Armor of the Shang Dynasty

The clothes, skirts, and jackets were reconstructed based on the bronze statues of the Shang Dynasty sacrifices unearthed in Guanghan and the portraits carved with lines on the stone edges. For the actual object, A refers to the ruins of the Yin Ruins in Anyang.

Western Zhou Armor

Warring States Armor

Qin General Armor

This kind of armor is worn by generals who command in battle. The chest and back are not decorated with armor pieces, but are painted with geometric colorful patterns. It seems to be made of a kind of hard brocade, or it may be made of leather and then painted with patterns. The shape of the armor is that the hem of the front chest is sharp and the hem of the back is straight, with a wide border around it. It is also made of brocade or leather with geometric patterns. The entire armor is 97 cm long in the front and 55 cm long in the back. Below the chest, in the center of the back and on the lower back, there are small nails. There are one hundred and sixty nails on the body. The shape of the nails is square, and each side is about 1 cm wide. The nail pieces are fixed by wearing leather strips or beef tendons in a "V" shape and nailing them with rivets. There are also leather-like shawls on both shoulders, and ribbon knots are exposed on the chest, back and shoulders.

Han general's armor

Mingguang armor during the Southern and Northern Dynasties

Qin archers

The armors of the Wei, Jin and Northern Dynasties mainly include the two types of armor with sleeves and sleeves , crotch armor and Mingguang armor. The origin of the term "Mingguang Armor" is said to be related to the round protection on the chest and back. Because this kind of round guard is mostly made of metals such as copper and iron, and the polished aurora looks like a mirror. Wearing Mingguang Armor on the battlefield will emit a dazzling "bright light" due to the sunlight, hence the name. There are many styles of this kind of armor, and they vary in complexity and simplicity: some just add two round guards on the front and back on the basis of the crotch, some are equipped with shoulder pads and knee pads, and some complex ones have several layers of shoulder pads. The body armor mostly reaches to the hips, and is tied around the waist with a belt. The pottery figurine on the left is a general wearing a dagger and Mingguang armor; on the right is a display of wearing Mingguang armor.

Sui Armor

The most commonly used armors in the Sui Dynasty were the Liang crotch armor and the Mingguang armor. The structure of the two crotch buttons is improved compared to the previous generation, and there are also some minor changes in shape. Generally, the body armor is made of small armor pieces in the shape of fish scales, and the length has been extended to the abdomen, replacing the original leather armor skirt. The hem of the body armor is crescent-shaped and lotus-leaf shaped, used to protect the lower abdomen. These improvements greatly enhance defense below the waist. The shape of Mingguang's skirt is basically the same as that in the Southern and Northern Dynasties, except that the leg skirt has become longer. The military uniform of the Sui Dynasty was a round collar robe.

Sui Armor

Tang Armor

Tang Dynasty armor was mainly used for actual combat, mainly iron armor and leather armor. In addition to iron armor and leather armor, silk armor was also commonly used in Tang Dynasty armor. Silk armor is armor made of textiles such as silk. It has a relatively light structure and beautiful appearance, but has no defensive capabilities, so it cannot be used in actual combat and can only be used as a general's daily clothing or ceremonial attire.

According to the "Liu Dian of the Tang Dynasty", there are ten types of armors, including Mingguang, Guangyao, Xilin, Shanwen, Bird Hammer, White Cloth, Zaojuan, Cloth Back, Infantry, Leather Armor, Wooden Armor, Locks, and Vests. Three types. Among them, Mingguang, Guangyao, Suozi, Shanwen, Bird Hammer, and Fine Scale Armor are iron armors, and the last three are named after the styles of armor pieces. Leather armor, wood armor, white cloth, soap armor, and cloth back are named after the materials used to make them. It can be seen that Suozi and Shanwen are two parallel armors.

Fish scale armor, ring armor, and mountain glyph armor, these armors all belong to the same category, they are not full body armor. However, I think some of their protective capabilities are different. Like mountain script armor, its "daiya" armor piece is convex in the middle and concave on both sides. It is made up of multiple armor pieces that interlock with each other to form a whole piece of armor, so that countless bumps are formed on the surface of the nail. The surface is very helpful for preventing arrows. This armor was often worn during the Song and Ming dynasties, and even influenced the art of folk paintings. The warriors in folk paintings all wore this armor. I like this armor because it is unique to China.

Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms

The costumes of the Five Dynasties period basically followed the system of the late Tang Dynasty. Mingguang armor has basically withdrawn from the stage of history. piece suit. The shawl and shoulder pads are connected into one piece; the breastplate and leggings are connected into another piece, which are connected front and back by two shoulder straps and put on the shawl and shoulder pads. The other five generations continued to use leather armor, made of large pieces of leather, and wore hoods and neck protectors. This picture is a restored picture of a warrior wearing armor and uniform during the Five Dynasties period.

