Talk:Chinese (Age of Empires II)/@comment-25865593-20150723201114/@comment-28106501-20160401145422

They certainly used gunpowder, far earlier and more extensively than the Europeans did. The Japanese invasion of Korea was beaten back by a Chinese army that used over 200 cannon.

The reason why we didin't remember them using it was because they didn't have many enemies to use it against. With the exception of the Hideyoshi Era, the Chinese faced few advanced enemies, and focused most of their attention on defending their borders and putting down peasant rebellions.

They also explored rocket arrows more, which were more effective as an antipersonnel weapon.