Chinese armour

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China has a long history of armour and weapons development. China has many variety of armour, but the most were of the lamellar and scaled varieties.

1 Ancient armour: Shang - Han
- 1.1 Medieval armour
2 Late Chinese Armour
3 Addendum
4 References
5 External links

[edit] Ancient armour: Shang - Han

Armour was exclusively for noblemen, the earliest armour used by the Shang was constructed from turtles shells tied together with cords. Later bronze and leather was introduced, and simple one piece breastplate and lamellar cuirass begin to appear. Most of these was highly elaborated and decorated, and was often very heavy. The majority of noblemen fought mounted on war chariot, so weight of the armour wasn’t a major factor in it construction.

After the defeat of the Shang, the Zhou used many weapons and types of equipment that originally came from the Shang. However, the Zhou incorporated some of their own different or unique styles of armour. One type was the ge jia, a sleeveless coat of animal hide formed on a wooden dummy. The hide used was of buffalo and rhinoceros. Buffalo was more often used later on, because of the disappearance of rhinoceros in the region. Another armour used by the Zhou was the wei jia, a boiled leather on a fabric backing. Red lacquer was often used to form a protective layer for most armour used by the Zhou.

Chariots were used extensively during the Spring and Autumn Period. The chariots were mainly used as a shock weapon and a platform for archer; but chariots were restricted to flat terrain and when used against well organized infantry, it was often defeated. Shang chariot was often drawn by two horses, the Zhou later introduced four horses chariot. The crew of the chariot are usually was made of noblemen, all should have worn armour.

Zhou chariots were protected by leather, and sometimes came with a canopy to protect the crew from the weather, but this was probably removed before going into battle. Chariot horses were protected by a blanker made of animal skins -- most popular was tiger skin, and sometime would have worn lamellar peytral made of leather to protected the horses chest and neck. Chariot use declined during the Warring States Period, probably because of the introduction of the crossbow and cavalry.

Most of the Warring States maintained large armies, numbering anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000. With such a large number of men, it became prohibitive to give all of them armor. Armour was most common for elite soldiers. During the Warring States Era, most armour was made of leather or bronze, or combination of both. The metal that was used most for military purpose was bronze. Wrought iron begun to appear in the 5th century BC, but didn’t begin to replace bronze until the 2nd century BC.

Most infantrymen wore lamellar cuirass. The lamellar cuirass wore by these men was made of hundreds of small overlapped metal and/or leather plates laced together to make a flexible and light protection. Shoulders guard and helmet was often used, but leather caps seem more common.

Armour for cavalry was rare during this time, most cavalry units served as skirmisher, so armour wasn’t necessary for this role. Heavy cavalry tended to have lighter armour than the infantry, usually constructed entirely of leather and shoulders protections are often not included.

Most evidences for armour development during this period come from the Terracotta Warriors of Qin Shi Huang. Some terracotta warriors wore no armour; it is suggested that these were skirmishers or support troops for the chariots, they are usually placed at the front of the formations. Of the terracotta warriors thus uncovered, Pit 1 shows approximately 61 percent of the soldiers wearing armour, Pit 2 over 90 percent, and pit 3, being in a command compound, 100 percent.

Traces of black paint on these figures suggest that Qin may have used black lacquer for their armour. Many different styles of armour was found, but examples of these armour from the ancient China are rare. Qin Shi Huang ordered weapons, and probably armour too, to be burnt. That might be the reason for so few extant examples of ancient armour.

With the fall Qin in 207BC and the rise of Han dynasty in 202BC. By the time of the Han, the primary metal used was iron. Early Han soldiers would have used captured armour and weapon from the Qin. The Western Han army numbered possibly in the hundreds of thousands, so armours were standardized to meet the need. One of the armours used by the Han was the liang-tang, or "double-faced" armour, a lamellar cuirass made of leather, that was wore over the shoulders with cords. This armour was used by both the infantry and the cavalry. A much heavier and expensive version, consisted of iron plates laced together, was worn by officers. During the Eastern Han dynasty, a new style of armour was adopted, a scale corselet made of leather.

Shield was used by both infantry and cavalry. These shield are usually made of wood and often reinforced by metal center and rim.

Armour for horses began to appear around the end of the Han dynasty, but the earliest armour found dates back to 302 AD. Full armour for cavalry appeared during the 4th century AD. During the Three Kingdoms Period, fully armoured cavalry were extensively used for shock. Early horse armour came in one piece, but later armour came in multiple pieces: chanfron (head protector), neck, chest, and shoulder guards, flank pieces and crupper. Most cavalry served as mounted archers, and sometimes remove their arm protection to used their bows or crossbows.

[edit] Medieval armour

The pinnacle of ancient Chinese armor development is perhaps the Shan Wen Kai or "Mountain Pattern Armor". It began to appear during the Tang Dynasty and was further perfected during the Ming dynasty. It is made from a multitude of small pieces of steel that are vaguely shaped like the Chinese character for the word shan (Mountain). This would thus explain its name. The pieces are then interlocked and riveted to a cloth or leather backing. It effectively covers the torso, the shoulders and the thighs while remaining comfortable and flexible enough to allow movement.

[edit] Late Chinese Armour

By the 19th century, most armour was worn mainly for ceremonial purposes and was an indicator of rank. The kind of armour that was largely used was the brigandine, a type of armour consisting of a leather or cloth garment lined with metal plates inside. Sometimes, the plates were made in different sizes and shapes to maximize protection. The Chinese brigandine comes in five pieces: the vest, pauldrons, skirting, underarm, and groin section. By contrast, the Korean version of this armour is a single piece. Brigandines were first seen in China and Korea in the 12th century AD and were used up to the 19th century. Armour use began to decline after the introduction of firearms, but shields continued to be used. Most Chinese soldiers of the times went without armour of any kind and mostly wore civilian clothing.

[edit] Addendum

There are two common Chinese translation for the word armor. More may exist but Jia and Kai (in pinyin form) are the most encountered. If one looks at the traditional Chinese characters for both of these words, it may be observed that the character for the word metal appears in the one for Kai. The same cannot be said about the one for Jia.