What great inventions of the Chinese have influenced the life of mankind?

Gunpowder was one such invention. The Chinese themselves in the Middle Ages learned to use it in war, made shells, mines (sea and land) and squeaked. From China, he somehow, possibly along the Great Silk Road, got to Europe by the beginning of the XIV century, where they began to make cannons, which from the 1370s were used to siege castles and defend fortresses (Moscow in 1382), as well as in the XV century, arquebusses and ship cannons appeared.

Other useful inventions include: silk, porcelain, compass, printing.