Li Wan

Li Wan

Li Fan was born on April 18, 621 A.D., the fourth year of Tang Wude (621 A.D.) in Mashi village, Liuyang, where Hunan and Jiangxi border. Shangli, Liling and Liuyang all admit that Li Fan was born in Mashi village. Jiangxi Shangli is called Mashi street, which is located on the riverside of Lishui river. It is under the jurisdiction of Hunan and Jiangxi Liling said Mashi village is located in its territory (Fuli town).

It is said that the plague was prevalent in successive years of disasters at that time. Li Wan used small bamboo tubes to pack nitrates, guide and ignite them, and dispel the mountain haze miasma with gunpowder smoke, thus reducing the epidemic of the plague, and firecrackers were quickly popularized. For this reason, Li Wan was regarded as the founder of fireworks industry. Now Liuyang and Liling, the main fireworks producing areas in Hunan, Shangli and Wanzai in Jiangxi all offer sacrifices to them. Lishan square is a multi landmark, and Liuyang Fireworks Festival is even more famous in the world.

Life of the characters

Li Wan was born in the fourth year of Wude in Tang Dynasty (621 AD). Li Wan was gifted and intelligent. He practiced martial arts with his father and was employed as a martial arts teacher in many places. After the death of his parents, he moved to the half ridge of Shixing mountain, where he was accompanied by Zhongsou, a herbalist. One day, they went up to the mountain to collect medicine and hunt. They ran into wind and rain. When they got home, old man Zhong couldn't get up. The villagers call it mandrill evil (actually miasma), which will harm one side. Li Wan was very anxious. He suddenly thought that his father once said that burning bamboo can strengthen Qi and expel evil spirits. He tried it, but the explosive force was not enough. He boldly drilled a small hole in the bamboo joint, filled it with nitrate, sealed it with pine oil and detonated it. The effect was excellent. The neighbors imitated it. For a moment, the mountain exploded, the fragrance was strong, the miasma was dissipated, and the old man was cured. However, this kind of bamboo explosion is inconvenient to carry and unsafe. Li Wan replaced bamboo with paper. After repeated experiments, the sound is like thunder and the light is everywhere. Later, this kind of firecracker was used not only to dispel miasma, but also for weddings and funerals. Li Wan's contribution to the cause of enriching the townships for the people was well received by all parties. However, due to lack of funds and other reasons, the production of firecrackers failed to develop for a while. Until the Song Dynasty, he began to build workshops and firecracker houses. In order to make firecrackers, Li Ran went through many hardships. His hands and feet were injured many times, and his house was destroyed by fire. He finally got married on time. He didn't marry a poor girl of Tang until he was middle-aged. After that, he continued to make firecrackers and refine nitrates. Eventually, he died of illness due to accumulated labor. He was 70 years old.

Anecdotes and allusions

Master Li Wan

In the Tang Dynasty, there was an emperor named Li Shimin, and a prime minister named Wei Zheng. It is said that Wei Zheng had great power, and "the day ruled the world, and the night ruled the Yin Cao.". Once, a man named the Dragon King of Jinghe River, the chief manager of bahedu, committed the tiantiao and was sentenced to death. The Jade Emperor ordered Wei Zheng to execute the beheading. At that time, it was midnight in the hot summer. After he fell asleep, Wei Zheng was sweating all over. It turned out that he was sweating because he was killing the dragon who had committed the crime. At this time, Li Shimin used a fan to face Wei Zheng, and he fanned three times. Such a fan, the wind Help Wei Zheng, finally help him kill the dragon. As a result, the ghost of the Dragon blames Li Shimin for his frequent crimes. Li Shimin is restless and restless every night. The imperial court had to send the generals Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong to guard Li Shimin's bedroom. However, it is really hard for Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong to guard 365 nights a year. When he was in a dilemma, a man named Li Wan came up with a solution: put some nitrosulfone in a small bamboo tube, light it and explode it. The mountain was called Gu Ming, which scared away all the ghosts and evil spirits. In this way, ghosts and evil spirits were scared away, but the loud firecrackers still made Li Shimin unable to sleep well. Later, someone came up with a way to paste the portraits of general Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong on the door of Li Shimin's bedroom to suppress ghosts and evil spirits. Therefore, Qin Shubao and Yuchi Gong later became door gods. In addition to using firecrackers to protect Li Shimin's bedroom, Li also used firecrackers to drive away haze and miasma. At that time, wars were frequent in the Tang Dynasty, epidemics were prevalent, and the poor suffered. After Li Wan used this method, it worked. Therefore, later firecrackers were widely used to ward off evil spirits and miasma. In memory of Li Wan, posterity respected him as the Grandmaster of firecrackers. On April 18 of the lunar calendar, Li Wan's first teacher's meeting held a banquet on his grandfather's birthday, where guns and guns roared together, kowtowed and knelt down to celebrate Chongqing. This custom has been handed down from generation to generation for thousands of years, and it was followed by Yixuan to the early days of liberation.

