Sulfur Manufacturing at Hot Springs in Early Modern Chinese Borderlands
Local Practices and Global Networks
In: Asian Review of World HistoriesSearch for other papers by Fei Huang in
Current site
Google Scholar
Abstract
This article examines sulfur manufacturing and refining methods in the early modern Chinese borderlands in the context of global trade and tribute networks. The increasing demands for high-quality sulfur, crucial for gunpowder and mineral drugs, facilitated the further development of sulfur-production and -refining techniques. Constrained by limited local sulfur deposits, sulfur production in China proper relied primarily on domestic pyrite ores or pyritic nodules in coal mines, alongside imports from the Ryukyu Islands. This article focuses on case studies of various local practices in the natural sulfuric hot springs region of China’s borderlands, particularly in Yunnan and Taiwan from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. It examines alternative methods of sulfur manufacturing that utilized geothermal resources at hot springs for various local and regional military and medical demands in global contexts.
Purchase
Buy instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Institutional Login
Log in with Open Athens, Shibboleth, or your institutional credentials
Personal login
Log in with your brill.com account
-
Cun Kaitai 寸開泰. 2009. Tengyue xiangtu zhi騰越鄉土志 (Gazetteer of Tengyue Town). In Zhongguo difangzhi jicheng: Yunnan fuxianzhi ji (Collection of Chinese gazetteers: Records of prefectures and counties in Yunnan). Vol. 35. Nanjing: Fenghuang chubanshe; Shanghai: Shanghai shudian; Chengdu: Bashu shushe.
-
Dugu Tao 獨孤滔. 1988. Danfang jianyuan丹方鑒源 (Mirror of alchemical processes). In Dao zang (Daoist canon). Vol. 596. Beijing: Wenwu Chubanshe; Shanghai: Shanghai Shudian; Tianjin: Tianjin Guji Chubanshe.
-
Hua Xuelan 華學瀾. 1936. Xinchou riji 辛丑日記 (Diary of the Year of Xin Chou, 1901). Shanghai: Shangwu yinshu guan, 1936.
-
Li Shizhen 李時珍. 2004. Bencao gangmu 本草綱目 (Systematic materia medica). Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe.
-
Liu Yueyun 劉嶽雲. 1899 (1995). Gewu zhongfa 格物中法 (Chinese methods for investigating things). Zhengzhou: Henan jiaoyu chubanshe.
-
Tan Cui 檀萃. 1908. Dianhai yuheng zhi 滇海虞衡志 (Records of Dianchi and Erhai lakes). Beijing: Wenyinlou yudi congshu edition.
-
Tang Shenwei 唐慎微. 1986. Zhenglei bencao證類本草 (Collected classified materia medica). In Jingyin wenyuange siku quanshu (Wenyuange imprint of the complete library of the four treasuries).Vol. 740. Taipei: Taiwan Shangwu Yinshuguan.
-
Tong Zhenzao 童振藻. 2014. Yunnan wenquan zhi bu雲南溫泉志補 (Supplement of the Gazetteer of Hot Springs in Yunnan). In Zhongguo xinan dili shiliao congkan (Series of historical documents on geography of southwest China). Vol. 30. Chengdu: Bashu shushe.
-
Xu Hongzu 徐弘祖. 1997. Xu Xiake youji 徐霞客遊記 (Travel records of Xu Xiake). Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe.
-
Yu Yonghe 郁永河. 1959. Bihai jiyou 裨海紀遊 (Small Sea travel diaries). Taipei: Taiying jinyan shi.
-
Zhang Xichun 張錫純. 1957. Yixue zhongzhong canxi lu 醫學衷中參西錄 (Records of the assimilation of the Western to Chinese in medicine). Hebei: Hebei renmin chubanshe.
-
Zhou Hang 周沆. 2009. Langqiong xian zhi lue浪穹縣志略 (Gazetteer of Langqiong County). In Zhongguo difangzhi jicheng: Yunnan fu xianzhi ji (Collection of Chinese gazetteers: Records of prefectures and counties in Yunnan). Vol. 76. Nanjing, Fenghuang chubanshe; Shanghai: Shanghai shudian; Chengdu: Bashu shushe.
