□ Li Xuepu
The high-tech fireworks at the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics are dazzling, with brilliant welcome pine fireworks blooming above the bird's nest and pine needles very realistic.
Fireworks, now also known as ceremonial flowers and fireworks, are filled with gunpowder and some metal salts in containers such as paper tubes, and after lighting, the fireworks are sprayed in various colors. In fact, fireworks have become a common form of folk entertainment in the Song Dynasty. In the Northern Song Dynasty Meng Yuanlao's "Tokyo Dream Record", it has been mentioned many times that "fireworks are raised" and "fireworks are set off on the spot", etc., which are sandwiched in the "Hundred Plays" to increase the atmosphere.
Beijing Winter Olympics welcome guests to pine fireworks
China was the first country to invent gunpowder and is also home to firecrackers and fireworks. The Sui Dynasty Emperor has a poem: "The lamp tree shines a thousand lights, and the flower flames bloom seven branches." "It refers to fireworks, which stretch out like branches when they are sprayed. Since the Tang Dynasty poet Meng Haoran vividly called it "fire tree", the word "fire tree" has also become synonymous with fireworks.
Fireworks are generally considered to be a kind of festive supplies developed on the basis of firecrackers. When the earliest fireworks appeared, there is no unified theory. But there is no doubt that pyrotechnics in the true sense of the word should have appeared after the invention of gunpowder. As far as the origin of fireworks is concerned, there is already a program of "swallowing knives and spitting fire" in the hundred opera performances of the Han Dynasty, and Xiao Qi of the Southern and Northern Dynasties also quoted "Huainanzi" when recording the "Collected Remains": "The art of spitting fire with thunder comes from the House of Wanbi" (this article has been written in the present "Huainanzi"). "Thunder" describes the sound of firecrackers, while "Spitting Fire" describes the effect of spraying. This shows that in the Han Dynasty, there was already an illusion of "spitting fire", and this magic performance of "spitting fire" was the prototype of fireworks.
The production technology and color categories of fireworks in the Song Dynasty have reached a considerable level, such as starting wheels, walking lines, meteors, ground mice, etc. According to records, Li Waining of the Northern Song Dynasty and Chen Taibao and Xia Daozi of Lin'an of the Southern Song Dynasty were all famous pyrotechnic designers and performers. At that time, fireworks had become a folk entertainment commodity, and there were fireworks workshops in the market that specialized in selling.
In the Southern Song Dynasty Wu Zimu's "Dream Liang Lu December", it is said: "The street market sells Tin Ta Chun Hata Victory ... There are also city explosions, fireworks and the like. According to the careful "Wulin Old Affairs , New Year's Eve" record, more than a hundred fireworks were cast in the palace on the night of the First Yuan Festival, and the Southern Song Dynasty's "West Lake Old Man's Prosperity Record" recorded the situation of the folk and the court "setting off five-color fireworks". It is said that during the reign of Emperor Lizong of Song, Emperor Lizong and the Empress Dowager were watching the fireworks in the court, and suddenly a "ground rat" broke into the Empress Dowager's seat, and the sound of the whistle and the dazzling sparks frightened the Empress dowager into panic.
The Northern Song Dynasty's victory over fireworks in Kyoto is also very famous. The history books also talk about the emergence of "medicine puppets" or "medicine puppets" at this time, the specific situation of which is no longer available, and some people say that it is the kind of opera image that appears in fireworks. In the Southern Song Dynasty, although it was partial, in the "Past Events of Wulin", it was carefully recorded in the "Past Affairs of Wulin" that Emperor Xiaozong watched the fireworks in the twelfth year of Chunxi (1185), saying: "The palace leak is deep, and more than a hundred fireworks were first announced, so the music was everywhere, the candles were longitudinal, and the driving began to return." "You can see the grandeur of its situation. Among the dignitaries and giants, there are also many people who set up a hundred coincidences as a rack and set off fireworks all night for fun.
