found the term on most miniatures web which sell war units for board games i think.....
is Manchu Tigerman a real or faction military unit?if its true,what is it role in battlefield?and also,i need explaination of these tigermen..........clarifications,anyone?

The Tigermen were elite shock troops that dressed in tiger costumes and carried masks with fierce faces painted on. They were supposed to frighten the enemy with their 'wild appearance, shouts and gesticulations', as well as by scattering firecrackers around. Tigermen were apparently Manchu Bannermen and there were never many of them in each unit. A Western observer during the Taiping Rebellion reported that he only saw 20 in each of four regiments.

oic.....how effective is this tigermen in the battle?

Steven Chao was one in one of his movies...

The costumes I've seem aren't very frightening though, looking more like a trick-or-treat'er than a fierce warrior. I've never heard of any battlefield accomplishments though.

erm......why the descriptions of Tigerman is vague and hard to find?
is it was established during Nurhaci's time?

OK, I've read in another source that the function of Tigermen was to frighten enemy cavalry horses with their resemblance to tigers.

An example of the tigerman's uniform can be found in the Daqingdientu. Unlike your normal bannerman armour, their uniform composed of shin guards and boots to match their tiger pattern uniform and helmet. From the discription it, it seems that they were composed of ethnic Han.

found it

yea....that's what i want....
care to tell me where's your source?
what are their weapons?
is their uniform armored as well?

the source (as I said before) was from the Daqingdientu. However, it doesn't call them tigerman. But they were called Tengpaibing (ratten shield soldiers) composing entirely of ethnic Han. There are no indications that they are armoured, rather, this seems more like uniform.

I have other information on this unit, but I need to dig up my books again. Unfortunately, I don't have the time right now.

hey,thanks there ..Wujiang....your book/source is call what when translated in english?
does it about qing military and others' stuff.....
take yer time and feel free to share with us..!!

tengpaibing is from the green standard army or from han eight banner unit?
what is their purpose if they are the elite unit?
are they like the elite shock unit like Yun said?

I have seen a photo taken during the Boxer Rebellion.The guy seems to wear something like tiger-clothing as represented here (thanks to Wujiang). It is really cloths not armour.

Best regards,

Alexey.

Hi, Does anybody know anything about 19thc 'Tiger Soldiers' apparantly they used to wear striped armor and round shields with tigers on them?

The Tiger Men of the Boxer Rebellion wore tiger suits as a way to give themselves the strength of the tiger.
Some of their wicker round shields were painted with the symbol for bravery and strength.勇yong3, others were painted with pictures of fierce tigers
I no longer have the book I found the above information in and will try to get it back for a friend so that I can give you the reference for the above.
They had no real uniform, most wore some sort of red sash, or bandana tied somewhere on themselves.
I've only seen one picture of the tiger suit and it appeared to look like the hats Chinese children wore for protection.


The characters on the banner are too blurry for me to make out. Can anyone read them?

The boxers grew out of the popular culture of North China and developed from various different secret societies composed mainly of young Chinese males. What they lacked in leadership they made up for with a fanatical zeal in their desire to rid China of all foreigners and to replace the ruling Manchu’s, who they viewed as foreign usurpers. As the movement expanded, new groups identified themselves with one and other Chinese Trigram. The most common being the kan and qian trigrams. They imitated the dress of martial arts performers but distinguish themselves from the masses by wearing special items of clothing. The kan trigram wore red caps or turbans, a red sash or scarf and red leggings or ankle strap The qian trigram Boxers preferred yellow. A village would have a single Boxer unit or tuan of anywhere from 25 to 100 men, with larger settlements having more units. Each unit was led by a Senior Brother-Disciple(da shixiong), chosen often because of his superior boxing skills. The rest of the unit were called Brother-Disciples(shixiong). There was a distinction between Military (wu) units and civil (wen)units. The latter being composed mainly of educated persons. The Red Lanterns (Hondengzhao) were female Boxers dressed entirely in red and were found mostly in the area around Tientsin.
At the beginning the Boxers were armed with primitive weapons including long swords and knives, and ancient firearms. Each new recruit hat to undergo an initiation rite involving the learning of incantations. Once he reached the stage of being ‘under the spell’, he was regarded as being immune to bullets, usually demonstrated to the uninitiated by firing blank bullets at his body. These demonstrations often took place at boxing grounds established throughout the country.
Osprey Military book#85, 'Peking 1900, The Boxer Rebellion'

On the left are two infantrymen of the imperial army, while next to them is a drum major of the regular army. Seated on the trunk is a field artilleryman while the figure in the foreground on the right is a boxer.(the Boxers apron would have been red)

Merged with an older thread on the tigermen.

