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Gunpowder is the most unfortunate and unfortunate Chinese invention myth. However, the Chinese themselves do not strongly insist that this is purely their invention, allegedly they received gunpowder from other lands. In the Chinese manuscript of the XI century (has anyone seen its original?), its authors write that they received a recipe for this explosive during their trip to Egypt. Allegedly, the Egyptians used gunpowder in bombs that were thrown at the enemy, and those, exploding, caused him great damage. Where is the Chinese invention? Mm?
Paper? Oh, this is my favorite myth, in short: the Chinese always cry out that the Manchurians burned all the books, so there is nothing until the seventeenth century, but this is direct hype, something would remain – the material is massive, and accounting books and love letters of ordinary Chinese invaders would not even occur to the mind to destroy. But neither accounting nor letters from the Domanchu period have been found, either in China or anywhere else in the world. There is no Chinese paper before the seventeenth century. But what about the great Cai Lun? And the world learned about it only after the European Jesuit monks settled in China, and suddenly it was after the seventeenth century. It was then that the monks spread the news about Tsai Luna like a plague, and in Europe they learned about paper then. In fact, for sure, the Chinese have made some historical remakes - like those scraps that they like to demonstrate without expertise, they like to age their history. So you can bring it, at least I'll beat it.
Once again, none of the European travelers who visited China before the seventeenth century, including Marco Polo, mentioned any Chinese paper. I would have remembered if I had seen it.