13 July 2015

Wei Yuan Pao (威遠砲)

UPDATED NOVEMBER 9, 2023


Chinese Wei Yuan Pao saker cannon
Two Wei Yuan Pao, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'
Although locally developed Chinese cannons were largely being surpassed and supplanted by more advanced European designs in the late sixteenth century, Chinese gunsmiths did not simply stop innovating and improving their own designs. Wei Yuan Pao (威遠砲, lit. "Awe-inspiring long range cannon") is one such example that has met great success. 

A significant improvement over Da Jiang Jun Pao (大將軍砲), Wei Yuan Pao is made with improved forging techniques that creates a much stronger gun barrel, thereby allowing the cumbersome reinforcing hoops to be discarded. This reduces its weight significantly without sacrificing the firepower of Da Jiang Jun Pao. In addition to strengthened barrel, Wei Yuan Pao also incorporates iron sight similar to that of matchlock gun, as well as a touch hole lid similar to the type commonly found on Shen Qiang (神鎗).

A cannon presumed to be a Wei Yuan Pao (leftmost) alongside three Mie Lu Pao (滅虜砲), Great Wall Museum, Badaling, China. Note the lack of reinforcing hoops on Wei Yuan Pao compare to other Chinese cannons.
A typical Wei Yuan Pao is forged from multiple overlapping strips of iron bend into cylindrical shape, similar to how a musket barrel is forged (although later models appear to have transitioned to cast iron instead). It weighs about one hundred and twenty to forty catties, while the heavy variant weighs only two hundred catties, both lighter than even the lightest variant of Da Jiang Jun Pao. Wei Yuan Pao is typically loaded with a heavy lead ball weighing 3 catties and 6 taels, as well as one hundred smaller lead pellets weighing 3 to 4 maces, and is said to have a range of 5 li (~2.9 km or 1.78 miles).

10 comments:

  1. Hi. I need some information on Ming Cannons. What would you say is the typical / most common variety of Light, Medium, and Heavy cannons?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Around the Imjin War period? Generally speaking that would be:

    Light - Hu Dun Pao (虎蹲炮) and smaller Fo Lang Ji (佛朗机),
    Medium: Great General Cannon (大将军炮),
    Heavy: Wu Di Da Jiang Jun (无敌大将军), Heaviest variant of the Great General Cannon.

    Plus a lot of rockets...

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for the info. I'm actually working on a wargame focused on Sengoku Jidai and Imjin War period.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The 9/27/1592 Lunar entry of 經略復國要編 mentions 小信炮 and 小砲.

    Are these iron hooped cannons?

    ReplyDelete
  5. @Jayson Ng
    I know from your Google+ =D. I've never played Pike and Shot before, might give it a try though.

    @Wansui
    小信砲 seems to be signal cannon.
    小砲 can means any type smallish cannon, I can only say it 'could' be iron hooped cannon.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hello. Did you know anything about this cannon? (https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/N4E0bH7w7px04WsUljytjU-JRI-I6v8rJksL0xW3qTbsWD0_mpBTlSRH6WC1KDyJqjafvfLTYAdTY_f1ah0MG37pwHpcPe3TbeM_2F3ZX3q0phuog9yJpLo)

    (http://english.visitbeijing.com.cn/a1/a-XCB5UOCB9A28869F8CDE9A)

    It's supposedly Yuan dynasty cannon but it also has similarities to the cannon in this article. Or it's simply looks like enlarged hand cannon. I wanted to know whether it's a Yuan dynasty cannon or Ming cannon, and ask about its usage/role (an enlarged hand cannon even larger than the one in this post is quite ridiculous)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The link returns as "403 forbidden" so I can't view it.

      Delete
    2. This should be working:
      https://archive.org/details/yuan-dynasty-cannon

      Delete
    3. Ah, that one.
      They are simply upscaled models made for display/tourist attraction purpose. They are not artefacts nor functional.

      Delete

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