History of Military Ballooning - Kongming Lantern

Kongming Lantern

Kongming lanterns were used as military signalling. The lantern was invented in late Han dynasty, when the Han dynasty chancellor Zhuge Liang (Kongming) was surrounded by Wei dynasty General Sima Yi at Pinlo, Sichuan. Zhuge Liang used paper made "lanterns", or ,hot balloons, to signal the rescue forces.

The Kongmin lantern become a common military signal in China, and it was inherited by the Mongolian troops, seen in the Battle of Legnica. Flying the Kongmin lantern is now a civilian festival of memorizing chancellor Zhuge Liang in the Lantern Festival.

Read more about this topic:  History Of Military Ballooning

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