ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a technological element of the latter military aspect, that is, the spread and utilization of the matchlock gun by the Ming troops under Qi Jiguang, Yu Dayou, and others, and what role this gun played in the suppression of the piracy. It focuses on the matchlock gun on China's southeast coast during the years of 1548–66, but the matchlock actually had a much farther-reaching influence. Qi Jiguang in the late sixteenth century was the first to discuss the etymology. His view was that the name "bird gun" came from the fact that the gun could shoot birds and was used as a fowling piece, and this explanation was accepted by many in China and echoed in Korea. The "bird ship" continued into the Qing Dynasty, functioning as a major warship and cargo ship.
