was invented in China more than a thousand years ago,, with the first definitive written record of chemical formulae found in the mid-11th century Song dynasty military compendiumWujing Zongyao, and the very earliest possible reference dating to the Eastern Han dynasty. During the Ming and Qing dynastiesmatchlock muskets were used in China, and the Chinese used the term "bird-gun" to refer to muskets. Mao Zedong remarked "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun" in 1927 and 1938, a sentiment that was continued after winning the civil war. The country's strict centralized stance on gun control was officially instated in the country in 1966, and extended in 1996 when the government banned the buying, selling and transporting of firearms without official permission. According to the Chinese police, up until 2006, an underground gun-trading triangle in Southwest China fed the Chinese gun market, with guns being manufactured in Songtao and trafficked into Xiushan and Huayuan before reaching a national distribution scale. From June to September 2006, the Chinese authorities confiscated 178,000 illegal guns, 3,900 tons of explosives, 7.77 million detonators and 4.75 million bullets. In 2007, a study released by the Geneva-based Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies estimated that around 40 million guns were owned by Chinese civilians, an over-estimation according to the Chinese authorities. Throughout the 2000s, The Wall Street Journal noted a rise of gun popularity in China.
Specifications
In China, firearms can be used by law enforcement, the military and paramilitary, or security personnel protecting property of state importance. Civilian ownership of firearms is largely restricted to non-individual entities such as sporting organizations, hunting reserves, and wildlife protection, management and research organizations. The chief exception to the general ban for individual gun ownership is for the purpose of hunting. Individuals who hold hunting permits can apply to purchase and hold firearms for the purpose of hunting. Illegal possession or sale of firearms may result in a minimum punishment of 3 years in prison, and the penalty for a gun crime is death penalty. Airsoft guns are also practically prohibited due to the Ministry of Public Security dictating very restrictive new criteria that rendered most such toy guns being defined as real firearms, and violation may lead to a criminal conviction for illegal possession of firearms.
The possession of traditional smoothbore blackpowder muskets is allowed to some Miao hill people, the so-called Miao gun tribes, as an essential element of traditional dress and culture; however, possession of gunpowder is regulated.
Biasha people
The Biasha people living in Bingmei, Guizhou, claim they can legally possess guns, since they use them for their annual traditional performance.
