Editing Firecracker (section)

===Manufacturing===
[[File:Dyer Ball Things Chinese-295-295.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Dyer Ball on firecrackers.]]

[[James Dyer Ball]], in his book ''Things Chinese,'' has a detailed description about the process and material used for making firecrackers at the end of the 19th century. At that time, firecrackers were made by women and children workers, using straw paper to make the body of the firecracker, while the fuse was made of paper imported from Japan made from the inner lining of the bamboo plant, or rice paper, stiffened with buckwheat paste. The bamboo paper was cut into strips of {{convert|14|in}} long and {{convert|1/3|in}} wide, laid on a table; a string of gunpowder was placed at the center with a hollow tube, then twisted up to make a piece of fuse. The firecracker tubes were made from pieces of straw paper wrapped around iron rods of various diameters and then tightened with a special tool. 200 to 300 firecrackers were tied up in a bunch, then red clay was spread at the bottom of the bunch and forced into each end of the firecracker with a punch; gunpowder was poured in, then the other end was sealed with an awl by turning the tube inward, and a fuse inserted.<ref>[[James Dyer Ball]], Things Chinese, 4th edition,  p195, NY 1906.</ref>