''Tu Huo Qiang'' (Chinese: 突火枪;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Chinese, Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally writte ...

: ''tūhuǒqiāng'') was one of the earliest true

guns A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, ...

. It consisted of a moso bamboo tube which had been partially hollowed out and loaded with

gunpowder Gunpowder, also commonly known as black powder to distinguish it from modern smokeless powder, is the earliest known chemical explosive. It consists of a mixture of sulfur, carbon (in the form of charcoal) and potassium nitrate (saltpeter). Th ...

and a single projectile, called the ''zi kē'' (子窠). The gunpowder utilized in this time period did not have much explosive potential, and upon igniting the fuse, the Tu Huo Qiang more often than not shot out flames and smoke as much as the projectile itself. This weapon did not have much killing potential and was mainly used for its shock value as well as psychological advantage.

References

https://web.archive.org/web/20131211130155/http://www.grandhistorian.com/chinesesiegewarfare/index-english12122007.html {{firearms-stub Early firearms Firearms of China Chinese inventions Military history of Imperial China

See also

References