ANCIENT CHINESE GUNPOWDER

Along with silk and paper, gunpower is another invention of the Chinese. The

dating of gunpowder is as early as 850 A.D. Gunpowder is made of saltpeter, sulfur, and

carbon of charcoal. It all started on the Han Dynasty when extensive research was done

to find medicine that would allow people to live forever. During this research alchemists

mixing saltpeter, sulfur and charcoal lit the mixture and it exploded. This substance they

called huo yao. The ratio for gunpowder was 15:3:2, saltpeter, charcoal and sulfer.

Gunpowder’s first use in warfare was in 919 A.D. One recorded instance was in 1126

A.D. when the Song army used it against the invading Nuchens. In 1233 when Mongols

were besieging Jin armies in a city the Jin launched a night raid using firelances. Fire

lances were basically spears lit on fire. It was also useful for defending city walls against

besiegers. They also filled bamboo tubes which when lit shot out fire.

People sometimes think that Chinese were the first to use chemical

warfare. They think this because the earliest forms of gunpowder contained some

forms of mercury and arsenic compounds. It took two people to carry these

weapons so the Chinese soon abandoned gunpowder for military use. The

Chinese did not use gunpowder for military campaigns until the tenth century.

Gunpowder soon spread to other countries. They then modified the idea that the

Chinese had started. Some of these countries were Japan, Europe, and the Islamic

people. In 1280 A.D. the Syrian Al-Hasan Ar-Rammah wrote the book

FIGHTING WITH WAR ENGINES and by the 1350’s gunpowder had become

an effective weapon on the battlefields. Explosive bombs were filled with

 gunpowder and fired from catapults. A device called a thunderclap bomb was

fired out of catapults. When these bombs hit, they started fires and frightened the

enemy’s horses with an explosive sound. Many Barbarian soldiers were

demoralized by the noise. The rocket was a great contribution to the world of

technology. The Arabs called rockets Chinese arrows. The Europeans did not

develop rockets until the beginning of the fifteenth century. A new firearm was

introduced in the thirteenth century. A bronze handgun made in 1288 A.D. was

more than a foot long and weighed about eight pounds. The Chinese also

developed repeat firing guns by doubling the rate of fire with small cannons.

After the first one was fired, it quickly rotated so the second one could be fired.

In the Yuan Dynasty powder making was introduced to the Arab world and

Europe. It also brought a series of revolutions to weapons manufacturing. A

Chinese protocannon called the erupter was invented in 1450. It shot a hollow

shell made of iron filled with gunpowder.

The Chinese were a brilliant people, yet they lacked some of the skills to make a

effective gunpowder weapon.

Cannons of the Chinese type were widely used but never as effectively as the

European cannons.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Guangqiu Xu, ed. Gale, 2003. Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale.

"Gunpowder." World Eras, Vol. 7: Imperial China, 617-1644. Guangqiu Xu, ed. Gale, 2003. Reproduced
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"Military Technology." World Eras, Vol. 7: Imperial China, 617-1644. Guangqiu Xu, ed. Gale, 2003.
Reproduced in History Resource Center. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale.

"The Technology of Military Machines." World Eras, Vol. 4: Medieval Europe, 814-1350. Jeremiah
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