The Early Transmission of Gunpowder

Trade has always been present. It has always been a question of how much and who benefits. In some cases, such as the T'ang Dynasty, trade into and out of China flourished. In others the government restricted most trade. In either case, it is very possible that early gunpowder techniques could have traveled out of China and into the surrounding empires. This could explain the use of proto-gunpowder fireworks in the early religious ceremonies of India.

Periods of civil war and succession struggles, and the policies of certain dyanasties, made international trade more difficult. Yet even during these periods, trade allowed for many ideas and technologies to leave China. Gunpowder, like many others, made its way throughout the world, into the Middle East and the hands of the Muslim people, and eventually into Europe. The Europeans would take gunpowder and begin to develop their weaponry, creating muskets and cannons that would prove very helpful to the Europeans.
 
 
 
 
 

Europe Arrives in the East

It was the goal of the Spanish, British, Dutch and Portugese, for example, to expand their empires across the globe and open up trade, especially with the Far East, long known to be very wealthy. It would not take long for the Europeans to make their presence known in the East. In the 1550's, the Ming dynasty of China had allowed the Portugese to establish a trading post on its coast. With their arrival, the Portugese would bring their technology, i.e. their artillery. Therefore the Portugese introduced European firearms to China. The European nations had an ever increasing interest in Chinese trade and had greater influences on China's technology. The effect of the European firearm on Chinese military technology can be seen in the year 1842. The Qing rulers of China were trying hard to use British war techonology themselves. The British found, for example, perfect replicas of their man-of-war ships, complete with a thirty gun compliment. They also found smaller ships with mounted brass guns and other weaponry. The Chinese were not sitting around passively while Europeans subjugated them with their superior technology.
 
 
 
 
 

The Chinese Assimilate European Technology

Eventually the Chinese, the original developers of gunpowder, were defeated by their own technology. The ingenuity and the greed of the Europeans allowed them to develop the technology of gunpowder into far more leathal weapons than the Chinese ever had. As one sees in the photo above, the arrival of European traders began a process of mixing the old with the new in China. The modern European weaponry forced the Chinese to change their ways of warfare in order to survive the attacks by foreign powers. This situation would continue in China into the twentieth century.