The term 'hardware' first appeared in a book during the Eastern Han Dynasty, titled 'Wu Yue Spring and Autumn', which records the Spring and Autumn period and the Warring States period. According to his "Inner Biography of Helu", "I heard that King Yuan of Yue often instructed Ou Yezi to make five swords... a person named Zhanlu, with excellent hardware and the essence of the sun." According to the "Records of Food and Goods in the Book of Han", "gold is the five colored gold, yellow is gold, white is silver, red is copper, green is lead, and black is iron

According to the Modern Chinese Dictionary, the so-called hardware refers to the five metals of gold, silver, copper, iron, and tin.