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Firecrackers are essentially un-American, even though weassociate them with our most deeply patriotic celebration, the Fourth of July.The fact is that firecrackers are foreign-born novelties, and have been as longas Americans have lit them for a noisy salute to the nation’s birth. As itturns out, firecracker history is as colorful and complicated as thelithographed artwork used to sell them. Warren Dotz, a pop-culture historian,collector, and author of many books, including a pair on cat and dog foodlabels, spoke with us about their story, while the photos of firecracker labelsabove and below come from Mike McHenry’s Mr. Brick Label Flickr page.

鞭炮实际上是’非美国式’的，尽管一提到它们就会联想到国庆日，7月4号。事实上，鞭炮是国外发明的新奇玩意，在美国人点燃他们吵吵闹闹的庆祝国家诞生前就已经存在很久了。事实证明，在爆竹历史上他们曾被当做丰富而复杂的石版印刷艺术品出售。沃伦道兹，流行文化历史学家、收藏家、作家，作品包括一对猫和狗的食品标签，讲述他人的故事，而本文中出现的照片均来自麦克麦克亨利的‘布莱克先生标签（Flickr雅虎家的图片分享网站）’页面。

Dotz says that, growing up in New York City, he and his friends were obsessedwith firecrackers. In a 2009 interview with Marty Weill at Ephemera, he explained,“The day after the Fourth of July my friends and I would search to salvage thegunpowder in those firecracker ‘duds’ that hadn’t exploded. I also went lookingfor the black and yellow Black Cat brand and the sky-blue Anchor brand labelsthat hadn’t been blown to smithereens. Years later, I would see these labels,as well as even more spectacular labels, at collectible fairs and flea marketsand decided that I would tell their story.”

道兹说，在纽约长大的他和朋友们都着迷于鞭炮。2009年和马蒂·威尔的一个短篇采访中他说“7月5号我跟朋友总会去搜寻那些没有爆开的鞭炮‘哑弹’。我也会找黑色和黄色黑猫牌和天蓝色的锚牌标签，拣那些没有被炸成碎片的。很多年后，我会在收藏品展览和跳蚤市场看到这些标签，以及其他更多美丽壮观的标签，我会告诉他们这些故事。”

Here are 10 things we learned about firecrackers and their labels from talkingto Dotz and reading his Ten Speed Press trade book Firecrackers: The Art &History, published in 2000 and co-authored by Jack Mingo and George Moyer.

跟道兹聊过并读完他的十速出版社出的书（《鞭炮： 艺术和历史》2000 年出版，杰克明戈 和乔治莫耶合著）之后，下面是我们从鞭炮和品牌标签中了解到的10件事情。Firecrackers were invented bythe ancient Chinese, who discovered naturally exploding bamboo.

鞭炮是由发现了天然爆竹的古代中国人发明的

“Because firecrackers have become icons of American popular culture. we oftenforget that they are thousand-year-old ceremonial items that originated inAsia,” Dotz says. “The first firecrackers were completely organic and probablyaccidental.”

“由于鞭炮已经成为美国流行文化的图标。我们经常忘记他们来自于几千年前的亚洲，”道兹说，“第一枚鞭炮完全是有机物合成的也可能是意外发现。

”Green bamboo segments are full of air and sap that will expand when heated, asthe fire erodes the woody exterior, causing it to blow up. Dotz suspects thiswas discovered by accident, when a person was looking for fuel for a fire.Exploding bamboo became a tradition in Chinese Lunar New Year ceremonies,intended to scare away evil spirits. Crude versions of gunpowder derived fromsulfur were developed and used in firecrackers in the 7th century, andfirecrackers evolved as paper tubes replaced bamboo and saltpeter, also knownas potassium nitrate, came to dominate the mix. While the Chinese thought touse gunpowder in warfare for flamethrowers and grenades, it wasn’t until itlanded in Europe in the 13th century that people thought to use it to fireprojectiles from canons and guns. Chinese gunpowder, hence, gave Europeans thepower to colonize parts of China.

