<p>An illustration of an ampulliform Chinese hand cannon with a gunpowder charge shooting a blast of flame with lead pellets as coviative projectiles. The weapon was called the 'phalanx-charging fire-gourd' ('chong zhen huo hu-lu'). This illustration is from the <i>Huolongjing</i>, a 14th century military treatise compiled by Liu Ji and Jiao Yu, with the preface added in the year 1412.
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This illustration also appears on page 238 of Joseph Needham's book <i>Science and Civilization in China: Volume 5, Part 7</i>.
<a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:PericlesofAthens" title="User:PericlesofAthens">PericlesofAthens</a>
2007-08-11
<span class="int-own-work" lang="en">Own work</span>