How was the ancient armor of China classified? Are the methods the same in every dynasty? Please introduce it in detail.

Due to the problems in materials and preservation, few ancient armor in China can be completely preserved so far, and most of them can only be speculated and studied according to historical records and unearthed fragments. China basically used sage in ancient times. After a long time, the hemp rope or pimp connecting the armor will rot and it is difficult to preserve. In addition to its own material characteristics, European armor is easy to preserve, and because many armor have been handed down from generation to generation in the family, many of them have been handed down. In addition, armor has become a high-grade ornament, which has deepened the interest of modern westerners in armor.

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Chain mail was also called "ring chain mail" in ancient China. Generally, it consists of iron wire or iron rings, and each ring is buckled with the other four rings, just like a net lock. Introduced to China from the Western Regions, the earliest record can be found in The Armored Watch of the First Emperor. "Book of Jin Lv Guang" records this kind of armor as "armor is like a ring lock, which can't be shot." It was very popular in the Tang Dynasty and was listed as one of the 13 A systems, which was still used in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

In ancient times, the so-called "golden armor" existed in both east and west. It's just that the nobles gilded their armor to show off their status. As for gold armor, its protection principle should be similar to that of chain mail, and it belongs to flexible armor. Its advantages are good air permeability and small absolute weight, but its disadvantages are poor protection ability and inability to resist strong blows and stab wounds.

The ancient armor of China was not light. In Song Dynasty, chain mail in Europe weighed only 15 kg, and the full-length armor of Goth in 15 century was only 20 kg. Although the heaviest armor in the17th century reached 42kg, the ordinary armor with a weight of three quarters was only in the range of 20-30kg. In terms of weight, the infantry armor of Song Dynasty in China was the heaviest armor in the history of China. According to the records in the General Theory of Martial Arts, the infantry armor in the Northern Song Dynasty is a typical armor, which is composed of armor leaves plus pimps or nails. Its protection scope includes the whole body. In terms of protection scope, it is the closest China armor to European heavy armor, but it has not reached the impenetrable protection level of European heavy armor.

According to the regulation of Shaoxing in the 4th year of Song Dynasty (1 134), Bulinjia is composed of 1825 pieces of nail leaves, with a total weight of 29 kg. At the same time, increasing the number of nail leaves can improve the protection force, but the weight will further increase. To this end, the emperor personally ordered that the infantry armor should not exceed 29.8 kilograms. Since then, the armor weight of long gunners has been set at 32-35 kilograms; Because archers often participate in melee combat, their armor is set at 28-33 kg; The crossbow shooter's armor is set at 22-27 kg. At the same time, the armor type of European cavalry is mainly chain mail, which has not reached such a weight.

Shaoxing ten years ago was the most prosperous period of Song Jun. Famous soldiers Yue Fei and Han Shizhong. , led by real armor, pike, strong crossbow as the main equipment of heavy infantry, with a dense lineup to defeat the Jurchen cavalry many times. At that time, Song Jun's heavy infantry, including weapons, carried as much as 40-50 kilograms, and their mobility was affected by heavy equipment. For example, in the 11th year of Shaoxing (11), Song Jun, which was dominated by infantry, was overloaded because its armor was heavy and its weapons were too long, because it could not be completely destroyed.

Judging from the unearthed objects, ancient armor was mostly made of leather such as rhinoceros and shark, and painted on it; Leather armor consists of a body, sleeves and a skirt. The knitting method of nail plate is that the left piece presses the right piece horizontally and the lower piece presses the upper piece vertically; The stomach is also composed of 18 nail plates. In the Shang and Zhou Dynasties, armor included "training armor" and "real armor" in addition to leather armor. Armor training time is earlier, mostly made of silk and thick cotton, which belongs to the category of cloth armor. Armor appeared in the mid-Warring States period, and its predecessor was bronze armor, which is a relatively simple animal breastplate. During the Warring States period, armor was usually made of iron sheets in the shape of fish scales or willow leaves, and was made by perforation and assembly.

Shang dynasty armor

According to the bronze statue unearthed in the sacrificial ceremony of the Shang Dynasty in Guanghan and the carved figures on the stone side of Zhang Xi 'an, clothes, dresses and clothes were restored. The physical objects unearthed from Shang tombs in Xingan County, Jiangxi Province are used, and A refers to the remains of Yin Ruins in Anyang.