绿色的竹节内窍充满了空气和汁液，在火上加热外层木质受损，内部受热膨胀，发生爆炸。道兹认为这是人们在寻找燃料时偶然发现的。在中国农历新年庆典中使用爆竹成为传统，意在辟邪。火药的原始配方来自于对硫磺的研究，在公元7世纪火药被用于爆竹，后来爆竹进化由纸筒取代竹筒，硝石，也就是硝酸钾，控制混合比例。当时中国人打仗，在喷火器和手榴弹里使用黑火药，火药直到13世纪才传入欧洲，人们把他用到了大炮和火枪上。中国火药，由此给了欧洲人力量对她进行半殖民。Firecrackers were not used inthe earliest Fourth of July celebrations, as they hadn’t been exported toAmerica yet.

最早期的7月4号国庆日没有用过爆竹，因为尚未传到美国

“Interestingly, firecrackers were reported to have been part of Fourth of Julycelebrations only after the holiday’s 11th year,” Dotz says. “The norm beforethen was ‘illuminations’—where people placed candles in their windows—as wellas bonfires, bells, musket fire, and loud parades.”

“有趣的是，在第11个国庆日之后有关爆竹的报道也称了庆典的一部分，”道兹说，“再有规范之前，国庆日只有‘彩灯’——人们把蜡烛放在窗前——燃起篝火、敲响钟声、开枪放炮以及吵吵闹闹的游行。”

Also, the earliest Fourth of July celebrations involved using explosives tosend anvils into the air. According to Firecrackers, “A blacksmith’s anvil wasplaced on the ground and a bag of gunpowder with a fuse was placed on top ofit. Finally, another anvil was placed upside down on top of the bag, the fusewas lit, and everybody scattered. This was to avoid being crushed like acartoon character, because the top anvil was propelled into the air beforereturning heavily to the ground. It was said you could hear the sound of a goodanvil shoot for miles in all directions.”

并且，早期的国庆日曾用炸药把砧板发射到空中。据《鞭炮》所说“铁砧被放置在地面上，一袋有引信的火药被放置在它上面。最后，在放置一块铁砧在火药上，引信被点燃，所有人都要躲起来。这是为了避免像卡通人一样被砸扁，因为砧板发射出去还要落下来。你也许能听到砧板在某个方向几英里外打中物体的声音。”

In 1787, a shipping merchantnamed Elias Haskett Derby brought a few boxes of firecrackers to America on acargo ship from China, and he sold out immediately. After that, they became astaple of Independence Day celebrations, as gun- and anvil-shooting were deemedtoo dangerous for family events.

1787年，一个叫做埃利亚斯哈斯岂特德比的商船，从中国往美国带了几盒爆竹，几乎立刻就卖光了。从那之后，燃放爆竹成为独立日庆典的主要形式，开枪放炮以及发射砧板被很多家庭认为是个危险事件。In the South, where the politiciansand plantation owners believed that states should hold all the power, Fourth ofJuly was not a big holiday until the 1930s.

在南方，政客和种植园主认为国家拥有所有的权力，7月4日不是个大节日，直到1930年。

There, firecrackers were used to celebrate Christmas between the 1830s and 1930s.Theywere particularly popular with the enslaved African Americans, who gotChristmas off and used whatever change they could scrounge up to buy them. Ifthey couldn’t afford firecrackers, enslaved people would fill pig bladders upwith air, tie them closed, and then throw them on the fire so they’d pop. It’spossible that plantation owners were reluctant to encourage the celebration ofIndependence Day, which lauds overthrowing the people in power. And theydefinitely wanted to encourage their enslaved populations to put their faith inJesus, who would free them only in the afterlife. This is probably why, in avintage firecracker-label collection, you’ll see images of Santa Claus, as wellas racist caricatures of African Americans and even slurs about poor whitepeople, like “Geo’gia Crackers.”

