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| Chinese Firecrackers |
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The sound of firecrackers is a distinctive feature on Chinese festivals
and joyous personal occasions.
Firecrackers are called by various names at different times and
in different parts of the country. At the very beginning, crackers
were used to scare away wild beasts, especially a legendary unicorn
called nian, which appeared regularly at the end of winter or
beginning of spring, wreaking great havoc among the people. That
was long before the invention of gunpowder, and people burnt dry
bamboo sticks to produce the explosive sound. So the first firecrackers
were called baozhu (cracking bamboo), which is still the name
in some books.
Incidentally, nian, the name of the animal which appeared at
yearly intervals, came to mean "year". And the custom
of letting off firecrackers at the New Year has become deep-rooted
in all parts of the country. The beginning of the custom can be
traced in written history to at least 2,000 years ago.
When gunpowder was invented in China, it was used to fill in
bamboo tubes and, when lighted, produced loud explosions. Firecrackers
came to be called baozhang (exploding sticks), a name still used
in certain regions. According to the Song Dynasty work Origins
of Things, the first scientist who used gunpowder in crackers
was Ma Jun of the period of the Three Kingdoms (220-265), which
puts their beginning at 1,700 years ago.
Baozhang led to the earliest crackers of gunpowder rolled in
paper, which could give out single explosion only. The double-bang
ertijiao and stringed firecrackers bianpao came as later innovations.
The "double-bang" is a tight paper roll composed of
two powder-filled chambers; the first explosion bursts the bottom
chamber and sends the cracker up into the air and then the second
explodes, making a loud and far-reaching report. Modern times
have witnessed further improvements of the traditional firecracker.
Colour-luminescent chemicals are added into gunpowder, and the
firework shells fired up by cannons explode high in the air, covering
the night sky with magnificent displays of colourful splendour.
Enthusiasts for firecrackers have always been youths and children.
Given the excuse and occasion-New Year, a wedding, a victory scored
by the national team at an important world sports event, the opening
of an international festival, etc. they will resort to firecrackers
to express their jubilation. And the custom seems to have been
spreading fast to other nations.
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