The Feng Chen Pao (風塵砲, lit. 'Wind-and-dust bomb') was a special grenade employed by the Ming military. Unlike conventional grenades designed to inflict damage through explosive blast and fragmentation, the Feng Chen Pao functioned as a throwable smoke and irritant dispersal device. Upon detonation, it released a cloud of smoke and irritant substances intended to impair vision, induce respiratory distress, and disrupt enemy formations.
The weapon was manufactured in two principal variants: a pottery bottle type and a bamboo basket type, which will be elaborated below.
The Qun Feng Pao was possibly a more lethal modification of the bamboo basket variant of the Feng Chen Pao, although it is unknown whether this deadlier version was actually fielded. It shared an almost identical external construction with the Feng Chen Pao — a ball-shaped bamboo basket covered with up to 50 layers of glued papier-mâché and fitted with a rope sling for throwing — but contained far more destructive internal fillings: approximately 3 jin of gunpowder, half a jin of iron caltrops, several dozen Fei Yan (飛燕) incendiary micro-rockets, several dozen small firecrackers, as well as Du Huo (毒火) poison smoke gunpowder.
The weapon was manufactured in two principal variants: a pottery bottle type and a bamboo basket type, which will be elaborated below.
Bottle Grenade
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| Bottle grenade variant of Feng Chen Pao, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. |
The ceramic bottle variant of the Feng Chen Pao consisted of a pottery vessel filled with fine roasted limestone powder (i.e. quicklime), with a firecracker placed inside to serve as the ignition and bursting charge, ensuring reliable rupture of the vessel and effective dispersion of the limestone dust when thrown. Counterintuitively, the fuse of the firecracker was led through a small hole drilled at the bottom of the bottle rather than simply out of the bottle mouth, which was sealed tightly with a rawhide cover.
This variant of the Feng Chen Pao was commonly used in siege defence.
Bamboo Basket Grenade
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| Bamboo basket grenade variant of Feng Chen Pao, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'. |
The bamboo basket variant of the Feng Chen Pao consisted of a ball-shaped bamboo basketry, the outer shell of which was covered with layers of glued papier-mâché. It featured a rope sling attached for throwing, and was filled with weathered lime dust along with dried human faeces, dried fruit pods of Chinese honey locust (Gleditsia sinensis), and cinnabar — all of which were first stir-fried before being ground into fine powder. Like the bottle grenade variant, a firecracker was also placed inside to serve as the ignition and bursting charge.
EXTRA: Qun Feng Pao (羣蜂砲, lit. 'Swarming bees bomb')
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| The Qun Feng Pao, which has an illustration identical to that of the Feng Chen Pao, except for the inclusion of its additional fillings. |
When thrown, the Qun Feng Pao would explode with a powerful blast that scattered iron caltrops in every direction, released thick clouds of poison smoke, and unleashed a storm of crackling firecrackers alongside dozens of Fei Yan micro-rockets that flew erratically in chaotic patterns (which likely gave rise to its name), sticking to clothing, sails, and wooden surfaces to burn fiercely — while the combination of blinding smoke, roaring explosions, darting flames, and searing fires created such panic and confusion that enemies desperately trying to evade the rockets and smoke were far more likely to step on the caltrops left scattered across the ground, turning the entire area into a hazardous killing zone.