The Boxer rebellion in China in 1900 has many interesting parallels to events in the early 21st century. It saw an uprising in a non-western country against what was seen as the corrupting influence of western practices and ideologies. In some respects a foretaste of the current war against terrorism, in that a basically grass roots organisation fought what they saw as a holy war against a technologically superior collection of foreign powers to preserve their values and beliefs.
On one side of the rebellion were the so-called Boxers known as the I Ho Ch’uan or Righteous Harmonious Fists. This was originally a secret society that dated back before 1700 and whose origins are cloaked in myths and legends. What is clear is that in 1747 a group of Jesuits were expelled from China due to Boxer influence. A series of bad harvests, plagues, and harsh sanctions imposed by the Western powers and Japan (after the war of 1894-5) had caused much bad feeling. There was a growing fear that the Chinese would be reduced to servants of the western powers, into this environment the Boxers started preaching anti western beliefs. The Boxers saw anything Western as evil and practiced traditional martial arts and used Chinese weapons such as curved halberds and spears. All foreigners were 1st class devils and Chinese who had converted to Christianity were 2nd class devils, those who worked for the foreigners were 3rd class devils. The Boxers were very superstitious, believing in spells and magic that would mean they were immune to western bullets and such incantations would be used to create a trance like state among the followers. The Boxers were not above using printing presses to publish huge numbers of leaflets spreading their propaganda accusing the catholic church of abusing Chinese women and children.
By 1900 the Boxers had many powerful sympathizers in the Chinese court although little official recognition. Their most notable supporter was the Dowager Empress Tzu His. China was at this time very vulnerable, struggling to bring an almost feudal society into the 20th century without destroying the traditions upon which Chinese society was based. The Western powers had virtually taken over some areas seeking to exploit China in her weakened state. Military technology for the Chinese army was very slowly improving but it was still far too weak to mount any kind of opposition to the Western powers. For the Empress it was a difficult political situation. It was in her best interest to appease the Western powers for fear that they would just resort to force to take what they wanted and to gain trade income and access to new technology. On the other hand she had to recognise the growing anti western feeling among all levels of Chinese society. She would be well aware that traditionally a ruler only held the mandate of heaven if they were seen to be able to rule. To allow Christianity and western beliefs to flourish would undermine the traditional authority that the power of the Chinese court was based on. The Boxers could be the solution as an outlet for rising tensions; if they failed many of the more radical anti western elements would be killed and their influence broken, if by some miracle they succeeded in driving the westerners out then the court could easily deny any Imperial involvement when the Western backlash came, while gaining popularity among
the people for their unofficial support of the Boxers.
'The Boxer Rebellion' , byDiana Preston


I found this passage in the book ‘Imperial Woman’ by Pearl S. Buck and while I am very aware this is a historical fiction, there may be some truth to this bit of information. Take this for what it is worth, I have not been able to find any other referances to what the magic incantation was that they used.

The Boxers have a secret talisman, a circle of yellow paper which each carries on his person when he goes to battle. On this paper there is a creature painted red, a creature not man nor devil. It has feet but no head, and its face is pointed and surrounded by four halos. The eyes and eyebrows are exceedingly black and burning. Up and down its strange body are written these magic words,

‘I am Buddha of the cold cloud,
Before me the Black God of Fire leads my way.
Behind me LaoTzu himself supports me.’

In the upper left had corner of this paper are these words: ‘Invoke first the Guardian of Heaven’ and secondly the Black Gods of Pestilence.’
Whoever learns these mystic words destroys by each incantation a foreign life somewhere in our country.