-
Bian He. 2017. “An Ever-Expanding Pharmacy: Zhao Xuemin and the Conditions for New Knowledge in Eighteenth-Century China.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 77(2): 287–319.
-
Duan Hongyun 段紅雲. 2016. “Ming wanli nianjian tengyue baguan de shezhi dui mingqing Zhong mian jiangyu bianqian de yingxiang” 明萬曆年間騰越八關的設置對明清中緬疆域變遷的影響 (Impact of the setting of the eight defensive passes in Tengyue during the Wanli period of the Ming dynasty on the changes in the Sino-Burmese frontier in the Ming and Qing dynasties). Yunnan shifan daxue xuebao (Journal of Yunnan Normal University) 48(5): 35–42.
-
Han Jishao 韓吉紹. 2007. “Jinye huandan baiwen jue lunlue” 《金液還丹百問訣》論略 (Research on Explanations of the “hundred questions” on the cyclically transformed elixir of liquefied gold). Hongdao (Broaden the way) 32(3): 45–53.
-
Herrmann, Konrad. 2004. Erschließung der himmlischen Schätze (Unlocking the heavenly treasures). Lüdenscheid, Germany: Melzers Antiquarium.
-
Huang, Fei. 2023. “Knowledge Building on Nature and Body: Hot Springs in the Premodern Chinese Sources, An Overview.” Journal of Asian History 57: 47–80.
-
Jiang Yihao 蔣以號, et al. 2010. “Zhongyao liuhuang xunzheng yanjiu gaikuang” 中藥硫磺熏蒸研究概况 (Overview of research on sulfur fumigation of Chinese medicines). Zhongguo yiyao zhinan (Chinese Medicine Guide) 8(33): 38–40.
-
Kutney, Gerald. 2013. Sulfur: History, Technology, Applications & Industry. Toronto: ChemTec Publishing.
-
Liu Guangding 劉廣定. 1995. “Zhongguo yongliu shi yanjiu: Gudai chunhua liuhuang fa chutan” 中國用硫史研究: 古代純化硫磺法初探 (Research on the history of the usage of sulfur in China: A preliminary survey of the premodern technique to the purification of sulfur). Hanxue yanjiu (Chinese Studies) 13(1): 197–206.
-
Liu Peng 劉鵬. 2020. “Yixue ruxue hua yu mingdai yijia shentiguan zhuanxing” 醫學儒學化與明代醫家身體觀轉型 (The Confucianization of medicial studies and the transformation of the physician’s view of the body in the Ming dynasty). Beijing Zhongyiyao daxue xuebao (Journal of Chinese Medicine University) 43(9): 714–717.
-
Liu, Yan. 2021. Healing with Poisons: Potent Medicines in Medieval China. Seattle: University of Washington Press.
-
Lu Xingbang 吕兴邦. 2019. “Hua si wei guan: Nanbu dangan suojian qingmo xiaohuang zhengce zhuanbian jiqi zaidi xiaoying” 化私為官: ⟨南部檔案⟩所見清末硝磺政策轉變及其在地效應 (Turning private property into state-owned: The Change of saltpeter-sulfur policy and its impact on local society in the late Qing dynasty as seen from “Nanbu Archive”). Zhongguo jingjishi yanjiu (Studies on Chinese Economic History) 1: 39–52.
-
Needham, Joseph, and Robin Yates. 1994. Science and Civilisation in China. Vol. 5: Chemistry and Chemical Technology, part 7: Military Technology: Missiles and Sieges. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
-
Ren Huanhuan. 2016. “Songdai liuhuang de guanli ji yingyong” 宋代硫磺的管理及應用 (Management and use of sulfur in the Song dynasty). Zhongguolishi yu chuantong wenhua luncong (Studies in Chinese History and Traditional Culture) 1: 413–427.
-
Shi Yutong et al.2018. “Liuhuang paozhi lishi yange yanjiu” 硫黄炮制歷史沿革研究 (Research on the history of sulfur processing). Zhongguo xiandai zhongyao (Modern Chinese medicine) 20(4): 478–481.
-
Smits, Gregory. 2019. Maritime Ryukyu, 1050–1650. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press.
