Kongming lantern

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According to popular lore, the Kongming Lantern (Chinese:孔明灯) was the first hot air balloon, said to be invented by the sage and military strategist Zhuge Liang, whose reverent term of address (i.e. Chinese style name) was Kongming. It is likely that this technological discovery is misattributed because of the Chinese historical practice of attributing great discoveries to significant historical figures of the past rather than to the quotidian inventors themselves. According to the sinologist and historian of science Joseph Needham, the Chinese experimented with mini-hot air balloons from as early as the 3rd century BC - which suggests that the attribution of its invention to Kongming is indeed apocryphal.

Use of the Kongming Lantern

First deployed as a type of signaling balloon or, it is claimed, as a type of spy blimp in warfare. Later non-military applications were employed as they became popular with children at carnivals. These lanterns were subsequently incorporated into festivals like the Chinese Mid-Autumn and Lantern Festivals.

Apocryphal Origin of the Kongming Lantern

During the first Battle of Luoyang, Zhuge Liang was trapped in the city with only a small deployment of soldiers, as the rest of Liu Bei's army had gone to attack Sun Quan in the east. Thus, Cao Cao saw this as a fantastic chance to take over Luoyang and rule the world. Outnumbered, Zhuge Liang had to win by indirect tactics. He sent a spy to replace Cao Cao's maps with a different one, that showed Luoyang in a different position.

He then created several Kong Ming Lanterns, and set them up where the fake Luoyang's position was. He also went on to create several fog machines nearby. Thus, when Cao Cao's army arrived, it was inundated by fog but saw the lights of the Kong Ming Lanterns nearby. They charged - only for Zhuge Liang's army to come from the real Luoyang and attack them from behind and routed Cao Cao's forces.

See also

• Sky lantern

References

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Last updated on Monday March 03, 2008 at 11:04:36 PST (GMT -0800)
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