100
3 A Brief History of Space Flight
shown from the experimental result that enough thrust to lift the seat up can not be
generated by using the bundled modern small rocket-propellers.
In the 1960s, Xuesen Qian (Hsue-shen Tsien, 1911−2009), the famous scientist
and the founder of China’s space industry, told the young students the Wan Hu
flying story that his tutor Shizhuo Wang had ever told him. “In the nineteenth year
(1483 A.D.) when emperor Chenghua was in power during the Ming dynasty, there
was a rich man named Wan Hu, who had a strong interest in the gunpowder and
rocket invented by the ancient Chinese. He imagined that he would use the huge
thrust of the rockets to send himself into blue sky. After full preparation, the day
of the flight finally came. Wan Hu seated a snake-shaped flying vehicle with fortyseven rockets attached, and his hands still took two large kites. Wan Hu commanded
his attendants to ignite the first row rockets, and after sounding a tremendous roar
with billowing clouds of smoke, the flying vehicle began to lift off the ground. And
then, the second row rockets were automatically ignited, and the explosion suddenly
happened. Finally, Wan Hu and his flying vehicle fell and broke in Wanjia Shan”.
There are two facts to need to be explained further. One is about Shizhuo Wang
(1905−1991), one of the pioneers of China’s aviation industry, whoever studied in
the United States in 1925, and received his master’s degree in engineering from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1928. After returning to China in 1933,
he served as a professor at the aviation group of the Department of mechanical
engineering, Tsinghua University. From 1934 to 1935, Shizhuo Wang with other
two professors, Xinjue Qian and Zhu Wang, formed a tutor team to together serve
as the training and tutoring for Xuesen Qian, then a preparatory student studying in
the United States. Another is about Wanjia Shan, now located near Manshui River,
Huoshan County, Anhui Province. Yuanzhang Zhu (1328−1398), the first emperor
in the Ming dynasty, was born in Fengyang County, Anhui Province.
Although the historical facts of the Wan Hu flying legend need to be confirmed,
and it is possible to become a mystery of history forever, the following historical
facts are clear:
(1) The Ming Dynasty is the peak period of ancient Chinese rocket technology
development. And thus, the flight using the thrust of the rockets naturally
became people’s most simple and universal thoughts at that time.
(2) In the late Qing Dynasty, especially in 1900 when the Eight-power Allied
Forces invaded China, a large number of historical relics and ancient books
were lost overseas. Perhaps, to a large extent, Wan Hu and his deeds were
recorded in these historical materials.
(3) Although there are various versions of the legend described in the foreign
documents, most of the detailed depictions of the story are accordant each
other, such as the story happening in the middle Ming Dynasty (1480−1520),
1 chair, 47 rockets, 2 kites and the attendants for igniting. It is also clearly
shown that all of the versions came from the same historical material.
(4) According to the time when Shizhuo Wang told Xuesen Qian the story, it
could be speculated that the Wan Hu flying legend had widely been spread in
the Western scholars before 1940s.
3 A Brief History of Space Flight
shown from the experimental result that enough thrust to lift the seat up can not be
generated by using the bundled modern small rocket-propellers.
In the 1960s, Xuesen Qian (Hsue-shen Tsien, 1911−2009), the famous scientist
and the founder of China’s space industry, told the young students the Wan Hu
flying story that his tutor Shizhuo Wang had ever told him. “In the nineteenth year
(1483 A.D.) when emperor Chenghua was in power during the Ming dynasty, there
was a rich man named Wan Hu, who had a strong interest in the gunpowder and
rocket invented by the ancient Chinese. He imagined that he would use the huge
thrust of the rockets to send himself into blue sky. After full preparation, the day
of the flight finally came. Wan Hu seated a snake-shaped flying vehicle with fortyseven rockets attached, and his hands still took two large kites. Wan Hu commanded
his attendants to ignite the first row rockets, and after sounding a tremendous roar
with billowing clouds of smoke, the flying vehicle began to lift off the ground. And
then, the second row rockets were automatically ignited, and the explosion suddenly
happened. Finally, Wan Hu and his flying vehicle fell and broke in Wanjia Shan”.
There are two facts to need to be explained further. One is about Shizhuo Wang
(1905−1991), one of the pioneers of China’s aviation industry, whoever studied in
the United States in 1925, and received his master’s degree in engineering from the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1928. After returning to China in 1933,
he served as a professor at the aviation group of the Department of mechanical
engineering, Tsinghua University. From 1934 to 1935, Shizhuo Wang with other
two professors, Xinjue Qian and Zhu Wang, formed a tutor team to together serve
as the training and tutoring for Xuesen Qian, then a preparatory student studying in
the United States. Another is about Wanjia Shan, now located near Manshui River,
Huoshan County, Anhui Province. Yuanzhang Zhu (1328−1398), the first emperor
in the Ming dynasty, was born in Fengyang County, Anhui Province.
Although the historical facts of the Wan Hu flying legend need to be confirmed,
and it is possible to become a mystery of history forever, the following historical
facts are clear:
(1) The Ming Dynasty is the peak period of ancient Chinese rocket technology
development. And thus, the flight using the thrust of the rockets naturally
became people’s most simple and universal thoughts at that time.
(2) In the late Qing Dynasty, especially in 1900 when the Eight-power Allied
Forces invaded China, a large number of historical relics and ancient books
were lost overseas. Perhaps, to a large extent, Wan Hu and his deeds were
recorded in these historical materials.
(3) Although there are various versions of the legend described in the foreign
documents, most of the detailed depictions of the story are accordant each
other, such as the story happening in the middle Ming Dynasty (1480−1520),
1 chair, 47 rockets, 2 kites and the attendants for igniting. It is also clearly
shown that all of the versions came from the same historical material.
(4) According to the time when Shizhuo Wang told Xuesen Qian the story, it
could be speculated that the Wan Hu flying legend had widely been spread in
the Western scholars before 1940s.