Re: Inventions

The real problem was of attitudes.  Chunese culture was very similar to
the
classical watershed empire.  The emperor derives authority by being able
to
inform farmers when to plant crops.  It is a culture of answers, not
questions.  Any situation that did not already have an official
resolution
was to be avoided.  Mainland China is easily able to provide for
everybody
that lives there, so this culture will not have anything to really
unsettle
it, and it will be very robust.

Western culture is one of questions.  Everybody does not and cannot have
everything that they would need, so there are lots of unanswered
questions.
As everyone can benefit from a solution, solutions are sought out and
applied.  The Greek city states, confined to relatively small valleys of
arable land, always  rewarded innovations that solved perceived problems
(so
long as they could keep their fingernails clean), and would conduct
extravagant thought experiments on the nature of the Universe
(unfortunately, they were willfully ignorant of the need for practical
experiments).

While Rome was short on technical innvation, they were spirited copyists
and
exploiters, and were not above actual innovation if it did not violate
their
own traditions.  The corvus was a boarding platform that romans added to
naval combat because they were poor sailors, but had the best infantry
of
their day, and among the best of all time.  While the ideal roman
lifestyle
did not include working with your hands, they were very good engineers,
when
necessary.

The Dark Ages were bad as noone in Europe seemed especially keen on
practical learning (although, they did manage the mould-board plow and
horsecollar).  However, the timely coincidence of movable type and
rediscovering the classics combined with a marked labour shortage
(thanks to
the ravages of the Black Death, and other plagues) set the stage for the
inexorable advance of progress.

The chinese powers-that-be saw change as a threat and they stifled it as
long as possible.  It was a rude shock for the stagnant cultural to