Good Points. The Chinese invented: STEEL, iron plows, cast iron, harness for horses, stirrup, paper, printing block, moveable type, porcelain, ship rudder, the compass, crossbow, gunpowder, guns, paper currency, belt drive, cannon, blast furnace, chain drive, tofu, crank, gunpowder, rockets, rotary fan, silk, chariots, toilet paper (westerners used hands), vaccination, flamethrower, chain pump, grenades, odometer, parachutes, pontoon bridge, postal system, scissors, steel, suspension bridge, tea, umbrella, the shower, bathtub, wheelbarrow, windmill power, eyeglasses, matches, rotary winnowing, blaise pascal (wasn't invented by pascal), emroidery, row cultivation, double acting piston bellows, carden suspension, deep drilling for natural gas, segmental arch bridge, lacquer, plastic, sliding calipers, wallpaper, origami, brandy, whiskey, mechanical clock, playing cards, accupuncutre, multiple masts, helicoptor rotor, paddle wheel boat, the canal pound lock, "pasta"
The Chinese invented brandy and whiskey? Sure, if by inventing you mean consuming gazillion gallons of the stuff. This looks a lot like those email forwards that every ethnic group likes to concoct with "my country greatest" zeal. Most of this is very, very suspect. Which is not to take away from the fact that the Chinese have had many tremendous achievements in their past, and I'm optimistic that technological innovation is about to take off in a big way in China.
He was probably talking about another chess, the chinese chess. Yet another chess invented by chinese is the famous "go".