The Origin Of Matches

However, according to records, it is believed that the earliest match was invented in 577 AD. It was in the Northern and Southern Dynasties. There were many wars, and the Northern Qi was attacked from both sides. The shortage of materials, especially the lack of kindling, made cooking a problem. At that time, the imperial concubine and a group of palace ladies dipped sulfur on a small wooden stick. With the help of kindling or fireknife and flint, "yin fire" could easily be triggered into "yang fire". This can be regarded as the original match in the current record. By the Southern Song Dynasty, the streets of Hangzhou were already full of hawkers selling matches. According to Tao Zongyi's Record of Stopping Farming, "The Hangzhou people cut pine wood into small pieces, which are as thin as paper. The pieces are coated with fused sulfonic acid and are divided into several pieces. They are called Fazhuan, also called Jiao'er. They cover it with fire and candles instead of candles.". Around 950, Tao Gu mentioned in his book "Qing Yi Lu" that he needed to spend a lot of time making lanterns when he had urgent matters at night. A wise man dipped pine sticks with sulfur and stored them for future use. Contact with fire will ignite. A small flame is like a grain spike. At that time, this kind of magic thing was called light guiding slave. Later, when it became a commodity, it was renamed Huocun Bar. It can be said that this was an early match, but the court did not pay attention to it at that time.

In Europe, matches appeared in ancient Rome. At that time, some vendors sold firewood soaked in sulfur. The firewood soaked in sulfur does not ignite itself, but can be used to ignite. People hit the flint with iron and let the splashed sparks fall on the firewood to get the kindling. In the Middle Ages, Europeans replaced firewood with reeds, which became the material for kindling. The earliest matches in Europe were also made of sulfur. Many researchers believe that this invention was probably brought back by European tourists directly from China. During Marco Polo's period, China's early match technology was introduced into Europe. Later, Europeans continued to improve the match once called "foreign fire" by China on this basis.