During the reign of Emperor Taizong Zhenguan, drought and flood disasters occurred in eastern Hunan for years, and the people were in dire straits. At this time, a Liuyang man named Li Yi was determined to exorcise evil spirits. He filled the bamboo tube with gunpowder and put the medicine thread on it. When it was lit, it sounded loud and fragrant, and the evil spirits were finally driven away, so that people could live and work in peace. Since then, Liuyang firecrackers and fireworks have been born.
According to China Industrial Records, "Hunan firecrackers were created in the Tang Dynasty, flourished in the Song Dynasty and originated in Liuyang". According to legend, at the end of Sui Dynasty and the beginning of Tang Dynasty, Sun Simiao, a famous alchemist and physician, lived in a cave outside the east gate of Liuyang County, with the aim of practicing alchemy.
He put the mined sulfur, saltpeter, charcoal and other materials into the furnace and refined it day and night. After years of cold and heat and repeated failures, gunpowder was finally refined. At this point, he really became the founder of firecrackers and fireworks in Liuyang and even the whole world.