28 November 2018

Patron only: Did Ming Dynasty have a national flag?

Ming Chinese National Flag
The short answer is no. But there's more to it than that.

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21 comments:

  1. Not related to the post, but have you seen these recently discovered murals?
    http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_95b86dd70102xkkt.html

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    1. Yes. There are some that suspect the mural dates to Qing period, or contains later additions though.

      Delete
  2. Do you plan on doing a enemy of the Ming post on the Hmong/Miao? I know they were technically part of the empire but still autonomous and rebellious I've been trying to find info about their arms and armor and it's not a lot. From what I know, they used water buffalo leather lamellar with additional small steel or copper plate added on it with probably also a scale version,but I wasn't able to translate any Chinese source tho'

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    1. I won't put them under the "Enemy" series since as you said they are technically part of the Ming Empire (also Hmong/Miao distinction is actually really confusing and complicated).

      I haven't done much research on them yet, but I will see what I can find.

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  3. Hello, it's me again, I was wondering if you could tell me when was the bi fu introduced and wildley used by the Ming army? During the 15th century? Later?

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    1. The exact date is unknown. Bi Fu was already widely used during the 16th century (in North China at least), so I guess somewhat earlier than that.

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  4. It's le again I know. I was wondering if you could translate what's wrote for this apparent pice of armor I don't have a lot of info about it https://pin.it/xatbsg72z767wh
    As I probably told you I'm doing research on South Chinese non Han ethnic arms and armor and I was able to collect hundreds of pictures of painting, weapon, armor or warrior that I think could interest you as they didn't changed that much for centuries,so it might fit your field of research. https://pin.it/fwaplhrhpecujw

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    1. The cow hide armor and crossbow date to 1911, and was used by the locals against the British Army invading Pianma (or "Pianma Incident" if you want to learn more about it).

      Delete
  5. about medieval chinese firearms

    slow match, fire lance, hand cannon, cannon,Touch hole
    and handgun, all these things are chinese inventions, except matchlock?

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  6. apparently all matchlock technology and superguns were introduced from the west, and the ottomans were the first to do so, the first "gunpowder empire", on this page:
    http://greatmingmilitary.blogspot.com/2014/11/matchlock-of-ming-dynasty.html

    Lu Mi Chong (魯密銃, lit. 'Rûm arquebus')

    came before the european matchlock? before 1513?
    Jorge Álvares arrived in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou in 1513

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    1. Yes, except matchlock.

      I personally don't think Ottoman matchlock came before European one (Zhao Shi Zhen wrote about Lumi Chong in the 1590s, waaaay after Ming army had mass-produced matchlocks), but it's still up for debate.

      Delete
  7. hey, it's me again

    what are your thoughts on european "gun revolution" by the late middle ages?

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    1. I only have some vague knowledge about it, nothing comprehensive or academic. What about gun revolution that you want to know?

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  8. why they evolved much faster in europe than in china starting by the late middle ages, i want your opinion, as you are awesome at chinese military history, just a simple sentence is enough, no need for a large text

    thanks for your time BTW

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    1. There are actually several theories flying around, all of them have their pros and cons:

      A reason given by Tonio Andrade's "The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation" is that Chinese walls are thick enough that they are more or less imprevious to anything short of 20th century modern cannon (some withstood even that in the Republican era/Second Sino-Japanese War), so the idea of developing heavier siege artillery probably died prematurely.

      The Chinese also needed their guns to be lightweight to keep up with the more mobile nomads (my own take on the Chase hypothesis), which is why lightweight European guns like Fo Lang Ji (breechloading gun) became wildly popular in China.

      Delete
  9. my timeline here is from the middle ages to the military revolution in the 16th century Europe:

    do you think the confucian scholar-bureaucrats were a main factor in making chinese military technology and geopolitics from more offensive and "moving headquarters" much like in europe ( saturation of aristocratic titles in constant competition between themselves and search for glory and fame,everybody wanting to be the king's darling, much more independent to act without the consent of the king to achieve better titles after catching his attention, but also much more brutal and primitive because there was nothing like imperial examinations that guaranteed the same occupation for a good time for the rest of the life ) from that to more passive, stable and defensive? it seems although confucianism was the official state religion of china for political ceremonies since the han dynasty, the chaotic end of military anarchy in the Tang dynasty perhaps made the song want to increase much more what than was already happening, because people in the Confucian bureaucracy was rotating and temporary, they did not create regional dynasties (like the Japanese samurai warlords) through family inheritance, pretensions of the ancestors as right of possession and everything else over time such as manpower, better titles, corruption etc..., then who knows one day to rival with the imperial family in the power and to dethrone them?

    "During this period greater emphasis was laid upon the civil service system of recruiting officials; this was based upon degrees acquired through competitive examinations, in an effort to select the most capable individuals for governance. Selecting men for office through proven merit was an ancient idea in China. The civil service system became institutionalized on a small scale during the Sui and Tang dynasties, but by the Song period it became virtually the only means for drafting officials into the government.[76] The advent of widespread printing helped to widely circulate Confucian teachings and to educate more and more eligible candidates for the exams.[77] This can be seen in the number of exam takers for the low-level prefectural exams rising from 30,000 annual candidates in the early 11th century to 400,000 candidates by the late 13th century"

    BY WIKIPEDIA about tge song dynasty

    I see that competition in China was more "socialist" while in western Europe, more capitalist

    "The Himalayas divide, only to accentuate, two mighty civilisations, the Chinese with its communism of Confucius, and the Indian with its individualism of the Veda................"

    by Okakura Kakuzō

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    1. This is probably too much to answer in a comment, and I am not exactly an expert in the socio-political aspect of Ming China, but I think yes, Conficianism, Mandate of Heaven, and centralisation probably all played their parts in it.

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  10. Could you make a post about the armies of the Mongols and Jurchens during Ming times, please?

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    1. I very much plan to do so - at the moment I don't have as much material about them on hand as compared to say Wokou, but they were major enemies of the Ming so I will write about them at some point.

      Delete
  11. will you be doing a series on all the ming military flags? i think there's a coloured book on the topic called 明宫冠服仪仗图, i cant find the whole collection online though

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    Replies
    1. Yes, eventually. That topic has been nagging me for a while now actually.

      Delete

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