I would like someone to translate the Chinese writing that is on the barrel of a large Chinese matchlock musket. I will get some better pictures soon, but the pictures I have are in this US EBay discussion:

Here are some pictures. The rubbings are numbered by the order of the 6 groups, in order from 1, closest to the muzzle, through 6, closest to the breech.

too vague, try to rewrite them by your own, that may be a challenge to you, but certainly it would be clearer and make sense. I could only recognise Daoguang 道光, but i m not pretty much sure whether they are these two characters. If they are, then this may be indicate the date of its manufaction was around 1820-1850 during which emperor Daoguang reigned.

Anyway, just curious, where did you get this gun, it s fantastic to see the gun is so well preserved.

sorry cant see the rest of the photos, the net of my workplace is quite jammed. the 江苏巡抚(governor of Jiangshu province) are pretty clear, so I guess the rest are legible too. Just have a little patience many people here can tell.

>Anyway, just curious, where did you get this gun, it s fantastic to see the gun is so well preserved.

I bought it at a gun show in the US about 15 years ago. Somehow I got the impression it had been brought to the US by US marines who were involved in the Boxer Rebellion ca. 1900.

I also have two old bronze Chinese cannons that have many Chinese characters written on them, engraved in the bronze. I posted them on the Ebay discussion boards a year or more ago, and a very knowledgeable Chinese person who uses the name "Oriental Horizons" translated the inscriptions and gave a lot of history on the pieces, based on the inscriptions. If you think the forum would like to see the cannons, I can post pictures soon. One is identical to a rifled bronze howitzer that is in a large Bejing museum.

Hi, cannon man, it would be great if you post the pics of the other two old cannons. You are so luck to have a gun made in 1840s.
The inscription tells that it was made at the twenth year of Daoguang's reign, under the monitor of who( missed, should be from a military department of Jiangshu provincial government). The original text is 道光二十年江苏巡抚陆任官将署中军？监造，？号食药一两？？？The second half of the sentence is not legible much to me (they are 4,5,and 6 in your pics). By the several characters I recognise, it may tell the dose of powder for this gun. Anyone else want to help?

Here are some larger images of the characters in fields 4-6. I plan to post pictures of the cannons and their inscriptions in a separate post in a few days, so they will not get confused with this item.

Hello again! One of our most respected Ebay discussion board members, known as KHL889, has translated the writing on the gun. Here is her posting. She wishes that you on this board, would check it over to see if you agree with it. Thanks!

nice work, lady KHL889.

I tried to translate it: Lu En (陆恩), the governor of Jiangshu province and the assistant officer of Zhongjun( a word refered to the force led by the general himself, it became a regular battle unit after Ming dynasty. ) had monitored the production of it. Powder dosage: 45g, type: No.2, cannonball weight:45g. GuShang Zhen ( have no idea who this guy is).

This is my rough translation, it could be totally wrong, though. I m looking forward more accurate answers from your guys.

Thanks Mr. Bayonet. You are pretty sharp today. Here is KHL's final reading, with one character still in question. She thnks it may be "right" or "left" and another may be either "20" or "30" since the pictures she is looking at on the Ebay post I linked, are not very clear.

Gushang - is Manchu word and means a Colonel of Ba Qi Army. Zhen could be his name. But the gushang could be write down by another couple of charachters. So please take it as my preliminary opinion.

Regards,

Alexey.

Ebay member "Orientalhorizons" has posted an extensive reply on the Ebay "antiques" discussion board, including a few versions of his translation. Rather than copy it all to this board, it is probably somewhat more appropriate just to have you read it there. Of course you are welcome to make comments on either board. There are still one or two characters in question, which he mentions could make a substantial difference in the way the text is translated. I was very pleased that he was able to include a lot of information on Chinese history related to military organization of the period.

That Gun is called Jingal right? Mostly used by the Chinese in Boxer rebellion against the modern Mausers and Springfields of the Europeans.

Yes, I think you are correct. Although I was told that it was Yingle, But that very well could be difference between Wade-Giles and Pinyin.

I have only seen one that was on display at the Hoover Museum. It was 8 or 9 feet long and would have needed a stand or another person to support the barrel so that it could be shot.

Can anyone give us the correct name and characters of this weapon.

When I look at the picture of the gun, all I can think about is the kickback and how bad the shooters shoulder would have felt. I would hope that there was a pad that was used to cushion the butt of the stock. Ive shot black powder rifles before and they give quite a jolt to the shoulder. I also shot a replica ( home made) of an early firearm that was virtually just a pipe on the end of a long pole. Very scary to shoot and on h*** of a concussion. Very un stable and difficult to aim. Absolutely no accuracy.

Are you sure about Gushang? Because Gu 顧 is also a regular Han Chinese last name and Shangzhen 尚珍 is also a fairly common Han name. Even if he was in the army, he may not be in the Manchu camp, but the green camp (as in Han soldiers in Qing army).

This Chinese wall gun, which was also called jingall or gingall. The loading gunpower of this gun is ten times of common Chinese muskets, it's really a big one.
Here is a picture for the using of this gun, enjoy it!

Great picture, OldCat,!!!!

Thanks for sharing that with us, I have been looking for just sort of that kind of a picture.

Oh my!! I wouldn't, ever, want to fire a gun like that... Can you imagine the recoil of that thing? It has almost no stock and no shoulder rest! I would expect that gun to be buried in her right shoulder.

Thanks for sharing the picture. It is very interesting, indeed.