Western Zhou armor

Warring States armor

General Qin's armor

This kind of armor was worn by generals who commanded in the cold war. There are no nail patches on the chest and back, and they are all painted with geometric patterns. It seems to be made of a hard brocade, or it may be made of leather and painted with patterns. The shape of armor is pointed at the front chest and hem, straight at the back hem and wide around. It is also made of brocade or leather with geometric patterns on it. The whole armor is 97 cm in front and 55 cm in back. Below the chest, the center of the back and the lower back are decorated with small nail plates. There are 160 nail plates all over the body. The nail plate is square in shape, each side is wide and the handle is cm. The fixing method of the nail plate is to use a thong or beef tendon to penetrate the group in a V shape and nail it firmly with rivets. In addition, the shoulders are also equipped with shawls made of similar leather, and ribbons are also exposed on the chest, back and shoulders.

Hanjiangjia

Bright armor in the Southern and Northern Dynasties

Qin archer

During the Wei, Jin and Northern Dynasties, armor was mainly composed of two sleeves, hip armor and bright armor. The origin of the word "bright armor" is said to be related to the circular protection on the chest and back. Because most of these circular shields are made of metals such as copper and iron, the polished aurora looks like a mirror. Wearing bright armor on the battlefield will give off dazzling "light" because of the sun's irradiation, hence the name. There are many styles of this kind of armor, and the complexity is also different: some just add two round guards at the front and back of the crotch, some are equipped with shoulder pads and knee pads, and some are so complicated that there are several shoulder pads. Most of the bulletproof vests grow to the hips, and the waist is tied with a belt. On the left, the terracotta figures are military commanders wearing gloves and bright armor. On the right is the display of bright armor.

Suijia

The most commonly used armor in the Sui Dynasty was crotch and strong light. Compared with the previous generation, the crotch structure has been improved and the shape has changed a little. Generally, small nail pieces with scales and other shapes are woven, and the length extends to the abdomen, replacing the original leather nail skirt. The hem of the bulletproof vest is crescent-shaped and lotus-leaf-shaped nail pieces to protect the lower abdomen. These improvements have greatly enhanced the defense from the waist down. The shape of Ming Guanglong is basically the same as that of the Northern and Southern Dynasties, but the leg skirt has become longer. The military uniform of Sui Dynasty is a kind of round neck robe.

Suijia

Tangjia

Armor in the Tang Dynasty was used in actual combat, mainly armor and leather armor. In addition to real armor and leather armor, silk armor was widely used in the armor of the Tang Dynasty. Silk armor is armor made of silk and other textiles. It is light in structure and beautiful in appearance, but it has no defensive ability and cannot be used in actual combat. It can only be used as a general's uniform or ceremonial uniform.

According to the Six Classics of the Tang Dynasty, there are thirteen kinds, such as Ming Guang, Eta Ursae Majoris, Fine Scale, Mountain Pattern, Bird Hammer, White Cloth, Soap Roll, Cloth Back, Infantry, Leather Armor, Mujia, Lock Armor and vest. Among them, Mingguang, Eta Ursae Majoris, Suozi, Shanwen, Bird Hammer and Thin Scale are armor, and the latter three are named after the style of armor pieces. Leather armor, wooden armor, white cloth, soap roll and cloth back are all named after the manufacturing materials. It can be seen that Suozi and Shanwen are two kinds of armor in parallel.

Balance, hoop and herringbone all belong to one category. They're not full body armor. However, I think some of their protective abilities are different. Xiangshan's "inverted cliff" nail plate is convex in the middle and concave on both sides, and a whole nail plate is formed by interlocking multiple nail plates, which makes the surface of the nail plate form countless concave and convex surfaces, which is very beneficial to arrow prevention. Both Song and Ming dynasties were equipped with this kind of armor, which even affected the art of folk painting, and the warriors in folk painting all wore this kind of armor. I like this kind of armor because it is unique to China.

Five Dynasties and Ten States

The clothing system of the Five Dynasties basically followed the system of the late Tang Dynasty, and the armor of Guang Jia in Ming Dynasty basically withdrew from the historical stage. The armor was all made of armor pieces and became a two-piece suit in shape. Hand stroke and shoulder pad are combined into one; The breastplate and leggings are connected into a whole, tied back and forth with two shoulder straps and placed on the shoulder pads. The other five generations continued to use leather armor, made of large pieces of leather, and wore gloves and protective equipment. This picture shows the restoration of warriors wearing armor and military uniforms during the Five Dynasties.

