The Development of Gun Powder From East Towards the West, Essay Example

Even before the onset of the war years, the Chinese society from the eastern part of the world has long been looking for a source of the elixir of immortality. Along the process of doing so, they have found the composition of black powder and how much it could do. Instead of simply making it into an elixir, the ancient Chinese inventors mixed together charcoal, sulfur and potassium nitrate to create comprehensive firearms during the time. With this particular invention, the creation of well-developed firearms has become a well-defined desire for many regions around the globe which paved the way for the use of black powder to be known in the Western regions.

The argument on whether it was the Eastern or the Western civilization that first approached progress is the focal point that is being assumed alongside this factual report on the Chinese exploration of the black powder’s use. This development basically creates the idea that alongside the development of the Western civilization, the Eastern civilization also begins to make a name especially in the process of inventing new ways of utilizing the substances that they are regularly using. The undeniable impact of the discovery and early utilization of black powder does create a remarkable indication that while the Western civilization takes part in excelling in several points of academic development, the Eastern region was more focused on improving through practical knowledge.

According to Buchanan’s (2006) written work regarding explosive technology in China, while the western regions of the world prepare for the war years, the Chinese community has long been using the black powder for so many different reasons (90). The resources available in China has specifically increased their capability of gaining access to materials they need to create the Black powder and later on develop it further to more complex innovations. As civilization is defined in par with development, the implication of China’s discovery of the black powder and develops its use further entails the empowerment of the Chinese [and in this case, the eastern] civilization.

Another arguable implication of this occurrence is the question on whether it was the historians or history itself that made a name for either the Western or the Eastern region as the primary source of social development; was it because of the fact that the western region actually did commence the development or was it because it was what they want history to impose. Relatively, this identification of regional excellence affected the entire dependency of the belief system on who is better and who is least; affecting the recognition of the people’s intellectual capability based on whether one has come from the eastern or the western regions of the world. Most often than not, people who are reportedly from the western regions are the ones who are able to garner immediate recognition as practically capable of providing good job services. On the other hand, people from the eastern regions of the world are at some point having a hard time realizing such recognition. The detail about the black powder could somewhat reduce the friction that contributes to this idealism of excellence.

What one part of the region imposes to be realistic about the development of the eastern side of the world embraces shows how the entire region intends to utilize its resources to respond to common human needs that actually develop to something bigger in the future (Frangsmyr, 19990, 43). Consistently, the process of development comes from one region to another hence presenting the possibility of the other parts of the eastern civilization to be taking their own procedures of development, it may not be closely related to the black powder, but they are indeed dedicated to utilizing what they have to respond to their needs.

The third argument entails the advancement of technology used in both the western and eastern regions during the onset of global civil development. What this argument hopes to point out is that the world adheres to the excellence of the western society in a much recognized pattern, whereas through innovation and creativity, the eastern sections of the world are able to create concrete technology from practical application of chemistry and physics and define the path of development that the field of armory recognizes very well at present.

Somehow, in the contemporary times, most big names of organizations remain located in the western regions, while most of their manufacturing facilities are located in the east, worked on by the easterners and managed by the westerners. The level of recognition of excellence could somehow be recognized biased in this manner.  According to Needham (et, al, 1987), the Chinese recognition of practical science and how it effectively works insistently points out how effective the eastern civilization is in defining modernity (43).

References:

Benton, Captain James G. (1862), Ordinance and Gunnery (2 ed.), West Point, New York: Thomas Publications. This reading provides a clear identification on the process of handling the discovery of the black powder as it does enter the point of development of the Chinese society.

Brown, G. I. (1998), The Big Bang: A History of Explosives, Sutton Publishing. This reading material provides a clear identification on how the Chinese black powder affected the development of explosives. This specifically imposes on the aspect of development that China has provided the course of progress in the field of explosives production.

Buchanan, Brenda J., ed. (2006), Gunpowder, Explosives and the State: A Technological History, Aldershot: Ashgate. This explains the technology behind the exploration of the chemical substances that creates the black powder and how it has developed into a more sophisticated type of armory that is used on different types of guns at present.

Chase, Kenneth Warren (2003), Firearms: a global history to 1700 (illustrated ed.), Cambridge University Press, p. 58. This reading shows a deep definition of what the history of firearms is all about and how much the Chinese society has created a definite mark in this field of development.

Crosby, Alfred W. (2002), Throwing Fire: Projectile Technology Through History, Cambridge University Press. Making an expansive conditioning of the process of developing the technology of firearm production, this reading creates a clear definition on how fire-projectile has been better insisted as part of the development of the war years towards the years of modern days.

Frangsmyr, Tore, J. L. Heilbron, and Robin E. Rider. The Quantifying Spirit in the Eighteenth Century. Berkeley: University of California Press, c1990. The eighteenth century era has opened up the doors for remarkable developments and for China; the black powder has become their primary entry to this particular part of social development. This matter is duly discussed in this reading through accurate detailing of history.

Lorge, Peter Allan (2008), The Asian military revolution: from gunpowder to the bomb, Cambridge University Press, p. 32.  From the point of assuming progress in the production of military arms, the Asian race is considered in this reading to take a remarkable reputation in the course of pointing out the history of firearm development through the years.

Kelly, Jack (2004), Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, & Pyrotechnics: The History of the Explosive that Changed the World, Basic Books. The world of explosives has turned into a wide-range of resource for the creation of other fire-based operations. Believably, through considering the path of progress that the said field has taken, the Chinese society takes part in being the first in line to create extensive ancient innovation that relives its mark up until the contemporary era. This book provides a clear definition on the said elements that define the Chinese role on pyro-progress.

Needham, Joseph; Gwei-Djen Lu; Ling Wang (1987). Science and civilization in China, Volume 5, Part 7. Cambridge University Press. pp. 48–50. Showing how China has taken on the toll of development in the ancient years, this book points out the advancement of the status of science and technology in the country even beyond the beginning of the civilization in the Western countries.

Molerus, Otto. “History of Civilization in the Western Hemisphere from the Point of View of Particulate Technology, Part 2,” Advanced Powder Technology 7 (1996): 161-66. Focusing on technology, this book gives a clear vision on how believably reliable the Chinese society has become especially when it comes to developing firearms that has become definite sources of confidence to the country during the war years.