Great Ming Military

UPDATED DECEMBER 31, 2025 While not as prominent as the formidable  Fu Chuan (福船) and  Guang Chuan (廣船) , warships from Zhezhi (浙直)—that ...

  This is a companion article to my Japanese armour Patreon post, exploring various lesser-known auxiliary armours of the Qing brigandine. ...

A replica Zhejiang Niao Chuan built in 2003. Although seaworthy, the replica's sails appear much smaller than historical ships. The last...

UPDATED MAY 8, 2022 A recent comment from my other blog post reminds me that I have yet to write anything about Chinese arming garments, ...

UPDATED JANUARY 10, 2025, minor update MAY 26, 2026 ( Note:  The descriptions below correspond to the items in the image from left to righ...

UPDATED NOVEMBER 10, 2022 Left: An unnamed Ming Jin Yi Wei (錦衣衛, lit. 'Brocade-clad guard') in parade gear. Middle: Fu De (富德), ...

UPDATED DECEMBER 7, 2022 Section of the scroll painting...

Drawing of an ornate Qing Dynasty Gun Bei, from 'Huang Chao Li Qi Tu Shi (《皇朝禮器圖式》)'. Gun Bei (滾被, lit. 'Rolling blanket...

Repeating crossbow is one of the unique inventions of China. Although the invention is commonly attributed to Zhu Ge Liang (诸葛亮) , the basic...

A typical San Yan Chong. Perhaps the most iconic handheld firearm of Ming army, San Yan Chong (三眼銃, lit. 'Three-eyed gun') was an i...

UPDATED MAY 7, 2022, minor update DECEMBER 31, 2025 Large Fo Lang Ji from the Nanjing City Wall Museum. Fo Lang Ji (佛郎機, lit. 'F...

Drawing of a Wu Gong Chuan, from 'Chou Hai Tu Bian (《籌海圖編》)'.

Like many Chinese weapons, the famous Zhan Ma Dao (斬馬刀, 'Horse-chopping sabre') has been subject to a lot of misinformations and m...

An ornate Po Dao once belonged to Taiping general Luo Da Gang (羅大綱). Private Collection. Po Dao was a type of Chinese sword or glaive wi...

Mian Jia (棉甲, cotton armour) Section of one of the pages of 'Rui Xi Xian Sheng Nian Pu (《瑞溪先生年譜》)', depicting a horseman wearing ...

Bamboo armour A Qing period bamboo hat helmet, probably used by the militia. (Source: Trocadero ) Ming army never made use of bamboo bo...

UPDATED MAY 4, 2022, minor update NOVEMBER 10, 2023 A Ming Dynasty matchlock arquebus found in Xuzhou.