The Chinese first used the stuff in weapons--including rockets and cannon--about 600 years later.
Consider that this other story recently went viral throughout the Chinese blogosphere: an (as far as I can tell, apocryphal) account of the teaching of the Cinderella fairy tale in a Chinese first-grade classroom.
And at Stratford-upon-Avon, The Orphan of Zhao - "the Chinese Hamlet" - becomes the first Chinese play ever produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company.
Industry analysts and participants say Chinese developers could struggle at first because Chinese buyers often prefer to purchase from a foreign developers.
At a time when the American print media is in decline, the Chinese press is growing, and Caijing is the first Chinese publication with the prospect of becoming a world-class news organization.
Chinese architect Wang Shu won the prize last year - the first Chinese citizen to do so.
The Hong Kong auction, which will feature ink paintings, calligraphy and classical Chinese furniture, marks the first time a Chinese auction house will compete with Sotheby's and Christie's on their home turf.
Ambassador Locke is the first Chinese-American to hold the position of U.S. Ambassador to China.
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Among the crew of Shenzhou-9 was Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman in space.
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The Shanghai-based carrier is the first Chinese airline to cancel orders for the Dreamliner.
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It was only last year that the first Chinese Yellow Pages telephone business directory was published.
The movie is the first Chinese film to star a major Hollywood actor.
In 2009 Guangzhou became the first Chinese city to publish all its budgets.
Goldman's investment in ICBC, which was one of the first Chinese lenders to accept foreign investors as shareholders, has been lucrative.
China celebrated another achievement last week, as Mo Yan became the first Chinese citizen to win a Nobel Prize for literature.
The Chinese were the first people to make paper, porcelain and pyrotechnics.
Worldwide, Dell has five control centers to answer distress signals, including one in Xiamen where Dell built its first Chinese factory in 1998.
The next 007 flick doesn't come out until December, but the first Chinese Bond Girl is rapidly racking up those international glamour points.
Meanwhile, Zheng Jie became the first Chinese player to make the last eight of the Australian Open by beating Ukraine's Alona Bondarenko 7-6 6-4.
According to DigiTimes, Gou said the program will give the engineers an environment to learn the Chinese language and first-hand experience in the manufacturing process.
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In a dusty bit of Maharashtra state sits one of the first Chinese factories in India, run by Sany, which makes diggers and other construction machines.
Eventually I decided Zhao was a fitting place to start both on its own merits and because it was the first Chinese play Europeans ever read.
He changed the face of the Games forever by being the first Chinese man to ever win a track gold medal, with victory in the 110m hurdles.
Paired against Richardson in the first round is another governor who would be a demographic first -- Washington's Gary Locke, the first Chinese-American governor in U.S. history.
Chinese companies were first allowed to sell shares to the public just 20 years ago, compared with the centuries that Western stock markets have had to develop.
Feng, who became the first Chinese player to win an LPGA Tour event and a major when she captured the LPGA Championship last year, gave credit to Webb.
But Li didn't hit the big time until 1979, when he became the first Chinese to buy one of the British hongs (trading companies) that dominated the local economy.
The first Chinese WRITTEN text on medicine dates to approximately 200 BCE but we know that the practice of acupuncture goes much farther back than that, potentially from 3-5, 000 BCE.
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In Zhejiang, the first Chinese province to provide support for the rural elderly, the sex imbalance at birth has almost disappeared, according to Xie Zhenming, editor of China Population Today.
Its first Chinese movie, "Hot Summer Days, " took the top slot at the box office this year over the Chinese New Year weekend, one of the most competitive in the calendar.
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