Here Comes The… BOOM
World History I Mr. Wold
By: Ashley Aronin

People may think that fireworks are used for fun uses only like on the fourth of July, or even for celebrating an important event. But really, fireworks were very useful back in the ancient Chinese community. They used them a lot during warfare, which helped us in today’s society with brand new inventions that have helped us a lot today. Also, since they did not have the technology that we have today, their fireworks were very different than ours.
Firecrackers were used often during warfare back in ancient China. They were used in China as early as the 10th century.1What they started doing to use them in war was they started attaching the firecrackers to arrows. They would carve wooden rockets into the shape of a dragon, and these rockets shot the arrows from their mouths powered by the rocket itself.2 Since they didn’t have the technology that we have today, this tool was very helpful and useful to them. These arrows had helped the Chinese back then a lot because they were the first to invent them. These rockets were very useful tools to have because they were one of the strongest of it’s kind. These rockets helped them win battles including a very important one, which was against the Mongol Invaders of 1279.3 If they didn’t have these arrows, then they could not have won this battle against the Mongol Invaders, which was a very important battle for them to win. Two hundred years after this, they learned to fire explosives into the air and shoot them towards enemy targets. From this invention, it led us to build some of the very first rockets.4 These rockets also led us to build bombs. It also led us to build more advanced and high-tech rockets, which are very useful tools today that help us in warfare. Many victories of winning have come from the use of rockets today. After a victory, or win of a battle, fireworks could be used to commemorate or celebrate military victories.5 This is how celebrating with fireworks started. After every victory or win they had, they would celebrate it with fireworks. Fireworks showed happiness and hard work. But people may wonder, how were fireworks made back then since they did not have all of the tools and resources we have today, and how were they used back then.
Back then, there were a lot of different types of firecrackers that people made. But we know that one of the most common kind that they used back then and the first ones that were invented in ancient China were chunks of green bamboo that people would throw onto the fire. Once on the fire, they would wait for the rod to sizzle. It would start to blacken and after waiting awhile, the bamboo would explode unexpectedly.6 They would use this for any type of firework for anything. Since the people have never heard a noise like this before, they would describe the noise as loud thunder.7 Back then, they did not have a main use for firecrackers but they used them a lot in warfare and for holidays and special occasions. It represented happiness to them, when they would use fireworks for these different reasons. But, as stated above, fireworks were just bamboo over a fire. They had no special sight except for maybe a few sparks that would come up after it would explode. So how did fireworks evolve from what they were to what they are now? Before we had all of our fancy ingredients that went into making a firework, the people in ancient China did not have all of the stuff that we have today. Later after they found out about the bamboo fireworks, they found out a mixture