, the Egyptians did not use paper money but instead people bought goods with food such as wheat, oil, and olive oil. And as they developed, coins also became part of Ancient Egypt’s money system. The second difference in industrial technology between Ancient China and Ancient Egypt was printing. Around 600 A.D., the Chinese invented a fix-type engraved printing also known as ‘block printing’. Although it was hard looking for errors and were not easy to store by using this ‘block printing’, it still helped Ancient Chinese civilization to have a head start in printing.