First, the bamboo burning period
The so-called bamboo burning period is to burn bamboo and make a noise, which is called "firecrackers". China's "firecrackers" originated very early. In the book Tao Zhugong, Fan Li, a politician in the late Spring and Autumn Period, said: "It is auspicious to set off firecrackers in the pot at night and watch the fire according to the silkworms in the field." Record. (Zhonghua Book Company, Bashu Book Company Edition "Ancient and Modern Book Integration" Almanac Compilation Yearbook 95 Volume "New Year's Eve Miscellanies" 267 1 page.
About 300 years later, in the Western Han Dynasty, the writer Dong Fangshuo (65438 BC+054 BC-93 BC) described a story of firecrackers driving away mandrills in his "Strange Books", saying: "There was a man on the Western Hills, who was more than a foot long. He caught shrimps and crabs naked and was not afraid of people. They stop at night when they meet people, and cook shrimps and crabs at dusk according to their fire. When people are not here, they steal salt and eat shrimp and crabs. I cried when I heard his voice in the mountains. When people try to light a fire with bamboo, the fire will explode (bamboo will explode, and dryness (mandrill) will be frightened ... "(See" Old Novels "in Wan You Library).
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties (502-557 AD), Zonggu also recorded in the Chronicle of Jingchu: "On the first day of the first month ... chickens crowed and firecrackers were set off in front of the court to stop evil spirits." In the Song Dynasty, Li Miao also recorded a story of setting off firecrackers to drive away ghosts in his Luwen: "Li Qi lived next door to his house and was worshipped by the mandrill, which made dozens of bamboos gather in the court on New Year's Eve and burned it until dawn." (See "New Year's Eve Ancient and Modern Book Integration Department", p. 2670. The above records show that the "firecrackers" exploded with bamboo in China have a history of more than 2,000 years, and the custom of exorcising evil spirits with "firecrackers" on New Year's Day or New Year's Eve has existed since ancient times.
There were many poems about firecrackers in Tang and Song Dynasties. For example, in a poem written by Liu Yuxi in the Tang Dynasty (772-842 AD), she said, "Looking at the pond, looking for old dumplings, firecrackers shocked Shan Gui." Sentence; Xue Ti (in the first year of Huichang, Tang Wuzong-84 1 year, Jinshi wrote two works and watched the battle in front of the Yuanri Building; Lei Hu's poem "Early Spring" said: "The new calendar is only half-opened, and the small court is still gathering." The language.
In the Song Dynasty, more poets chanted about it. For example, Wang Anshi said, "In addition to firecrackers, the spring breeze warms Tu Su." Famous sentences; Su Dongpo said: "firecrackers scare neighbors and drive away children." Language; Yang Wanli has: "Plum blossoms are three years old, and firecrackers are reported in dreams." Wait a minute.
Three Mountains Record also records Zhang Jun (1097-1164 Minister of Song Dynasty, 1 135 Prime Minister) and Zheng Qiao (1103-.
The time in the colt gap has been disabled, and thousands of bamboos have exploded in the joint garden.
Fired into a fiery red cinnabar block, it crushed the Langlang jasper pole.
Call for new scenes and get rid of evil spirits and old coldness.
Since then, the owner has occupied Kerry, and then he has been waiting for rain.
The Chronicle also said: "On New Year's Eve, people in the state set fire to bamboo, and the bamboo exploded in court, and the children across the street exploded, making a big noise and making it hot." (See "Ancient and Modern Book Integration" yearbook)
When will the firecrackers of real bamboo burn? Fan Chengda (A.D.1126 ――1193), a poet of the Southern Song Dynasty, left us poems as evidence. He in the twelfth lunar month village field Yuefu ten "and" firecrackers "in the cloud:
The 20-year-old firecrackers passed from the past, and Wu Nong used them for political purposes five days ago.
Eat leftover bean porridge to sweep the dust, break the pipe and simmer for five feet to get paid.
Since the festival is full of sweat and fire, healthy servants will still run away.
However, when the soil hit, the children stood far in front and made a thunderous roar.
One, two, a hundred ghosts are frightened, three, four, the ghost nest is crooked.
Ten voices are in harmony, and all directions are in harmony.
However, I picked up the bottom of the bed, and I still have the strength to get rid of it.
Sift out the medicine and add wine glasses, and sleep soundly day and night.
The poem not only vividly depicts the scene of setting off firecrackers in those days, but also tells us that firecrackers at that time were "broken barrels and simmered wages".
This proves that at least in Fan Chengda's lifetime, firecrackers were made of real bamboo. It can be seen that the real bamboo fire firecrackers began to burn at least in the Southern Song Dynasty.
Two. Nitrosulfonate period
Firecrackers with pins in bamboo tubes and paper wrapped in nitrate are mainly made of paper and black powder made of nitrate and sulfur. Paper was widely produced in Cai Lun during the Yuan Xing period of the Eastern Han Dynasty (A.D. 105). When was nitrosulfonic acid discover? When was it made into black powder?
In ancient books, mirabilite is called Xiaoshi, Mirabilite, Mirabilite, also called Mirabilite, Bitter Mirabilite, Ground Frost, Raw Mirabilite, and Zhu Xuan in the North. In the fire attack theory of "Da Shi Bu", it said: "The name of nitrate is found in materia medica, which is similar to that of Zhang Zhongjing (Zhang was born in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, 220 years ago. —— Editor) If it has been used as an agent in Fang Lun, it has existed in the Han Dynasty. " In other words, nitrate was discovered and used in the Eastern Han Dynasty before 220 AD.
