武经总要
Gunpowder was invented in China more than a thousand years ago, with the first definitive written record of chemical formulae found in the mid-11th century Song dynasty military compendium "Wujing Zongyao", and the very earliest possible reference dating to the Eastern Han dynasty. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, matchlock muskets were used in China, and the Chinese used the term "bird-gun" () to refer to muskets.