《中国古代发明》文字5万字左右，图片约100幅，介绍以数学、天文、历法、医药、航海、钻探等领域的发明为代表的中国古代科学技术成就。在介绍中国闻名于世的四大发明的同时，《中国古代发明》还提出若干项其它重要发明，并与当时世界各国的科技状况作出横向对比，强调说明中国古代科技对世界文明的巨大贡献。对于有过如此辉煌发明历史的中国何以后来停滞不前的社会原因，《中国古代发明》也作了一些探讨和解说。（China as an important source of human civilization had given birth to brilliant ancient science and technology and led the world in most of the history of world civilization. The book introduces many Chinese inventions covering all aspects of life, from the four major inventions – gunpowder, paper, printing, compass – to numerous other major and smart inventions such as iron and steel smelting, the decimal and binary systems, acupuncture, kite, abacus, parachute, and many more. Ancient Chinese inventions and discoveries are rich and numerous.）