Page "Han Dynasty" Paragraph 96

Evidence suggests that blast furnaces, that convert raw iron ore into pig iron, which can be remelted in a cupola furnace to produce cast iron by means of a cold blast and hot blast, were operational in China by the late Spring and Autumn Period ( 722 – 481 BCE ).

The bloomery was nonexistent in ancient China ; however, the Han-era Chinese produced wrought iron by injecting excess oxygen into a furnace and causing decarburization.

Cast iron and pig iron could be converted into wrought iron and steel using a fining process.