Bamboo and wooden armours of the Ming Dynasty

Bamboo armour

A Qing period bamboo hat helmet, probably used by the militia. (Source: Trocadero)

Ming army never made use of bamboo body armour, except very rarely as helmet. Nevertheless, one peculiar group did find the bamboo armour useful—warrior monks from Shaolin Monastery. Since warrior monks were often recruited to aid government efforts in combating Wokou (倭寇), so some form of protection must be necessary.

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Rattan armours of the Ming Dynasty

Teng Dou Mou （藤兜牟, rattan hat helmet）

Rattan helmet allegedly belongs to the Koxinga's army, currently exhibited in Zheng Chenggong Memorial Hall, Xiamen, China.

By far the most common type of rattan body defence (apart from rattan shield), rattan helmet was widely used by Chinese troops in the South China (as well as neighbouring countries such as Vietnam).

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Fan Jiang Hun Hai Fei Bo Shen Jia (翻江混海飛波神甲)

Fei Bo Jia, from  Jin Tang Jie Zhu Shi Er Chou (《金湯借箸十二籌》). However the armour depicted in the picture looks nothing like the description.

Fan Jiang Hun Hai Fei Bo Shen Jia (翻江混海飛波神甲, lit. 'Divine armour of river crossing, ocean muddling and flying waves'), often shortened to Fei Bo Jia (飛波甲, lit. 'Flying waves armour') was a very unique scale armour made of gourd shells attached to a backing of oil treated silk, or alternatively with swan or goose feathers (specifically down feathers). It is said that this armour was waterproof and doubled as a life jacket.

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Paper armours of the Ming Dynasty

Qi Jia (緝甲, lit. 'Quilted armour') and Zhi Bi Shou (紙臂手, paper armguard)

Drawing of a Qi Jia, from 'Ji Xiao Xin Shu (《紀效新書》)'.

A helmet and a paper armguard, also from 'Ji Xiao Xin Shu (《紀效新書》)'.

Also known as Zhi Jia (紙甲, paper armour) and Ruan Jia (軟甲, soft armour), this armour was made of silk cloth stuffed with silk wadding and silk paper (paper made from silkworm cocoon) or normal paper to the thickness of one cun or more, then quilted with silk thread. It could be worn as standalone armour, or underneath leather armour. For all intents and purposes, Qi Jia was the Chinese equivalent of gambeson.

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Quan Tie Jia (全鐵甲), plate armour of the Ming Dynasty

UPDATED DECEMBER 1, 2023, minor update OCTOBER 11, 2024

Quan Tie Jia (全鐵甲, lit. ‘Full iron armour’) was an interesting and one-of-a-kind Chinese armour design that first appeared during the tail end of the Ming Dynasty. Unlike brigandine and lamellar armour commonly used in China at the time, Quan Tie Jia was made of large overlapping steel plates, and was often seen as a late but independent attempt to develop plate armour.

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