Wan Hu
Encyclopedia
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
official of the Ming dynasty
Ming Dynasty
The Ming Dynasty, also Empire of the Great Ming, was the ruling dynasty of China from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan Dynasty. The Ming, "one of the greatest eras of orderly government and social stability in human history", was the last dynasty in China ruled by ethnic...
who attempted to become the world's first recorded "astronaut". The crater Wan-Hoo
Wan-Hoo (crater)
Wan-Hoo is a lunar crater that is located on the Moon's far side, and it cannot be seen directly from the Earth. It lies to the southwest of the huge walled plain Hertzsprung, within the outer skirt of ejecta...
on the far side of the Moon is named after him.
The Legend of Wan Hu
The earliest known mention of it is an unreferenced description in Rockets and Jets by AmericanUnited States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author Herbert S. Zim in 1945.
- "Early in the sixteenth century, Wan decided to take advantage of China's advanced rocket and fireworks technology to launch himself into outer space. He supposedly had a chair built with forty-seven rockets attached. On the day of lift-off, Wan, splendidly attired, climbed into his rocket chair and forty seven servants lit the fuses and then hastily ran for cover. There was a huge explosion. When the smoke cleared, Wan and the chair were gone, and was said never to have been seen again."
Popular culture
- The Discovery ChannelDiscovery ChannelDiscovery Channel is an American satellite and cable specialty channel , founded by John Hendricks and distributed by Discovery Communications. It is a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav...
's show MythBustersMythBustersMythBusters is a science entertainment TV program created and produced by Beyond Television Productions for the Discovery Channel. The series is screened by numerous international broadcasters, including Discovery Channel Australia, Discovery Channel Latin America, Discovery Channel Canada, Quest...
attempted in the 2004 episode Episode 24 — "Ming Dynasty Astronaut" to recreate Wan Hu's flight using materials that would have been available to him. The chair exploded on the launch pad, with the crash test dummyCrash test dummyCrash test dummies are full-scale anthropomorphic test devices that simulate the dimensions, weight proportions and articulation of the human body, and are usually instrumented to record data about the dynamic behavior of the ATD in simulated vehicle impacts...
showing what would be severe burns. An attempt was also made using a chair with modern rockets attached; however, the uncontrollable craft proved that there were far too many complications for such a thing to have succeeded. It was determined that small rockets that can be strapped to a chair cannot provide sufficient thrustThrustThrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's second and third laws. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction on that system....
to effectively lift it, giving the legend the label of myth "busted". The view the crew members had of the first test as it was performed matched what the legend said; after the smoke from the explosion had cleared, both Buster (the crash-test dummy) and the chair had disappeared, though Buster and the remains of the chair were found next to the 'launch-pad'.
- In a show about inventions on Chinese Central Television called Tian Gong Kai Wu, Wan Hu was said to be able to lift himself only by a foot using rockets. In most Chinese versions of Wan Hu's story, he is described as an unfortunate pioneer of space travelSpace travelSpace travel can refer to:*Spaceflight, the use of space technology to fly a spacecraft into and through outer space, which may include:*Spacefaring, capability of and activity in the art of spaceborn travel.*Human spaceflight...
who was burnt to death because of the explosion caused by the rockets, instead of becoming the first astronaut in history.
- In the BiowareBioWareBioWare is a Canadian video game developer founded in February 1995 by newly graduated medical doctors Ray Muzyka, Greg Zeschuk, and Augustine Yip. BioWare is currently owned by American company Electronic Arts...
game Jade EmpireJade EmpireJade Empire is an action role-playing game developed by Canadian developer BioWare and first published in 2005 by Microsoft Game Studios as a worldwide release for the Xbox. The later, two-disc Limited Edition contained extra content...
, the player can read about a character named "Cao Shong" who straps rockets to a chair in an effort to fly. The chair explodes, killing him.
- In the movie Kung Fu PandaKung Fu PandaKung Fu Panda is a 2008 American computer-animated action comedy film produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount Pictures...
, Po, the protagonist, straps multiple rockets to a chair in an attempt to attend the Dragon Warrior ceremony.