Invention
and Artisan Production
►The Han were
the most technologically innovative of
all classical civilizations.
►Innovations
included the introduction of the brush pen and paper, watermills powering mills and workshops, rudders, and compasses.
►Improved
techniques appeared in mining, silk making,
and ceramics.
►The advances
led to the growth of a mostly urban artisan
and manufacturing class.
►Artisans,
although relegated by the scholar gentry to a social status inferior to peasants, surpassed them in living standards.