在那里，19世纪30年代和20世纪30年代之间，鞭炮是用来庆祝圣诞节的。受他们奴役的非裔美国人过圣诞节也要放鞭炮，他们不得不想办法弄钱去买。如果他们买不起鞭炮，奴隶们就用充满空气的猪膀胱，密封后扔进火堆里，这很流行。种植园主不愿庆祝独立日和赞赏颠覆权利的人这很有可能。他们肯定会鼓励奴隶们将他们的信心放在耶稣身上，这样在来世他们才会获得自由。这也是为什么，在收集到的老式的鞭炮标签里，你会看到圣诞老人克劳斯的图像，以及非洲裔美国人甚至对贫穷的白人辱骂的漫画，如“geo'gia爆竹”（geo'gia，啥鸟语不明白Crackers，除了爆竹，还有神经错乱的意思）Manufacturing firecrackers hasnever been a viable business in the United States.

鞭炮制造业在美国从来就不是一个可行的商业

Firecracker making has always been dangerous work, but in the 19th century, itwas done on a relatively small scale, made in Chinese homes and shops by thewhole family—mom, dad, and the kids. They’d braid chains of 16-50 for whiteAmericans and links of 1,500-5,000 for Asian Americans, who set them off all atonce for Lunar New Year. Firecrackers from numerous small makers would bepurchased by big importers like Hitts Fireworks Company in Seattle. Chinesefamilies would work 17 hours a day, seven days a week, for a measly 7 cents aday. There was no way American plants could compete with their price andproductivity. In the 1910s, British-born Seattle businessman William E.Priestley of Hitts built the first Chinese firecracker factory in Canton, andit wasn’t long before the factory caught on fire, killing 30 female workers.Hitts paid each family $30 in damages. Today, Chinese firecracker factoryworkers get paid 80 cents to $1 a day. More colorful and complicated fireworks,meanwhile, have always had a much higher profit margin, and are sometimes madein the United States or Europe.

鞭炮制造一直是项危险的工作，在十九世纪里，它的规模都相对较小，在中国是以家庭作坊的形式存在的——爸爸、妈妈和孩子们。他们为美国白人制作16—50响的鞭炮，他们为华裔制作1500—5000响的鞭炮，到了中国的农历新年会很快卖出。众多小超市会从西雅图的大进口商希茨烟花公司购进爆竹。中国家庭会一天工作17小时，一周七天，每天只有可怜的7美分。这种价格和生产力美国人根本没有办法和他们竞争。1910年，英国出生的西雅图商人威廉E.普莱斯利希茨在广东建造了一个中国爆竹厂，不久之后工厂失火，造成30名女工死亡。希茨支付每个家庭30美元的赔偿。今天，中国花炮厂的工人每天的工资是80美分到1美元。（你这哪一年的数据？）烟花的品种更丰富制作工序也更复杂，与此同时，利润也会更高，并且有时会在美国或欧洲制造。Since firecrackers are virtuallyindistinguishable from one another, makers got really creative with the labels.

爆竹的发展经历了从无明显区分到有真正品牌标签

the late 19th century, wooden boxes thatcontained firecrackers would come with a beautifully embossed and hand-paintedgold-leaf label, which was also used for a store display, but the individualfirecracker chains themselves would be wrapped in plain red paper. But after ashipment of lithography machines arrived in China in the 1910s, glue-on paperlabels became an important tool to convince American boys to spend their sparepennies on paper-wrapped “bricks” (usually 5 to 10 cents apiece). “Because firecrackerswere so inexpensive to produce, competition for the export markets was fierceamong manufacturers who essentially had indistinguishable products to peddle,”Dotz says. “Product packaging became a crucial component to capturing andkeeping customers.”

