According to Liang JieMing's sight

http://authors.history-forum.com/liang_jie...-earlyguns.html

it states



But from what I could recall the Ming got the idea of breach loading cannons from the Portuguese. So did they just thought "hey, breach loading is a pretty nifty idea, why don't we try it on our Arquebuses", or is it that they had it all along but never made the logical leap toward cannons? Is there any more info on this weapon?

What does it mean by "breech loading" and what is an arquebus? Is it a type of hand-carried gun?

Arquebus is pretty much an early musket, while breech loading means that the ammunition is filled at the end of the gun instead of dropping the ammunition into its mouth.

Thanks..that's good explanation

Unfortunately, that is about all we know. We discussed the chedian chong (as it was known in the Ming) or zimu chong (as it was known in the Qing) on another thread about two years ago, and that is likely where Jieming got the info for his site: http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php...amp;pid=4762593

It's more likely that breech loading was introduced to China in the form of the Portuguese cannon ('Folangji'), on which see http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php...p;#entry4818916