zation, the Chinese. If it was not for the Chinese version of the Renaissance which occurred about a thousand years earlier there would be no European Renaissance. The Chinese had many useful inventions which the Europeans exploited unlike the Chinese. One crucial Chinese invention was the compass, the Chinese had no need to exploit the invention because they had everything they needed right in China. The Europeans on the other hand would be nowhere without the compass, because it was an essential tool for their over seas exploration. Another key invention that the Europeans used to fuel their Renaissance was the printing press, this was also another Chinese invention that they had used a thousand years earlier. Many views about being civilized and a gentleman was a crucial part of the Renaissance. Baldassare Castiglione wrote an influential book called The Courtier which was all about how to be a gentleman. Confucius a Chinese philosopher wrote about that same idea during the Chinese Renaissance. So in fact the European Renaissance was inspired by a superior civilization, the Chinese. Compared to the Middle Ages the Renaissance was a major step up in all aspects of life from the economy, which benefited from the explorations, the arts and literature and the new scientific discoveries and theories. So the Renaissance was a very beneficial period of time in European history....