The pyrotechnic industry in the Ming Dynasty developed extremely rapidly. The scientific formula of fireworks has been described in Tao Zongyi's book "Mo'e Xiaolu" at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty. In the sixth volume of the book, "Fireworks", twenty-two kinds of pyrotechnic recipes are listed, such as "Marigold Silver Terrace", "White Peony", "Pine Bamboo Plum", "Vase Flower", and "Purple Grape". The types of fireworks in the Ming Dynasty are very rich, according to Shen Bang's "Miscellaneous Records of Wanju", "those who have a sound are known as cannons; those who rise high are known as cannons; those who have cannons in the fire are known as three-level waves; those who do not sound and cannot spin around the ground are known as rats on the ground..." In addition to the above names, the "Bamboo Flower", "Golden Pot Fishing Moon", "Big Pear Flower", "Mud Tube Flower" and other pyrotechnic varieties are also introduced. Books such as "Imperial Scenery And Material Strategy" and "Tao An Dream Memories" also talk about varieties such as "grape racks", "pearl curtains", "changming lanterns", "wasps out of the nest", "hundred beasts spitting fire" and so on.
In the Ming Dynasty, there were not only many kinds of fireworks, but also a variety of methods for casting them. In order to increase the lively atmosphere, it is often not fired sporadically one by one, but a combination of frames, a variety of fireworks are grouped on wooden frames, and then connected in sequence with gunpowder lines, and once lit, they are continuously placed for a long time. During this period, various colors of lights, shooting stars, etc., and from time to time, flowers, birds, pavilions and other scenes appear, which is very spectacular. As stated in the "Miscellaneous Records of Wanju", "Xun Qi's rich family, on new year's eve, set a hundred coincidences into one, the second heat, all night for fun." ”
At the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Qu You (Zi Zongji) once had this verse: "Smallpox blooms in countless months, and five-colored auspicious clouds surround the daisy." The so-called shelf fireworks are on a cloud ladder, a wooden stake or a bamboo pole that is one or two feet high, with a colorful pavilion like the moon hall of the Toad Palace (or on the city tower), and placed in it all kinds of fireworks and firecrackers. Once ignited, it crackled, and from time to time there were meteors flying, open bullets bursting out, and then a thousand flowers broke out of the door, like a dragon leaping, like a phoenix, and finally lightning and thunder, smallpox. What Qu You's poem describes may be such a scene.
At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Ma Shiying also specially made a fireworks with a mechanism to present to the emperor. It is said that when it was placed, there was a flying dragon coil between the pillars of the temple, which was rumored to be magical for a while. When describing the fireworks set off during the Lantern Festival in Bieliang, the "Record of Dreams" said: "On the fireworks rack, a very clever story is installed, and the rabbits are indulged in the line, and there are fire helmets, fire umbrellas, fire horses, braziers, cannons to Xiangyang, five dragons to fetch water, archways, etc., and the sound of fireworks is deafening." In front of the two palaces, there are high-light flower lanterns, fireworks, fires, water rabbits into the water through the waves, with the wind to drive people, there are Sai Yueming, high place cannons, nine dragons to take water, nine turns high rise, all kinds of kitsch. The so-called line rabbit is to hang a rabbit-shaped pyrotechnic firearm on a long line, after burning in the tail to spew fire and run quickly along the line, when the line is suspended on the water, the rabbit can dive into the water, and then jump out of the water to run to the other end of the line, also known as "water rabbit into the water through the wave." The so-called "fire horse" and so on are filled with pyrotechnic potions in the shape of lacquered beasts, "when moving, a hundred mouths of beasts burst into flames and trampled on them vertically and horizontally." "Fireworks are also combined with forms of entertainment such as lion dances and dragon lanterns, which are more fascinating.
When the "Tao'an Dream Memories" records "Lu Fan Fireworks", it is said: "And when fireworks are released, the scenery in the lamp is collected as a scene in the fireworks." The one who looks at the lamp in the world looks outside the lamp, looks at the fireworks, and does not enter the lamp, the light, the shadow, the smoke, the fire, flickering and changing, do not know that it is the fireworks in the palace, nor does it know that it is the palace inside the fireworks. "That's how wonderful it is.