第十九世纪后期，鞭炮会放在木制的盒子中并配上美丽的浮雕和手绘金箔标签，用于商店展示，但个别鞭炮链也会被包裹在普通的红纸中。但在20世纪初一批光刻机抵达中国后，胶贴标签纸成为美国孩子们用零花钱来收集的主要小玩意（通常为5至10美分）。“为鞭炮生产如此便宜，这引起了各家销售商人之间激烈的竞争”道兹说，“产品包装由此成为留住顾客的重要方式。

”The first labels often referred to ancient Chinese myths that Americans didn’t understandbut found exotic and exciting, including dragons (protecting humanity fromevil), tigers (driving off demons), respected warriors, as well as mythologicalfigures like No Cha, Weaving Maiden, and Moon Maiden. Some labels were morelike slice-of-Chinese-life postcard scenes. And since animals were alwaysauspicious symbols in Chinese culture, pretty much every animal you can imaginewas featured on a firecracker label, the most popular brands being Zebra,Giraffe, Camel, and Black Cat. “Black cats are considered good luck in Chinabut bad luck in the America,” Dotz says. “As the famous brand name of Li &Fung, the Black Cat label has lived out nine lives as probably thelongest-surviving brand of all.”

开始的标签通常是美国人不能理解的中国古代神话，但是新奇的外来事物带来兴奋感，包括龙（人类守护者），老虎（驱赶恶魔），受人尊敬的战士，以及神话人物哪吒，织女，和嫦娥。一些标签更像中国人的生活场景片明信片。因为动物们一直是中国文化中的吉祥符号，几乎每一个你可以想象到的动物，都成了爆竹的标签，最受欢迎的品牌有斑马、长颈鹿、骆驼和黑猫。“黑猫在中国被认为是好运气的象征而在美国则是厄运，”道兹说。“利丰的知名品牌黑猫标签，已经经历九代人，很可能存活最久的品牌。

”As the century progressed, American pop culture was also reflected in theselabels, with figures like Daniel Boone, Captain Kidd, Robinson Crusoe, Tarzan,cowboys, King Kong, werewolves, and giants, as well as sports and militaryimagery and caricatures of African Americans and Native Americans. In the1950s, the Space Age influenced optimistic labels of rockets, fantasticdepictions of flying saucers, and nightmarish images of Atomic bombs. “Duringthe years of cowboy movies and the early days of television, ‘Old West’ motifswere popular as firecracker artwork was aimed squarely at the heart of theAmerican market with brand such as Cowboy, Buck-a-roo, Bronco, Western Boy,”Dotz says.

随着时代发展，美国流行文化也开始出现在这些标签上，像是丹尼尔布恩，基德船长，鲁滨孙漂流记，泰山，牛仔，金刚，狼人，和巨人等人物形象，以及体育和军事方面的图像还出现了非裔美国人和土著美国人的漫画。在50年代的太空时代的影响下，标签上出现了火箭，神奇的飞碟，和原子弹梦魇般的景象。“在牛仔电影和早期电视时期，美国市场的爆竹标签艺术开始流行旧西部风格，诸如牛仔，雄鹿和袋鼠、野马、西部男孩”道兹说。“Carefully take apart an oldfirecracker, and you might find a bit of news, comics, society columns, or evenan old paperback novel from a half-century ago,” according to Firecrackers.“

小心拆开旧鞭炮，你可能会发现一些东西，漫画、社会专栏，甚至是半个世纪前的瓶平装小说。”据鞭炮制作者说。

Paper has long been a principal material in the manufacturing of firecrackers,but factories in early 20th century China had a difficult time finding enoughpaper to meet the both the local and export demands for firecrackers. Priestleycame up with the idea of newspaper recycling drives in the 1920s. In America,Boy Scouts and churches would raise money by going door-to-door asking for oldnewspapers and then selling them to a used-paper merchant. The newspapers wouldthen head to China on empty cargo ships that had unloaded all their goods inthe United States. These drives lasted into the 1970s.

纸张早就已经成为鞭炮制造的主要材料，但是在20世纪早期中国工厂很难找到足够的纸来满足国内和出口的鞭炮。20世纪20年代，普莱斯利想出了一个旧报纸回收利用的好办法。在美国，童子军和教会通过收集旧报纸卖给废纸商来筹款项。然后旧报纸会被装上在美国卸空货物的船拉回中国。这一直持续到20世纪70年代。As brighter, more colorful fireworks likeVesuvius Cones and Roman Candles developed in the 20th century, explodingfirecrackers became passé and needed more “flash.”

