Brian Colitti
CIS-270WX-02
Help Received: See Works Cited
Powerpoint Notes
EasyBib
Comments from instructor and Whippo
Chinese Smoke Signaling
Communication has been around as long as people themselves. Whether it is effective or
ineffective, communication is essential to the existence of all creatures, human and animal. Good
communication has a clear source and destination. This means that people must ease confusion
by making it apparent who is sending the message and for whom the message is intended. In
order to get your message across, there must first be some medium of exchange, or “channel” for
your message. Once you have a clear way to communicate, you must figure out what you want to
say by defining the message itself. Once you send a message, you must account for the
possibility of “noise,” or unwanted excess that gets added and sent along with your message.
Viable communication also has feedback, which is acknowledgement that the intended recipient
got your message and will send his own message in return. One example of effective
communication dating back to 900 BC is Chinese smoke signaling (History of Media). Through
these smoke messages, China was able to get information far distances in short periods of time.
In ancient Chinese history, militaries used a system of smoke signals in order to alert one
another of enemy attacks. After being around for centuries, the Chinese came up with the phrase
“smoke of the wolf” to describe war in the 9th century. This so-called “wolf smoke” was actually
a literal reference to the burning of wolf dung, among other things, to alert others of enemy
forces in the area. This unique usage of wolf dung actually started because there was an excess
amount of it in the Chinese grasslands (China Heritage Quarterly). Some people speculate that
1
wolf dung was used because it rose straight into the air better than other materials, probably
because of certain chemicals (Sterling). Although research has found that wolf droppings were
not widely used or extremely important, the messages sent by the smoke signals and their routes
of transmission were.
The smoke signaling system lasted for centuries due to the lack of a better technology,
making it the best way to stop enemy attacks. Beacon towers, popularized in the Chinese
Warring States period, were used as a system of warning from multiple avenues. It could alert
both other towers along the chain and the Chinese ruler of an approaching enemy. Although this
infrastructure can be found throughout China, most of these towers, forts, walls, and motes reside
on the northern Chinese border. Since most attacks and invasions came from the north, this
border was China’s main concern. Once the Great Wall of China was built, fire stations were
built all along it, creating additional defense for the already fortified structure (China Heritage
Quarterly). With this system in place, urgent messages could be sent over three hundred miles in
just a few hours (History of Media). Although it may seem simple to just “send a smoke signal,”
the actual system did require more logistics and ingenuity.
Smoke signaling was molded into its own form of code in order to actually carry a
message. For example, signals were broken into mainly two parts: activity and number. One set
of smoke signals would indicate perceived enemy activity, and the other would indicate the
number of the enemy troops. Historians have found that precisely five puffs of smoke meant
there were over five-thousand enemy troops approaching. Whoever spotted this would send up
the first signal, and the subsequent towers would throw up the same signal once they received the
message. This would continue down the line until all beacon towers were alerted, which would
ultimately prepare ground troops for battle (Great Wall). After some time, historians discovered
2
manuals dating back to the Ming Dynasty that give a good look at the protocol, fueling, and use
of sounds that go along with the smoke signals. It was actually the Ming Dynasty that added
sulfur and saltpeter to the fires in order to communicate faster and clearer. Fires also differed
based on time of day. If it was light out, beacons would be made out of heavy vegetation and
wood to make the smoke thicker, but fires at night were less about smoke and more about size
for visibility purposes (China Heritage Quarterly). This advanced system worked very well for
the Chinese, making China a world power through many different Dynasties and emperors.
The Chinese took a simple plume of smoke and created an advanced military defense
system out of it, which made them stronger than most of their enemies throughout history. This
was important because many of China’s neighbors were constantly willing to attack. With
enemies to the North wanting to revolt against Chinese expansion and empire, a system needed
to be in place to thwart attacks at a moment’s notice. Although the Great Wall was in place to
keep intruders out, a wall is only as good as the people who are defending it. With smoke
signaling as added communication along the Wall, it became an impenetrable fortress against
attackers. The Chinese did, however, have to come up with a way to standardize the meanings of
their messages so signals were not misinterpreted. This problem of standardization was seen by
all civilizations that used smoke signals, such as American Indians (Sterling). This physically
vast system probably saved Chinese civilization many times, so it is unthinkable where it would
be without smoke signals today.
Smoke signals have been advanced and adapted by other civilizations so that some are
even still used today. They have been made bigger and better, sometimes requiring the use of
large blankets and multiple people, and even through the use of colored smoke (Sterling). Other
forms of smoke signaling were adopted by ancient Greeks, who used torches in accordance with
3
the Greek alphabet (Hooper). Aboriginal people in Australia have also been known to send
smoke signals in order to alert other tribes of their presence (Hooper). Even in the present day,
the Catholic Church in Rome still uses smoke on rare occasions to signal changes in the papacy.
White smoke signals a new pope has been elected, while black smoke indicates that no pope has
been chosen (Hooper). The most practical and lasting application of Chinese smoke signals is
through the Boy Scouts of America, who still use them in survival situations. For example, a
scout knows that if signaling for help, he should send three puffs of smoke into the air to signify
he is in danger (Bryant). This is how the Chinese smoke signaling technology has spread through
the world over time, leaving a lasting impact on some societies today.
Although smoke signaling has not necessarily “developed” into a newer technology, it
can be translated to the technology of today. Radios, cell phones, the Internet, and many more
inventions have replaced smoke signals as more modern forms of long-distance communication.
Chinese smoke signals were the most basic form of transmitting military messages, but current
technological advances have simply replaced an outdated method of communicating. Although it
is outdated, smoke signaling proves to be effective because it contains all of communication’s
basic needs; it has a sender, receiver, medium, message, and feedback. “Smoke signals” today
may just be the title of a movie or a metaphor for an unclear message, but in ancient China they
were the cornerstone of military defense. That is why their highly sophisticated system of
communication is still seen in some parts of the world, leaving a mark on societies of the past,
present, and future.
4
Works Cited
Bryant, Charles W.. "How do you send a smoke signal?" 04 February
2008. HowStuffWorks.com. <http://adventure.howstuffworks.com/survival/wilderness/how-tosend-smoke-signal.htm> 13 February 2015.
Hooper, Kaitlin. "Project Defunct Devices: Smoke Signals." (n.d.): n. pag. 21 Feb. 2011. Web.
12 Feb. 2015. <http://pomo.cca.edu/~khooper/defunt%20device/content%20organization.pdf>.
"Smoke Signals." The History of Media. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.
<http://thehistoryofmedia.weebly.com/smoke-signals.html>.
Sterling, Christopher H. Military Communications: From Ancient times to the 21st Century.
Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2008. Print.
"The Great Wall of China." The Great Wall of China. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.
<http://greatwall.shanghaifinance.com/greatwallmilitary.php>.
"Wolf Smoke Signals War." China Heritage Quarterly. China Heritage Project, The Australian
National University, June 2006. Web. 13 Feb. 2015.
<http://www.chinaheritagequarterly.org/articles.php?searchterm=006_wolf.inc&issue=006>.
5