When was sulfur discovered? During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period (600 BC), a man named Fan Ziran (a master of Kwai Bing Pu in the State of Yue) said that there was a record of sulfur in Huainanzi written by Liu An in the Western Han Dynasty (about 120 BC). Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica in the Eastern Han Dynasty also recorded the statement that "gold, silver, copper, iron and strange things can be changed" (sulfur). Xu Huilin said in "The History of Gunpowder and Firearms in China": "During the Western Han Dynasty (from 202 BC to 8 AD), abundant sulfur mines were discovered in Hunan, and later in Shanxi, Henan and other provinces." Judging from these historical records, it is enough to show that sulfur in China was discovered in the Han Dynasty.
However, this is only natural sulfur, and there is still a process to make sulfur into gunpowder. Song Yingxing, a scientist in the Ming Dynasty (Fengxinren, Jiangxi, A.D. 1587), said in his book Tiangong Kaiwu: "Sulfur is a liquid that is decomposed and condensed when smelting iron ore, and it becomes sulfur after solidification." In other words, sulfur minerals can only be made into gunpowder after high-temperature smelting, and the invention of gunpowder comes from the system of Taoist alchemists.
China's alchemy originated very early, and it was very popular from the Warring States to the early Han Dynasty. In the Jin and Southern and Northern Dynasties, alchemists Ge Hong, Tao Hongjing and others appeared. Ge Hong (AD 284-364) in his book Bao Puzi, there are three works devoted to alchemy. Sun Simiao (A.D. 58 1-682) was a famous physician and alchemist in the late Sui and early Tang Dynasties. There is a book "Single Crystal", and people think that gunpowder was invented by him (it was later verified that this book was written in 76 years after Sun Simiao's death, and it was suspected that it was not his work). In the mid-Tang Dynasty (around 850 AD), Zheng Siyuan mentioned gunpowder in his book A Brief Introduction to True Yuan and Wonderful Dao. Later, in the first year of Kangding (A.D. 1040), Ceng Gongliang, Ding Du and others in the Song Dynasty began to compile the book Master of Martial Arts, which recorded three western-language formulations of gunpowder.
These records fully prove that gunpowder was invented in the middle of the Tang Dynasty (around 750 AD), that is to say, it took at least 500 years from the discovery of nitrosulfonic acid to the preparation of gunpowder. As for firecrackers and fireworks made of paper tubes wrapped in nitrate, that's later. However, according to "Old Stories of Wulin", the firecrackers in China changed from burning bamboo to filling bamboo tubes with nitrate in the Southern Song Dynasty, and then entered the period when paper rolls were coated with nitrate. With the invention of gunpowder and the advent of fireworks, firecrackers entered the fireworks period.
Third, the fireworks period.
Fireworks are also called "fireworks" and "fireworks", and now some are also called "fireworks". China invented fireworks earlier, and Engels said, "In China, there was a pyrotechnic agent which was mixed with small stones and other kindling agents for military and grand ceremonies." (See the article "Cannon" on page 1964 of Volume XIV of the Complete Works of Marx and Engels)
According to "The Story of the First Year of Gan Chun" and "The Old Story of Wulin", "Because of the deep palace leak, more than a hundred fireworks were first announced, so there was joy everywhere, and the candlelight was vertical and horizontal, but the driving was still there."
"The Past of Wulin" also recorded the scene of Song Xiaozong watching the tide and setting off fireworks: "In the tenth year of Xi Chun (A.D. 1 183), on August 18th, I went to Yideshou Palace, and * * * invited two temples in Zhejiang to watch the tide ... The troops were ordered to be distributed in five rows on the river, riding flags, javelin dancing knives and walking on the ground. When the five-color smoke cannon is ignited in Tongjiang, all the ships will be hidden and no one will be seen. "
In Song Lizong (A.D. 1225- 1264), Zhou Mi also recorded the story of watching fireworks in the palace at that time with Qi Dong's wild words: "In the early years of Muling (that is, Li Zong), on the fifteenth day of the first month of Yuan Dynasty, I tasted it in Qingyan Temple and respectfully asked the Queen Mother to burn fireworks in the palace. There is a so-called ". Mu Ling was afraid of insecurity, so he made Chen Xun, the eunuch in charge of power, do whatever he wanted. At dawn, Muling went to Chen Chao to apologize. He said that the minister didn't want to do it, so he took it and sent it himself. Gong Sheng smiled and said, "After all, he didn't come to measure me specially. I think this is a mistake, so I can forgive my sins. " So mother and son are as good as ever. "
This shows that firecrackers and fireworks were very popular in the Southern Song Dynasty, and they became entertainment items for royalty and entered the market.
By the end of Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of Ming Dynasty, many poets and writers had written firecrackers. For example, Zhao Meng, a famous calligrapher in the Yuan Dynasty, once wrote a poem for people who made fireworks:
When people are good at art, they practice medicine and light lamps to clarify the day.
Liu Canlou is white, and peach blossoms are all red.
One by one, they are as bright as stars and as bright as ash.
Turn over the flowers and brocade at night, and don't worry about going to the east wind.
Liu Ruoyu, a scholar of the Ming Dynasty, also described the fireworks in the palace in the "Proceedings": "From the 24th to 17th of the first month of the following year, fireworks were set off every day, and the wind stopped for one and a half days. When you meet a saint, you will be promoted to wait for fireworks. " (Quoted from the book Integration of Ancient and Modern Books)
By the middle of Qing Dynasty, firecrackers became more common.