Cheng Yin

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Cheng Yin

fl. 800s

Reputed Chinese author of a ninth-century work entitled "Classified Essentials of the Mysterious Tao of the True Origin of Things," which contains an important early description of a type of Chinese gunpowder. The author warns that the substance is dangerous, causing serious burns if mixed incorrectly, and that the experimenter should exercise extreme caution.

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