Sorry, I'm aware of Chinese, Indian and Islamic mathematics. By "originating" I don't necessarily mean first in everything, but it's hard to argue that Chinese mathematics had as much of an impact.
While I don't condone violence, military technology is a big part of the advantage of western powers up to this point. It has driven innovations in other areas as well.
And I didn't mean to say China is not awesome (just not as awesome back then), I love Chinese history and culture, but my reaction is against the popular sentiment that China was humiliated for ~two centuries and it was just a temporary fluke. I think it began way before then, and that it's not certain that China was on the cusp of a scientific and industrial revolution itself, had not western powers arrived there first.
Nah no need to say sorry haha. You brought up some very valid points, just it's hard to category anything as awesome or not in a strictly objective sense.
Throughout human history, there's no telling whether or not a particular event or happening is awesome or not, it's just the natural progression of humankind seeking power and regime.
In terms of contribution towards modern science and industrial revolution though, you are perfectly right about China not participating too much in it. For me personally, I rather feel like the more I learn about life, the more I wonder about the power of mind and less about the materialistic world. Hence ancient Chinese's philosophies of life and Dao is surprisingly more powerful to me than modern scientific advances, yet it seemed to have entirely lost its roots throughout history sadly.
While I don't condone violence, military technology is a big part of the advantage of western powers up to this point. It has driven innovations in other areas as well.
And I didn't mean to say China is not awesome (just not as awesome back then), I love Chinese history and culture, but my reaction is against the popular sentiment that China was humiliated for ~two centuries and it was just a temporary fluke. I think it began way before then, and that it's not certain that China was on the cusp of a scientific and industrial revolution itself, had not western powers arrived there first.