Liao Warriors

According to the "History of the Liao", when the Liao was in the Khitan Kingdom, the army had already used armor, mainly adopting the styles of the late Tang, Five Dynasties and Song Dynasty, with the Song Dynasty as the host. The upper structure of the armor is exactly the same as that of the Song Dynasty. Only the leg skirt is obviously shorter than that of the Song Dynasty. The two square pieces of falcon tail armor on the front and back cover the leg skirt, which maintains the characteristics of the late Tang and Five Dynasties. The armor belly protector seems to be hung in front of the abdomen with a belt and then fixed with a belt. This is the same as the leather armor of the Song Dynasty. The large round protector in the middle of the chest is unique to the Liao Dynasty. In the Liao Dynasty, in addition to iron armor, leather armor was also used. The military attache clothing of the Khitan people is divided into two types: official uniforms and regular uniforms. There is no obvious difference in style. They are all robes with coiled collars and narrow sleeves. They are the same as ordinary men's clothing. The regular uniforms may be slightly tighter than official uniforms. Both of these can be used as military uniforms.

Golden Warrior

In the early days, the armor was only half-body, with knee pads underneath; around the middle period, the armor quickly became complete, and the armor had long and wide leg skirts, and its protective area was the same as that of the The Song Dynasty was almost the same, and its form was also influenced by the Northern Song Dynasty. The military robes of the Jin Dynasty had coiled collars, narrow sleeves, and were as long as the feet; the military robes could also be worn as a cover-up outside the armor.

The Western Xia warriors

The armor worn by the warriors is full body armor. The helmets and shoulders are exactly the same as those in the Song Dynasty. The body armor looks like two crotch armors, which are as long as the knees, or short armors. This mainly shows that the manufacturing of armor lags behind that of the Central Plains region after all. The official uniform of Xixia can also be used as military uniform, just like the Khitan uniform of Liao Dynasty. There are obvious differences between the two. Since the degree of feudalism in Xixia society is not very deep, the relationship between people is still relatively equal, so the concept of hierarchy in clothing is not so strong.

Thirteenth century Mongolian soldiers

Yuan warriors (Yuan Dynasty)

The armors of the Yuan Dynasty include willow leaf armor, iron ring armor, etc. The inner layer of iron ring armor is made of cowhide, and the outer layer is iron mesh armor. The armor pieces are connected like fish scales and cannot be penetrated by arrows. It is extremely exquisitely made. There are also leather armors, cloth armors, etc. There is only one kind of national clothing in the military uniform, that is, the Zhisun suit, which is a tight-fitting narrow-sleeved robe with cross-collar and square collar, long and short, the long one reaches below the knee, and the short one only reaches the knee. There is also a kind of braided thread jacket that is exactly the same as the Zhisunfu, except that the hem is wide and densely folded, and a wide apron made of braided thread is sewn on the waist, and some also have buttons. It is commonly known as "braided thread coat" ", or "waist line jacket". This kind of clothing was also the Mongolian military uniform of the Yuan Dynasty. It could be worn by military generals, palace guards and warriors

General helmets and hats in the Qing Dynasty, whether made of iron or leather, were all painted on the surface. paint. There is a beam on the front, back, left and right of the helmet, and a piece of eyebrow covering protrudes from the middle of the forehead. There is a dancing bowl and a bowl on it. On the bowl, there is a helmet plate shaped like a wine cup. In the middle of the helmet plate, there is a stick for inserting tassels, carved feathers or otter tails. Iron or copper pipe. A silk collar, neck protector and ear protector in azurite and other colors hang down from the back, embroidered with patterns and embellished with copper or iron nails. Armor is divided into armor clothes and apron. There are shoulder pads on the shoulders of the armor, and armpit protectors under the shoulder pads; a metal breast shield is worn on the chest and back, and a trapezoidal belly protector is worn at the seam of the front under the mirror, which is called "front guard" . The "left block" is worn on the left side of the waist, and the "left block" is worn on the right side, which is reserved for carrying a bow and quiver. The apron is divided into two parts, left and right, and is tied around the waist with a belt when worn. In the middle between the two aprons, there is a tiger head covering the knees made of the same material. This picture shows a Qing Dynasty yellow satin, copper nail, and copper leaf armor, but there is no heart guard.

During the Qing Dynasty, the armor that was widely used was Mianjia, which was made of thick cotton or silk cloth inlaid with iron sheets and fixed with copper nails. It looks like a cotton coat.

Cotton armor has a certain degree of cold resistance and is suitable for use by infantry and cavalry in northern China. The thick cloth is densely embedded with iron armor leaves, and it has certain protective capabilities against cold weapons and firearms