Tang Fu

{{Short description|Song dynasty naval captain and inventor}} '''Tang Fu''' (唐福) was a Chinese inventor, military engineer, and naval captain who lived during the Song dynasty. Although he did not invent the fire arrow, an early form of gunpowder rocket, he is credited as having invented "a rocket of a new style having a head of iron."<ref name="Martin"/> According to William Alexander Parsons Martin, this invention represents a "transition from signal rockets to firearms, properly so called."<ref name="Martin">{{cite book|author=William Alexander Parsons Martin|title=The lore of Cathay: or, The intellect of China|year=1901|url=https://archive.org/details/lorecathayorint00martgoog|publisher=F. H. Revell company|pages=[https://archive.org/details/lorecathayorint00martgoog/page/n45 25]–26}}</ref> This happened in 1000 AD, while Tang Fu served as a naval captain.<ref name="Fei">{{cite book|author1=Zhenggang Fei|author2=Tianyou Wang|title=China: Five Thousand Years of History and Civilization|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z-fAxn_9f8wC&pg=PA577|year=2007|publisher=City University of HK Press|isbn=978-962-937-140-1|page=577}}</ref> His name is mentioned in the Chinese texts, the ''History of Song'' or ''Songshi''<ref name="Fei"/> and the ''Ko Chieh Ching Yuan'' or ''The Mirror of Research''.<ref name="Martin"/> In the ''History of Song'', he is said to have "presented his fire arrows, fire balls and grenades."<ref name="Fei" />

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Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Year of death unknown Category:Chinese military engineers Category:Chinese inventors Category:Chinese Navy officers Category:10th-century Chinese people Category:10th-century inventors