Hello all,

I am new in this forum and search some days for the right keywords but I found not the informations i like to have. So if some of the informations that I try to get are already anywhere in these big archive be so kind an tell me where I can find it

What I am looking for is "How to´s ..", Pictures and so on about "non Horse" Archery of China in the 13th Century. I try to remake these for a project here in Germany that I like to start, named "East against West. What happend if.."

Also I need informations about the art of Bows and Arrows, and how they been built. And I search for the type of clothes and looking for instructions how to sew it.
For me it is also interesting to see which type of other weapons are used by archers. Here in the middle european every Archer also use a short sword or a Axe for close combat.

Thank you for the time and answers.

13th century? Which dynasty are you referring to ? Do you mean the material of armours for Archers of Jin, Western Xia, Song or Yuan dynasty?

Hello General_Zhaoyun,

hmmm... I think it is the Yuan Dynasty. I read that this Dynasty was from 1279 till 1368. Is that right?

For Yuan dynasty (1279 till 1368 AD), China was ruled by the Mongols. So the military clothings was highly influenced by Mongol nomadic dressing and armour.

Below is the military clothings of Yuan warriors (swordsman, archer) taken from the book "中国 古代 军戎 服饰" Zhongguo Gudai Junrong Fushi", 刘永华 Liu Yonghua, 1995 Shanghai Chinese Classics Publishing House




Yuan dynasty Archer (Yuan dynasty) - military clothings



Mongol Yuan dynasty horse archer (military clothings)

Hello General,

thank you for this pictures. Is it possible to tell me a source where I can find more detailed pictures or describtions?

best regards
martin

You can try Osprey Series of books and illustrations on ancient chinese armies. They are not necessarily the best, but I do think they are adequate enough if you're referring to western source. The author is CJ Peers and illustrated by Christa hook, Michael Perry, Angus Mcbride etc.

Recommended Source


Imperial Chinese Armies (2)
590–1260 AD
(Men-at-Arms 295)
Author by CJ Peers and illustrated by Michael Perry
Link: http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=P5993





Medieval Chinese Armies 1260 - 1520
(Men-at-Arms 251)
Author by CJ Peers and Illustrated by David Sque
Link: http://www.ospreypublishing.com/title_detail.php/title=P2544

As a warning though, Angus McBride's depictions of Chinese are often yucky and inaccurate.

Thank you. I think I buy these books and have a look on it.

By the way did you think it is possible to get a contact or mail adress from the main chinese history institute? Maybe it is possible to ask there for more detailed informations.

Which "chinese history institute" are you referring to?

I would suggest reading Chinese Archery by Stephen Selby.

Many interesting books, unfortunately I get turn off with the dollar rate between USA$ and CDA$ it would seem that in CDA$ those books are 35% more expensive than US$ although the foreign exchange rate between the CDA$ and US$ is almost at par.

It would seem that we Canadians are getting rip off?

Here in Germany, there are universities and a state institution, an office for history. I am looking for a university or a state institution where the iformation that I needis available. Is there an intitution or university that is specialist in armory?

I don't think there is any university or institution in the world (not even in China) that specialises on chinese armory study. It'll most likely be a sub-branch within the chinese history department or fashion design.

However, in case you want to 'view' how chinese armour looked like, I suggest you to visit Beijing's Chinese Military Museum 北京軍事博物館 (http://www.chinamil.com.cn/item/jb/). It's sometimes also known as CHina People's Revolution Military Museum.