Gunpowder had already been inventedinChina but had not resulted in the sort of sophisticated military weaponry that the Europeans would develop from it.
Gunpowder may date back as far as the 4th century, when it was inventedin China--perhaps by someone trying to mix sulfur, charcoal and saltpeter into medicine.
The compass was also inventedinChina, and records exist of how a great fleet was sent under the command of Admiral Zheng He in the early 15th century to show the Chinese imperial flag in the ports of the Indian Ocean and the Persian Gulf, a fleet said to be the largest seen in the world up to that time.