People's Memorial

Former residence of Li Wan

Li's former residence is not as imposing as you think. In fact, it's just a humble hall. The statue and memorial tablet of Li Wan in it show that this half building should be only the "Yousheng Temple" in the literature, not the "old house" of Li Wan's daily life. Of course, under the guidance of the local villagers, the "Songxian Temple" in front of us is said to be dedicated to Li Wan. "There used to be only one small temple here, but the incense is very strong. Every year when Li Wan's birthday, there are a lot of people here." Yang Xiang said. According to the records of Pingxiang local chronicles, in the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1307 AD), the people of Shangli set up the throne of firecracker patriarch in Yousheng temple. On April 18 every year, they went to Yousheng temple to offer sacrifices to Li Wan. The local villagers insisted that "Li Wan was born here and died here", and even fought among the three places for Li Wan's former residence. From a geographical point of view, Li's historical origin should be consistent. Among the four cities of Liuyang, Liling, Shangli and Wanzai, Shangli is in the middle, radiating to Liling in the west, Liuyang in the north and Wanzai in the East. The famous Luoxiao mountains stand in the West and south of this area, and its remaining veins, like the tentacles of octopus, go deep into the abdomen of this triangle, forming a typical hilly landscape in the south of the Yangtze River. These geographical elements not only fit the origin of Li Wan's history The existence of fireworks technology provides a wealth of production factors.

Li Wan Park

In 1998, Liling City, Hunan Province built the first Li Fan hall in China on the top of the Xishan Mountain in Xishan Park. In 1999, Shangli County in Jiangxi Province began to build Li Fan Park, which covers an area of more than 120 mu. A 15 meter high bronze statue of Li Fan has been standing on Longhe mountain. According to the records of Pingxiang local chronicles, in the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1307 AD), the people of Shangli set up the throne of firecracker patriarch in Yousheng temple. On April 18 every year, they went to Yousheng temple to offer sacrifices to Li Fan. In 2001, in memory of Tang Dynasty inventor Li Fan, people from Ludong village, Dayao Town, Hunan Province built Li Fan Park in Li Fan's graveyard and fireworks Museum in Li Fan Pavilion (the place where ancestors were worshipped in the old time). The museum is a Tang style building with four exhibition rooms of "Millennium Tour", "traditional crafts", "modern technology" and "brilliant achievements", displaying more than 210 pictures and 180 objects.

Historical records

In 2003, a copy of Li's genealogy was found in Tongmu Town, Shangli County, Jiangxi Province, 24 kilometers away from Mashi street. In this genealogy, there is such a text about Li Wan: he lives in Yuanzhou house, Jiangnan Road, and is from the north of Pingshi street. He was born on April 18, the fourth year of Wude in Tang Dynasty. When Taizong was called to Chang'an, he came to Beijing with a hundred firecrackers to catch mandrills alive. He was granted the title of Li Wan's first teacher, silver reward, and brought benefits to all people. According to the records of Pingxiang local chronicles, in the third year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty (1307 AD), the people of Shangli set up the throne of firecracker patriarch in Yousheng temple. On April 18 every year, they went to Yousheng temple to offer sacrifices to Li Fan.

History of firecrackers

In this world, where there are Chinese people living, firecrackers should be set off to show their happiness and auspiciousness when they encounter festive events, such as children's marriage, building houses, moving to new houses, and opening shops. Especially on the Lunar New Year's Eve, new year's day and the 15th day of the first month, the sound of firecrackers is full of the world, with the flavor of universal celebration. Wang Anshi, a poet of the Song Dynasty, wrote in Yuanri: "the sound of firecrackers makes one year away, and the spring breeze brings warmth to Tu su. Thousands of families always exchange the new peach for the old one It vividly depicts the lively scene of pasting couplets and setting off firecrackers in the new year. Firecrackers, also known as firecracker and firecracker, were a matter after the Song Dynasty. From the book of songs. Xiaoya. Tingliao, we can read such a poem: "tingliao is clear, the gentleman is the last." Tingliao is the ancient people's binding of bamboo, grass or hemp sticks to make the night shine like the day, which has the function of lighting and exorcism. This may be the rudiment of setting off firecrackers in China, more than 2000 years ago. The ancient book Zhouli has the activity of "exorcising Nuo" at the end of the year. In the Han Dynasty, firecrackers were set off on the first day of the first lunar month to drive away ghosts and evil spirits. According to the shenyijing xihuangjing written by dongfangshuo of the Han Dynasty, there is shansao (mandrill) in the deep mountains. When people come into contact with it, they are often infected with cold and heat. He likes to steal salt to eat shrimp and crabs. When he meets him, "people taste bamboo fire and burst out of the state (to describe sound), and they are scared." Zong he of Liang Dynasty in the Southern Dynasty also said in the records of the age of Jingchu: "on the first day of the first month of the first lunar month, the crowing of the rooster comes up, ahead of the firecrackers in front of the court, in order to avoid the mountain and the evil spirits." Mandrill is afraid of firecrackers, so people turn mandrill into a monster called "Nian". Every year, mandrill climbs ashore from the sea to harm people. Later, it is scared away by a child in red setting off firecrackers. In this way, on New Year's Eve or at the beginning of the first month, it has gradually become a custom to burn firecrackers to exorcise evil spirits.

development

At the beginning of the firecracker, it only used fire to burn bamboo to make it sound. With the invention and wide use of paper, and alchemists gradually found that nitrate, sulfur and carbon are flammable substances. In the Tang Dynasty, the setting off of firecrackers developed into people lighting a long bamboo pole, or hanging a string of bamboo knots on the long bamboo pole to explode, which was called "exploding pole" at that time. In early spring, a poet of the Tang Dynasty, Lai Hu wrote: "it is only in the new calendar that half of the paper is opened, and the small court is still gathering ashes.". Sun Simiao, the "king of medicine" (581-682 A.D.), first described the "sulfur volt" that created gunpowder by mixing niter, sulfur and carbonaceous materials

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