[gtr32x]

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.