3 replies to this topic

[Zuo Zongtang]

I'm doing a history project, and need as much information on Chinese gunpowder warfare as possible, especially books from amazon.com The topic of focus is early gunpowder warfare. My thesis is trying to prove that Chinese did use gunpowder for war, not just for firecrackers.

Thanks in advance.

[TMPikachu]

My thesis is trying to prove that Chinese did use gunpowder for war, not just for firecrackers.

Thanks in advance.

That is a very easy thesis to prove, if one finds up to date books that have a shred of credibility to them

Look for the Osprey Publishing books on Imperial China and Medieval China for a start

[Zuo Zongtang]

Ever heard of Gale Student Resource Center? Our librarian direct us to it. Heres their take on Chinese gunpowder use:

They say that

for hundreds of years, gunpowder was used mainly to create fireworks.

and don't believe that China used gunpowder weapons upon its invention.

Remarkably, the Chinese did not use gunpowder as a weapon of war until long after Europeans...

Clearly by the beginning in the thirteenth century gunpowder was used more often to make war than to make fireworks in the West.

Suggesting that China didn't even used gunpowder until after Europeans,

(Eastern nations like China and Japan rejected the widespread use of gunpowder in warfare until the nineteenth century.)

[DaMo]

Tsêng Kung-Liang's Wu-ching Tsung-yao (Complete Compendium of Military Classics) from 1044 AD contains recipes for gunpowder.

The Song and later the Mongols used grenades, some containing shrapnel.
http://www.archaeolo...c/kamikaze.html

Artwork depicting the use of bombard-like weapons date from the 10th century AD:

The scene depicts the temptation of a Buddha by the hosts of Mara the Tempter, many of whose demons are in military uniform and carry weapons, all aiming to distract him from his meditation. One of them, wearing a head-dress of three serpents, is directing a fire-lance (huo-chhiang) at the seated figure, holding it with both hands and watching that flames shoot out horizontally. This is the earliest representation we have of a weapon which had enormous repercussions between +950 and +1650.

[ Needham, Science and Civilisation, Volume V, Part 7, pp. 8, 220 ff.]

Also mentioned in http://www.uh.edu/engines/epi242.htm