70多年前鲁迅先生曾发表过一句感慨:“外国用火药制造子弹御敌,中国却用它做爆竹敬神。”此后至今,每当人们讨论“国民性”“屈辱的近代史”之类的话题时,这句话都会反复出现,仿佛从东西方火药应用的差异入手,即可参透各种文明发展不均等的天机。然而,火药、枪炮与爆竹的历史不是像鲁迅唏嘘得那么简单。西方人的火药应用并不晚于东方人太多,而古代的中国人也绝非一味热爱和平,以至于耽误了军械研发,不得不任由西方人 More than 70 years ago, Mr. Lu Xun once said with a feeling: “Foreign countries use gunpowder to make bullets to defend their enemies, but China uses it as a weapon for firecrackers.” Since then, whenever people discuss modern history of humiliation "And other topics, the phrase will repeatedly appear, as if from the differences between East and West gunpowder application, you can penetrate the development of various civilizations unequal secret. However, the history of gunpowder, guns and firecrackers is not as simple as that of Lu Xun. Western gunpowder application is not later than the Orientals too much, but the ancient Chinese people are not blindly love peace, that delay the development of armaments, had to let Westerners