Known as one of the four great wonder books of the Ming Dynasty, the "Golden Bottle Plum" forty-second time "fireworks are set off in front of the door of the luxury, and the drunken lanterns on the Lantern Tower" depict the plot of fireworks on the Lantern Festival. The late Ming Dynasty literary scholar Zhang Dai, in his "Tao'an Dream Remembrance Volume II" "Lu Fan Fireworks", depicted the grand fireworks in Yanzhou, Shandong, and in the Qing Dynasty Fu Cha Dunchong's "Records of the Yanjing Years", he recorded the scenes of fireworks displayed during the Beijing Lantern Festival and the types of fireworks, and so on. The types of fireworks and the scenes of the fireworks described in these materials can be described as wonderful and ingenious.
The plot of fireworks and firecrackers is also involved in the eighth volume of "Liaozhai Zhiyi", "Releasing Butterflies": "Qingcheng Yu Zhongyin, sexual release." When he was a priest, he tied the donkey with sparks and firecrackers on New Year's Eve, end to end, led to the gate of the Taishou, hit the garnet and please, confessed: 'A certain fire donkey, lucky to get a glimpse. 'Shi Taishou has a beloved son who has acne, and his heart is evil, so he resigns. Please. Too defensive to make the people open the key. The door opened, the fire machine was fired, and the donkey was pushed in. The detonation donkey was frightened, and it ran wildly; and it shot people with flying fire, and no one dared to come near. Donkeys entered the house, the urns were destroyed, the fire touched into dust, and the window screens were embered. The family was in an uproar. The pox fell into shock and died all night. Too defensive to hate, will be impeached. In the way of the various priests, ascend to the hall and bear the thorns, it is exempt. ”
In the Qing Dynasty, the variety of fireworks was more abundant, and the fireworks manufacturing industry was further developed. Li Luyuan of the Qing Dynasty listed dozens of kinds of fireworks in the 104th episode of "The Wrong Road Lamp", such as "Sun and Moon Combination", "Two Immortals Preaching", "Five Star Lianzhu", "Jingde Washing Horses", "Zhang Xian Beating Dogs", "Monks Changing Donkeys", "Li Sanniang Pushing and Grinding" and so on. There is also a record of fireworks in the "Yanjing Chronicle": "Every Lantern Festival, the inner court feast, set off fireworks, and the city opens the lights... The fireworks shed makes all kinds of fireworks, competing for curiosity, including boxes, flower pots, firework poles, thread-piercing peonies, water pouring lotuses, gold plates falling on the moon, grape racks, two kicking feet, flying ten rings, five ghosts and hauntings, octagons, cannons, cannons, heaven and earth lamps and other names. In addition to the combination of frames, there is also the "combined instrument casting method", that is, the two or even dozens or hundreds of fireworks are "coincidentally combined into a drama" to be fired.
Zhao Yi recorded in the "Zhan Exposure Miscellaneous Records" that when watching this kind of fireworks in the fifteenth year of Qianlong (1705), he said: "The medicine line is ignited slowly, and the results paint the railings in five colors. Dozens of fireworks, each of which will be finished, will be re-fired out of the pagoda pavilions and the like, and there are dozens of cage pigeons and magpies flying out of the fire in the middle. The fireworks are like thunder, and the flames are half-empty, but seeing thousands of red fish jumping in the sea of clouds, the wonders of the world are extreme. The Qing Dynasty also appeared in a monograph on fireworks production technology, "Fire Drama Strategy", which detailed the principle of fireworks, the preparation of raw materials, production techniques, operating procedures and other matters. The author Zhao Xuemin has carefully inspected the fireworks theater workshop, and the book can be said to be a summary of the experience of fireworks production at that time, and it still has high reference value to this day.