在第二十世纪，发展出了更多像苏威火山锥和罗马蜡烛这样明亮耀眼的烟花，爆竹种类需要变的更丰富色彩更闪亮。

In 1916, an engineer workingfor Hitts Fireworks Company in Seattle had the idea to add the flash powder(then used in flash photography) to the mix. The key ingredient in flash powderwas aluminum, and when the new “flashlight firecrackers” or “flash crackers”exploded, they gave off a bright light and had a stronger report. (No, if yousee “flashlight” on a firecracker package, it does not mean “Hold this in yourhand to see in the dark.”) Unfortunately, this new technology made thegunpowder mix even more dangerous for Chinese workers to make, and caused thebig fire that killed 30 workers at Priestley’s factory.

1916年，在希茨烟花厂工作的一名工程师冒出了个在混合物里添加闪光粉 （后在闪光摄影中使用）的想法。闪光粉的主要成分是铝，当新产品“闪光筒鞭炮”或“闪光饼干”爆开时，他们会发出明亮的光和强烈的声响。（注意，如果你看到“闪光筒”爆竹封装，他的意思并不是说“你要黑暗中用手举着他”）不幸的是这个新配方让中国工人面临危险，在普莱斯利的工厂大火中，它造成30名工人死亡。Firecracker fanatics often make pilgrimages toMacau to see the shut-down factories of former firecracker companies like KwanYick, Yick Loong, Po Sing, and Kwong Hing Tai.

在澳门诸如均益，益龙，宝星和广兴台这些烟花厂关闭前，常有烟花狂热者跑去观看制作过程。

In 1912, the reign of emperors collapsed in China, and a growing anti-foreignersentiment made things difficult for American and European firecracker-factoryowners. Even Chinese-owned companies like Li & Fung—which exported famousbrands like Giraffe and Black Cat to the United States—felt the pressure. Li& Fung moved to British-controlled Hong Kong, while Priestley moved hisfactory to Portuguese-controlled Macau in 1925. Even though Macau was becomingthe firecracker capital, Li & Fung returned its operations to mainland Chinain 1930s, only to see them occupied by the Japanese Army during World War II.U.S. trade sanctions during the Korean War forced Li & Fung to open a plantin Macau, where it was one of six manufacturers allowed to export fireworks.(Eventually, Li & Fung took over the operations of the five othercompanies.) In 1972, President Nixon lifted the trade embargo on China, andsuddenly mainland China, which had more natural resources andgovernment-subsidized workers, became the more profitable spot to make firecrackers.

1912年，中国的皇帝退位，加上不断增长的排外情绪，给美国和欧洲的鞭炮厂主造成很多困难。即使是中国利丰公司——出口到美国的知名品牌像长颈鹿黑猫也都压力巨大。1925年，英国控股的利丰公司搬到了香港，葡萄牙控股的普莱斯利工厂移到了澳门。尽管澳门成为了鞭炮行业的老大，20世纪30年代利丰公司挽回了中国大陆的市场，但在第二次世界大战期间被日本军队占领了。朝鲜战争期间，美国的贸易制裁丰迫使利丰公司又在澳门开设了一家工厂，在那里有六家制造商允许出口烟花。（后期，利丰集团接管了其他五家公司的业务。）在1972年，尼克松总统解除对中国的贸易禁运，中国内地有更多的天然资源和政府补贴的工人，使得爆竹行业忽然变得更有利可图。

“Within two years, mainland Chinese firecrackers took over the market,” Dotzsays. “Macau now only has the architectural vestiges of their famousfirecracker manufacturing history in the form of old shipping facilities ontheir wharves.”

“两年之内，中国大陆的鞭炮就接管了市场，”道兹说，“澳门现在仅有以旧码头航运设施形式存在的鞭炮制造史和相关建筑遗迹。”Rants against firecrackerskilling or maiming children have happened since their invention, and now,they’re banned in 18 states.

