Huolongjing (Fire Dragon Manual)

Timeline

1. c. 1355–1368Jianghuai–Yingtian region · JiangnanDuring the late Yuan Red Turban wars, hand cannons, bowl-mouth cannons, and rockets were already used on the Jianghuai battlefield. A later preface attributed to Jiao Yu recounts his presenting firearms to Zhu Yuanzhang and overseeing their manufacture. Whether or not the preface is a later addition, this experience forms the earliest historical layer of the Huolongjing's illustrations and the technical background of early Ming firearms units.
2. 1368–1375Yingtian Prefecture · JiangnanEarly Ming tradition attributed the compilation of a systematic firearms book to Liu Ji and Jiao Yu; Joseph Needham accordingly dated the earliest compilation to 1360–1375 and believed its predecessor, the Huolong Shenti Tufa, is now lost. Chinese scholars note that the present prefaces and postscripts do not fully match Liu Ji's collected writings, so 'Liu Ji's participation' should be treated as a tradition awaiting verification rather than an established authorship.
3. c. 1412–1420Capital · ChinaA tenth-year-of-Yongle preface attributed to Jiao Yu recast the old manuscript as a publicly releasable Huolongjing Complete Collection. Whether or not the preface was added later, the Yongle era did have firearms units such as the Shenji Camp; the book's knowledge of cannons and rockets corresponded with the institutionalization of firearms in the Ming military, turning the text from a secret military manual into a transmissible technical handbook.
4. 1500China · ChinaLate Ming works such as the Huogong Qieyao already cited this book; the Qing produced multiple manuscript copies and woodblock editions after the Xianfeng era, with titles such as Huolong Shiqi Zhenfa and Huolong Shenshu. Modern military and history-of-technology scholarship treats it as key material for Song–Yuan–Ming firearms illustration, while distinguishing the 14th-century core from later additions.