Liao warrior

According to the records of Liao history, when Liao was in Qidan, the armor used by the army was mainly in the late Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties and the Song Dynasty, mainly in the Song Dynasty. The upper structure of the armor is exactly the same as that of the Song Dynasty, but the leg skirt is obviously shorter than that of the Song Dynasty, and the two-sided stork tail armor covers the leg skirt, maintaining the characteristics of the late Tang Dynasty and the Five Dynasties. Armor belly protector seems to be hung in front of the abdomen with a belt, and then fixed with a belt. Like leather armor in the Song Dynasty, the big circle protector in the middle of the chest is unique to the Liao Dynasty. In the Liao Dynasty, leather armor was used in addition to real armor. The clothing of Qidan military attache can be divided into official clothing and official clothing. There is no obvious difference in style. They are all narrow-sleeved robes with stand-up collars. Like ordinary men's clothes, official clothes may be slightly tighter than official clothes. Both can be worn as military uniforms.

Golden warrior

Early armor only had a bust, and below it was a kneepad; Around the middle period, the armor was quickly completed, with long and wide leg skirts. The protection area was almost the same as that of the Song Dynasty, and its shape was also influenced by the Northern Song Dynasty. The robes of the Jin Dynasty are narrow sleeves with standing collars, and the length of the robes reaches the foot. Jungle robes can also be worn outside the armor.

Xixia warrior

The armor worn by the samurai is full-body, and the helmet and epaulettes are exactly the same as those of the Song Dynasty. Body armor is like two hip armor, knee-high. Mainly short armor, indicating that the manufacture of armor lags behind the Central Plains after all. The official clothes of Xixia can also be used as military uniforms, such as the Qidan clothes of Liao Dynasty, which are obviously different. Because the feudal degree of Xixia society is not very deep, the relationship between people is still relatively equal, so the hierarchical concept of clothing is not so strong.

Mongolian soldiers in the thirteenth century

Yuan warrior (yuan)

In the Yuan Dynasty, there were liujia and tiehoop armor. The inner layer of iron hoop armor is cowhide and the outer layer is iron net armor. The nail pieces are connected together like fish scales, and the arrow can't penetrate, so the production is extremely exquisite. There are leather armor, cloth armor and so on. There is only one kind of national service in military service, that is, high-quality sun suit, which is a kind of robe with tight sleeves, with a cross collar and a square collar, which is long and short, reaching to the knee and short to the knee. There is also a kind of knitted coat, which is exactly the same as the sun suit except that the hem is wider and denser. The waist is sewn with a wide waist made of braided thread and some buttons are nailed, commonly known as "knitted coat" or "waistline coat". This kind of clothing is also a Mongolian military uniform in Yuan Dynasty, which can be worn by military commanders, court guards and warriors.

In the Qing dynasty, the general helmets, whether iron products or leather products, were painted on the surface. There are two beams at the front, back, left and right of the helmet, and a cover eyebrow protrudes from the middle of the forehead, on which there is a dancing engine and a bowl. There is a helmet plate shaped like a small handleless wine cup on the bowl, and there is an iron pipe or copper pipe for cutting the tassel gun, carving feathers or otter tail in the middle of the helmet plate. There are lapis lazuli and other colors of silk collar, neck and ear protectors, embroidered with patterns and decorated with copper or iron foam nails. Armor is divided into armor and apron. Shoulder pad is installed on the shoulder of armor, and shoulder pad provides underarm protection; In addition, wear a metal heart protector on the chest and back, and a trapezoidal abdomen protector on the front seam under the mirror, which is called "front guard". Wearing a "left block" on the left side of the waist and not wearing a block on the right side is reserved for wearing a bow and arrow bag. The apron is divided into left and right pieces and tied around the waist with a belt when worn. In the middle of the two skirts, a tiger head made of the same material covered her knees. This picture shows the yellow satin copper nail copper leaf beetle in Qing dynasty, but there is no protective mirror.

A large number of armor in Qing Dynasty was cotton armor, which was a kind of bell armor with iron pieces embedded in thick cotton cloth or silk and fixed with copper nails. It looks like a cotton coat. Cotton armour has certain cold resistance, which is suitable for cavalry in northern China. Thick cloth is densely embedded with armor leaves, which has certain protection ability for cold weapons and firearms.