Yanhuobaozhu Making Craftsmanship

01 · Historical Records

Firecrackers are first recorded in the Jingchu Suishi Ji (Records of the Seasons of Jingchu) by Zong Lin of the Liang dynasty during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, which describes the custom of rising at cockcrow and first setting off firecrackers in the courtyard to drive away evil spirits. In the Song dynasty, bamboo tubes were abandoned in favor of wrapping gunpowder in paper to produce the explosion. In the Southern Song, the capital Hangzhou already saw the appearance of small firecrackers strung together, commonly known as "bianpao" (firecracker strings). During the Ming and Qing dynasties, firecrackers developed into a great variety of forms, with famous types such as the double-bang "Thunder that Shakes the Sky," the "Three Rising Waves," the "Two-Kick," and the "Ten-Shot Flying Sky." Fireworks, also called "yanhuo," "lihua" (ceremonial flowers), and the like, began in the Sui and Tang dynasties, flourished in the Song, and became widely popular in the Ming and Qing. By the Tang dynasty there already appeared "gunpowder variety-show fireworks" that could present various designs such as fruits and melons, animals, and ghosts and monsters. In the Southern Song, shelf-mounted fireworks were extremely popular. According to the Wanshu Zaji (Miscellaneous Records of Wanshu), the Ming-dynasty capital Beijing had an enormous variety of fireworks: those in paper cases were called "flower tubes," those in clay cases "earthen pots," and those in bamboo baskets "flower boxes," capable of displaying designs such as the ribbon bird, grape trellis, pearl curtain, and eternal lamp. The Qing-dynasty Dijing Suishi Jisheng (Records of the Victory of the Capital's Seasons) describes the capital's fireworks of the time as "stories of several scenes packed in brocade boxes, with figures so lifelike, feathers and plumage, flowers and plants rendered with the utmost beauty of ornament." Wanzai County in Jiangxi Province is a traditional fireworks and firecracker production area in China; local production began there around the mid-18th century. During the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty, Wanzai's fireworks and firecrackers already "circulated throughout the north and south." From the late Qing to the early Republic, the number of people employed in Wanzai's firecracker trade grew steadily to tens of thousands, with nearly a thousand firecracker firms, and the well-known firms operating across the country included the Ganzhou firm in Ganzhou, the Zhejiang firm in Zhejiang, and the Guangzhou firm in Guangzhou. In the 1980s, the number of people employed in Wanzai's fireworks and firecracker industry reached 150,000, and its products were sold to more than twenty provinces, municipalities, and autonomous regions across China as well as to more than twenty countries and regions including the United States and Japan.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

China is the country that earliest invented gunpowder in the world, and the fireworks and firecrackers made from gunpowder likewise have a long history and enjoy a high reputation worldwide. What were called "baozhu" (firecrackers) at the time were in fact burning bamboo tubes, which caused the air inside to heat up and burst with a sound. After the Sui and Tang, the practice changed to packing gunpowder into bamboo tubes. According to the Wulin Jiushi (Old Tales of Wulin), once this kind of firecracker was lit it crackled continuously to the end, "one lighting producing over a hundred unbroken reports." Modern firecrackers have further developed and been perfected in type and craft, forming a complete production system, with many varieties such as single-bang, double-bang, linked-bang, string firecrackers, and volley firecrackers, and multiple craft techniques including tube-rolling, tube-cutting, bottom-pasting, mud-filling, fuse-powder application, and eye-sealing. Firework colors are mainly produced by adding different chemical compounds to gunpowder—for example, adding sodium salts yields yellow, potassium salts purple, strontium salts red, barium salts green, and copper salts blue. Wanzai's fireworks and firecrackers come in a great variety, with more than sixty types including "all-red ceremonial cannons," large and small "colored cannons," "rooster cannons," and "thunderclap cannons." By sound, there are 19 types such as six-bang and hundred-bang; by the length and thickness of the paper, there are specifications such as three-cut, four-cut, and nine-cut; and by the form of stringing, there are distinctions between flat-edge and upright-edge (commonly called "dun-bian"). The raw materials used in Wanzai's fireworks and firecracker production—local paper and gunpowder—are both produced locally; the paper is "biaoxin" paper, fine, soft, and pliable, while the gunpowder is also of top quality. The entire production process, from raw-material processing to finished-product making, consists of more than seventy process steps, all done by hand, with high technical content and a complex workflow.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

During the Guangxu reign, locally "men and women, old and young alike relied on this for their livelihood."

Other submitting regions for the same item: Liuyanghuapao Making Craftsmanship · Yanhuobaozhu Making Craftsmanship · Yanhuobaozhu Making Craftsmanship · Yanhuobaozhu Making Craftsmanship · Yanhuobaozhu Making Craftsmanship.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

China's fireworks and firecrackers are mainly produced in Liuyang in Hunan, Wanzai and Pingxiang in Jiangxi, Dongguan in Guangdong, and Pucheng and Yang counties in Shaanxi, among other places. Among these, shelf-mounted fireworks were already famous in the Song dynasty; they are now rarely set off and urgently need protection and transmission to ensure their continuation and development. Zhang Weidai (per the official archival records of the associated inheritor): Male, Han ethnicity, born in September 1956, from Wanzai County, Jiangxi Province. Representative inheritor of the third national-level batch of the intangible cultural heritage item "Fireworks and Firecracker Making Craft (Wanzai Firecracker Making Craft)." A fireworks and firecracker-making technician. Starting in 1984, he successively served as factory director and manager of firecracker enterprises such as the Fanglin Village Firecracker Factory in Tanbu Town. In 1998 he founded the Nantian Fireworks and Firecracker Manufacturing Co., Ltd. The firecrackers he makes are loud, crisp, free of impurities, and fragrant, totaling more than fifty varieties, selling well in over twenty provinces and municipalities and exported to more than ten countries including France. He actively transmits the craft, compiling internal study materials such as "Semi-Finished Product Inspection Standards," and has taken on nine apprentices including Zhang Nianqiu.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

• Zhong Ziqi 03-1342
• Yin Changtai 03-1343
• Zhang Weidai 03-1344
• Liang Zhongmin 04-1866
• Li Haiyan 05-2779

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

1. Yanhuobaozhu Making Craftsmanship (Wanzai, Jiangxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Zhang Weidai · National Representative Bearer Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