-
Su Yun-feng 蘇雲峰. 2002. “Shuping: Liuguangding zhongguo kexueshi lunji” 書評： 劉廣定《中國科學史論集》 (Review of The Papers on the History of Science in China by Liu Guangding). Hanxueyanjiu (Chinese Studies) 21(1): 435–444.
-
Sung Ying-Hsing. 1997. Chinese Technology in the Seventeenth Century: Tien-kung Kai-wu. Translated and annotated by E-Tu Zen Sun and Shiou-Chuan Sun. Mineola, NY: Dover Publications.
-
von Glahn, Richard. 2014. “The Ningbo-Hakata Merchant Network and the Reorientation of East Asian Maritime Trade, 1150–1350.” Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies 74(2): 249–279.
-
Wu Qina 吳奇娜. 2000. “Shiqi zhi shijiu shiji bei taiwan liuhuang maoyi zhi zhengce zhuanbian yanju” 17–19 世紀北臺灣硫磺貿易之政策轉變研究 (Research on the transformation of sulfur trade policy in seventeenth- and nineteenth-century northern Taiwan), (MA thesis, National Cheng Kung University).
-
Wu Xu et al. 2018. “Seeing the Unseen of Chinese Herbal Medicine Processing (Paozhi): Advances in New Perspective.” Chinese Medicine 13(4): 1–13.
-
Yamauchi, Shinji. 2009. Nisso bõeki to jo no michi 日宋贸易と硫磺の道 (Song-Japanese trade and the road of Sulfur). Tokyo: Yamakawa shuppansha Ltd.
-
Yin Zhengping 殷正平. 2020. “Gongjing yu huairou: Mingqing shiqi liuqiu gongping tanxi” 恭敬與懷柔: 明清時期琉球貢品探析 (Respecting and cherishing: Research on Ryukyu tributes in the Ming and Qing dynasties). Zijincheng 10: 84–99.
-
Zhan Sujuan 詹素娟, et al. 2002. Datunshan qixingshan xi liuhuang kuangye shi diaocha yanjiu 大屯山七星山系硫磺礦業史調查研究 (Survey and research on the history of sulfur mining in Datun and Qixing mountain range). Taipei: Neizhengbu jingjianshu yangmingshan guojia gongyuan guanli chu weituo yanjiu baogao.
-
Zhang Yunming. 1986. “Ancient Chinese Sulfur Manufacturing Processes.” Isis: A Journal of the History of Science Society 77(3): 487–497.
-
Zhang Zhibin, and Paul U. Unschuld, eds. 2014. Dictionary of the Ben cao gang mu. Vol. I: Chinese Historical Illness Terminology. California: University of California Press.
-
Zheng Shujuan 鄭淑娟. 2001. “Qingdai liuhuang zhengce yu taiwan liuhuang zhi kaicai yanjiu” 清代硫磺政策與臺灣硫磺之開採研究 (Research on sulfur policy in the Qing dynasty and Taiwan’s sulfur mining) (MA thesis, Tamkang University).
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 164 | 164 | 9 |
| Full Text Views | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 338 | 338 | 0 |
Sulfur Manufacturing at Hot Springs in Early Modern Chinese Borderlands
Local Practices and Global Networks
In: Asian Review of World HistoriesSearch for other papers by Fei Huang in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This article examines sulfur manufacturing and refining methods in the early modern Chinese borderlands in the context of global trade and tribute networks. The increasing demands for high-quality sulfur, crucial for gunpowder and mineral drugs, facilitated the further development of sulfur-production and -refining techniques. Constrained by limited local sulfur deposits, sulfur production in China proper relied primarily on domestic pyrite ores or pyritic nodules in coal mines, alongside imports from the Ryukyu Islands. This article focuses on case studies of various local practices in the natural sulfuric hot springs region of China’s borderlands, particularly in Yunnan and Taiwan from the sixteenth to the twentieth centuries. It examines alternative methods of sulfur manufacturing that utilized geothermal resources at hot springs for various local and regional military and medical demands in global contexts.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 164 | 164 | 9 |
| Full Text Views | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 338 | 338 | 0 |