An analysis of Chinese and Western thought and culture from the perspective of the development of gunpowder's uses.

Abstract

Gunpowder, as one of the four great inventions of ancient China, its history of application differentiation profoundly reveals the differences in thought and culture between China and the West. It was initially applied in military affairs in the Tang Dynasty, and in the Song Dynasty, it developed into fire weapons such as "Thunderclap Cannon" and gave rise to the culture of fireworks. However, constrained by the Confucian ideology of "valuing ethics over technology", the technology of gunpowder gradually stagnated at the empirical level and failed to form a scientific development theory. After being introduced to Europe via the Arabs, the Westerns combined gunpowder with mathematics and chemistry, developing an efficient weapon system and turning it into a powerful tool for colonial expansion. This divergence in technological paths reflects the deep-seated thinking patterns and cultural values of the two civilizations. This article will start from the different purposes of using gunpowder in the China and the West, and objectively analyze the ideological and cultural factors behind the development and application of gunpowder from aspects such as Confucian thought in China, the expansionist ideology of Western civilization, social structure and institutional factors, and the differences between intuitive thinking and rational thinking. In the era of globalization, the paradox of gunpowder tells us that true progress requires transcending the binary opposition of "experience and theory", "ethics and interests", and finding a balance point for the benevolent use of science and technology in the mutual learning of civilizations.