自从爆竹被发明以来，鞭炮对儿童死亡致残引发了很多反对声，至今，有18个国家禁止燃放爆竹

In a 1875, a “Chicago Tribune” editorial complained that Chinese firecrackershad killed small boys, put out eyes, rended limbs, scared horses, and burneddown houses since they were introduced to July Fourth celebrations. A 1952“Saturday Evening Post” editorial complained that fireworks had killed andwounded 11 times more Americans than the Revolutionary War itself in just 52years. These concerns have prompted legal regulations about what kind offirecrackers can be sold. The amount of flash powder allowed was lowered to 50milligrams; “safety fuses” that are hard to light anywhere but the end wereinvented; braids got harder to undo; and potassium chlorate and sulfur wereremoved from the flash powder mix, making the firecrackers less strong. Cherrybombs and M-80s became felony-class explosives in 1967. Outside of the 18states that have banned firecrackers, most United States municipalities haveordinances banning fireworks within city limits. Even though these laws havemade firecrackers more uniform (most are 1 ½ inches long, while “ladyfinger”crackers are ⅞ inches long), they’ve also become more exciting as contrabandmaterial that a majority of Americans buy anyway.

1875年，‘芝加哥论坛报’的编辑抱怨，自从七月四日开始爆竹庆典活动以来，中国鞭炮杀死了一些小孩，炸掉了他们的眼珠，弄伤他们的四肢，吓坏了马，并烧毁了房子。1952《星期六晚邮报》的评论说，因烟花致死和受伤的美国人是过去52年革命战争的11倍。这些担忧促使爆竹规范销售法的出台。闪光粉的含量降低到毫克，这使得后来发明的“保险丝”一点都不亮；串炮很难解开，氯酸钾和硫磺被从混合粉末中去除，使得爆竹效果大大减弱。1967年，出售樱桃炸弹和M – 80成为重罪。18个国家禁止燃放鞭炮，大多数美国城市也禁止在市区范围内燃放烟花。尽管这些法律使鞭炮尺寸更加规范（大多数是1½英寸长，而“手指”饼干是⅞英寸长），但也使得爆竹成为大多数美国会购买的令人兴奋的违禁品。Firecracker collectors datetheir labels based on seven “classes.”

爆竹收藏家们会把他们的标签分成七类。

This is somewhat confusing because the Interstate Commerce Commission alsolabels firecrackers as Class C explosives. Regarding dates, Class 1 firecrackerlabels, those made before 1950, have no government-regulated safety warned, butsimply say “Made in China” (and less commonly Canton or Hong Kong). Class 2,1950-1954, still have no safety warnings, but now say “Made in Macau” or “Madein Portuguese Macau.” Class 3, 1955-1968, have an additional marking “ICC ClassC.” Class 4, 1969-1972, have two warnings, “Caution: Explosive” and “Lay onground, light fuse, get away.” In 1973, Congress shifted the responsibility ofgrading fireworks to the Department of Transportation, so now Class 5 labels,from 1973-1976, read, “DOT Class C Common Fireworks” and “Made in China” again.Class 6 labels, 1977-1994, are the same as Class 5, except they also say“Contains less than 50mg flash powder, as per new government regulations.”Class 7, 1995-present, has a new mark referring to an international standardfor hazardous material, “UN 0336, 1.4g consumer fireworks.”

这有点混乱，因为州际商业委员会在鞭炮标签把它定义为C类炸药。关于日期，在1950年以前，1类爆竹标签上没有政府规定的安全警告，只是简单地印上中国制造（不太常用广东和香港）。1950-1954年的2类仍然没有安全警告，但是会有 “澳门”或“在葡萄牙澳门制造”。1955-1968，有了额外的标记“ICC C类”。 1969-1972，有两个警告，“注意：爆炸”和“置于地上，点燃导火线，远离。”1973，国会为了明确运输部门的责任将烟花做了分级，所以有了5类标签，在1973-1976，你又能看到标签上有了“C级普通烟花”和“中国制造”字样。6类标签，1977-1994，有5类不变，多了一种“按新政府法规，含有少于50mg闪光粉 。”7类，1995，多了一个新的关于国际标准有害物质指标的字样，“联合国0336，1.4G消费烟花。”