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Hand cannon, Ming dynasty, 1379 The first firearms were invented in China, following the invention of gunpowder.The earliest known depiction of a gunpowder weapon is the illustration of a fire lance on a mid-10th century silk banner from Dunhuang. [2]
Other firearms such as "miraculous [fire] lances," "miraculous guns," and "horse-beheading guns" were also produced. It is unclear what proportion or how many of each type were actually manufactured. [28] Most early Ming guns weighed two to three kilograms while guns considered "large" at the time weighed around 75 kilograms.
The fire lance (simplified Chinese: 火枪; traditional Chinese: 火槍; pinyin: huǒqiāng; lit. 'fire spear') was a gunpowder weapon used by lighting it on fire, and is the ancestor of modern firearms. [1] It first appeared in 10th–12th century China and was used to great effect during the Jin-Song Wars.
Earliest known written formula for gunpowder, from the Wujing Zongyao of 1044 AD.. Gunpowder is the first explosive to have been developed. Popularly listed as one of the "Four Great Inventions" of China, it was invented during the late Tang dynasty (9th century) while the earliest recorded chemical formula for gunpowder dates to the Song dynasty (11th century).
According to Joseph Needham, fire lances or proto-guns were known to Muslims by the late 13th century and early 14th century. [26] However the term midfa, dated to textual sources from 1342 to 1352, cannot be proven to be true hand-guns or bombards, and contemporary accounts of a metal-barrel cannon in the Islamic world do not occur until 1365 ...
China: In China organ guns appear. [79] China: Two wheeled gun carriages appear in China. [80] India: India acquires rockets. [81] 1352: Southeast Asia: Cannons are mentioned to have been used by the Ayutthaya Kingdom in their invasion of the Khmer Empire [82] 1358: China: Defending garrisons fire cannons en masse at the siege of Shaoxing and ...
Although the Xanadu Gun is the most precisely dated gun from the 13th century, other extant samples with approximate dating likely predate it. One candidate is the Heilongjiang hand cannon , discovered in 1970, and named after the province of its discovery, Heilongjiang, in northeastern China.
Historically, China has pioneered the development of a number of weapons. Several of the traditional weapons are practiced today at the many schools of Chinese martial arts around the world. Wikimedia Commons has media related to Weapons of China .