Fireworks: A Chinese romance that has lasted for nearly a thousand years

Fireworks: A Chinese romance that has lasted for nearly a thousand years

(This article was published in the 8th edition of Science and Technology Daily on Friday, February 25, 2022, with amendments)

At the opening and closing ceremonies of this year's Beijing Winter Olympics, a colorful fireworks display allowed the world to witness the "Chinese romance". Fireworks, also known as fireworks, are made by mixing appropriate agents into gunpowder, and when burned, they can produce sound, light, color and other effects. Mainland fireworks production has a long history. The Southern Song Dynasty scholar Carefully wrote "The Past Affairs of Wulin", volume II, "The palace leak is deep, and more than a hundred fireworks have been announced... "Sui Xuan and Sheng Ji" can reflect that there were fireworks on the mainland at least during the Northern Song Dynasty Xuanhe period (1119-1125). The Persian (present-day Iranian) merchant Seid Ali Akbar Khatai wrote "The Chronicle of China" (Edited by Zhang Zhishan, Sanlian Bookstore, 1988 edition) in 1516 (the eleventh year of Ming Zhengde), and the first chapter, "The Road to China", contains that "gunpowder is made in this country, young and old." Fireworks and firecrackers are very common things." It is easy to know that at least in the Ming Dynasty, the mainland was already a fireworks country. Not only that, the ancient fireworks production technology of the mainland is exquisite, and the discharge effect is beautiful, which amazes the world.

From the perspective of fireworks-making techniques, the third chapter of the book, "Notes on Ricci China" by the Italian missionary Mathew Ricci and the French missionary Nicolas Trigault (translated by He Gaoji, Wang Zunzhong, and Li Shen, Guangxi Normal University Press, 2001 edition), evaluates the fireworks technology of the Ming Dynasty: "Their techniques for making fireworks are really excellent, there is almost nothing, they cannot skillfully imitate them with fireworks."

In fact, the fireworks production skills of the Ming and Qing dynasties in the mainland are extremely superb. Written in the "Mo'e Xiaolu" written at the end of the Yuan Dynasty and the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, its "Drama with Fireworks" section records the proportion of more than 20 kinds of fireworks. The use of saltpeter (potassium nitrate), sulfur, charcoal and other chemicals in different proportions, so that the combustion rate and explosive properties of the mixture are different, can form different characteristics of fireworks. Not only that, the Qing Dynasty medical scientist Zhao Xuemin (1719-1805), the book "Fire Drama Strategy", made a more detailed interpretation of the extraction of fireworks raw materials, the coordination of medicinal agents, and the firing techniques. For example, in the "cloth pulp" section of the book, it is recorded that different materials can be mixed, which can present different flame colors: "Cotton shavings are purple, copper blue is light blue, silver is red, lead powder is white, male essence is yellow, and pine coal is black." Among them, "cotton shavings" refers to the sulfur slurry of cotton coats; "copper blue" refers to the green matter on the surface of the copper, the main component is basic copper carbonate; "silver stone" is artificially made of red mercury sulfide; the male essence is male yellow; the main component of pine coal is carbon. The incorporation of the above materials makes the fireworks colorful and produces a fascinating scene effect.

When fireworks are fired, they can not only present colorful flames, but also form rich patterns in the air, which is also a major feature of the traditional fireworks culture of the mainland. In the memoirs written by missionaries or emissaries who came to China at that time, this is mostly recorded.

The Portuguese missionary Gabriel de Magailles, a new history of China (translated by He Gaoji and Li Shen, Elephant Publishing House, 2004), chapter 6, "Etiquette, Rituals, and Festivals of the Chinese," records the fireworks on the night of the Lantern Festival in the seventeenth year of Ming Chongzhen (1644): "like a boat, like a tower, like a fish, like a dragon, like a tiger, like an elephant, and there are generally thousands of amazing fireworks." The eleventh chapter of the Journey from St. Petersburg to Beijing (1719-1722) by the Scottish traveler John Bell (translated by Jiang Wenyan and Cui Huanwei, Yunnan People's Publishing House, 2018 edition) records the fireworks pattern of Changchun Garden in the Yuanmingyuan during the Lantern Festival in the sixty years of the Qing Kangxi Dynasty (1721): "A firework bomb flew into the air, bursting into countless lit lanterns, and the colorful fireworks scattered in mid-air, forming a wonderful picture." The "Miscellaneous Notes on the Mountain Villa" written by the Korean literary scholar Park Toe-won (Zhu Ruiping School Point, Shanghai Bookstore Publishing House, 1997 edition), volume IV, describes the "Plum Blossom Cannon" fireworks scene he saw in the middle of August in the forty-fifth year of Qianlong (1780): Ten thousand cannons were fired in unison, and plum blossoms appeared in the sky; birds of different shapes appeared in the air, or flew, or pecked at feathers, or chased butterflies, or fruit; then there were various gods and Buddhas in the air, or boats. Or driving a crane, or a negative sword, or a qinghu, etc., it is dizzying.

Praise for the effect of fireworks display is also found in the memoirs of many people who came to China. The sixth chapter of the New History of China uses the phrase "swear that it is a natural thing and not an imitation" to describe the vivid flame shape of the imitation vine. The eleventh chapter of Thirteen Years of the Qing Dynasty (translated by Li Tiangang, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2013), by the Italian missionary Matteo Ripa, describes how he was invited by the Kangxi Emperor to watch a fireworks display at Changchun Garden on New Year's Day, and describes his feelings as "all invited Europeans have never seen such a beautiful thing in their own country." The fifth chapter of the book, written by the British envoys George Macartney and John Barrow during the Qianlong period, "The Perception of the Mission of The Macartney Mission" (translated by He Gaoji and He Yuning, The Commercial Press, 2013 edition), recalls the scene of the fifty-eighth year of Qianlong (1793) in mid-August, when they watched the fireworks display in Rehe, and expressed their praise with "the secret recipe for making fireworks of different colors Chinese, which is a great success in their production of fireworks".

It can be seen from the above that the excellent fireworks culture in ancient times on the mainland was praised by those who came to China from abroad. Not only that, but the physics, chemistry and other knowledge contained therein, as well as the exquisite production skills of ancient craftsmen, are worth learning and inheriting.

(Author's information: Zhou Qian, Institute of Forbidden Studies, Palace Museum)