Classical oared warships of pre-modern Chinese navies

Artistic impression of the epic spectacle of Battle of Red Cliff, erroneously depicting the iconic junk rig, which probably hadn't been invented during Three Kingdoms period.

For the most part, the appearance and designs of Chinese oared warships is still a matter of debate and conjecture, as to date no Chinese oared warship of any kind has been found. Information about Chinese oared warships has to be gleaned from studying written records, crude woodblock prints of military treatises, as well as shipwrecks of civilian vessels and ocean-going junks. Still, there is still much unknown about Chinese oared warships, and hopefully future archaeological finds can shed more light on this subject.

Common types of Chinese oared warships

The list of warships below is mainly taken from Tang period military treatise Tai Bai Yin Jing (《太白陰經》), as well as Song period military treatise Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武經總要》) that referenced the former. Although some warships included in the list like Lou Chuan and Meng Chong have remained a staple of pre-modern Chinese navies for centuries, the list probably only reflects the inventory of eighth century Chinese navy but not any other periods. In fact, there are perhaps dozens if not more Chinese oared warships found in written records that did not conform to any of the listed classes.

Lou Chuan (樓船, lit. 'Tower ship')

Illustration of a Lou Chuan, from 'Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《古今圖書集成》)'.

Lou Chuan was the greatest of the mainline combat vessels, often serving as the flagship or centrepiece of ancient Chinese navies. A formidable warship both at range and up close, Lou Chuan was installed with crenellated bulwark as well as a three-storey (or more) tall, felt/rawhide-covered wooden superstructure, complete with battlements and assorted arrow loops and spear-holes. Thanks to its enormous size, it was capable of mounting shipborne artillery and other heavier equipment, including traction trebuchets, furnaces of molten iron, heavy rocks and naphtha flamethrowers.

For all its impressive power, Lou Chuan was not without drawbacks, as the warship's enormous size and high centre of gravity made it particularly difficult to handle during rough weather and high winds.

Meng Chong (蒙衝)

Illustration of a Meng Chong, from 'Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《古今圖書集成》)'.

Meng Chong was an interesting warship that seems to went through numerous iterations over the ages, resulting in a number of wildly different warships all sharing the same name. First mentioned in Eastern Han period dictionary Shi Ming (《釋名》), Meng Chong in its earliest iteration was simply described as a ship with long and slender hull specialised in launching assault or perhaps ram enemy vessel, without any reference to size. Nevertheless, it can be ascertained that at least by late Eastern Han period, Meng Chong had grown into enormous juggernaut capable of carrying hundreds of combatants, to the point that its name effectively became a metonymy for big and formidable warship.

During Three Kingdoms period, Meng Chong superseded Lou Chuan of the Han Dynasty to become one of the mainline combat vessels of Eastern Wu navy alongside the then newly introduced Dou Jian, possibly due to Eastern Wu's prior bad experience with Lou Chuan capsizing during storm. Though still fairly large, Eastern Wu's Meng Chong appeared to be more sensibly sized and retained respectable speed, as several Meng Chong were converted to fire ships during the famous Battle of Red Cliffs.

Nevertheless, a new Meng Chong came into prominence during Eastern Jin period. Rather than a metonymy, the new Meng Chong was a distinct class of warship, small and agile and came with a fully enclosed hull covered in felt and rawhide. Though well-protected and equipped with numerous arrow-loops and spear-holes, this Meng Chong was probably too small to be of any real use during a serious boarding action (a Tang period example only had a crew of thirty-two oarsmen and twenty-five marines), and thus it was not considered a mainline combat vessel. On the flip side, the small warship was well-suited for launching unconventional attacks, either swarming enemy vessels and harassing them with arrows, or ramming and delivering incendiary weapons at point-blank range. To this end, it was often equipped with disproportionately heavy or devastating weapons, such as heavy multiprod siege crossbows or molten iron.

Curiously, both types of Meng Chong appeared to coexist for a long time, at least until the small Meng Chong was eventually phased out (although its role was later taken up by other types of warships).

Dou Jian (鬥艦, lit. 'Fighting ship')

Illustration of a Dou Jian, from 'Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《古今圖書集成》)'.

Dou Jian, less commonly known as Zhan Jian (戰艦, lit. 'Battle ship'), was a mainline combat vessel first introduced during Three Kingdoms period. A fairly large warship (although generally smaller than Lou Chuan), Dou Jian was also installed with crenellated bulwark, although it only had a elevated fighting platform called Lou Peng (樓棚, lit. 'Shed', although hoarding is a more apt translation) in place of the fortified superstructure of Lou Chuan.

Based on written descriptions, the fighting platform of Dou Jian appeared somewhat similar to balai platform commonly found on later period Nusantaran warships such as Ghali, in that they were both fully open structures with a flat roof serving as fighting platform. Nevertheless, whereas balai left all soldiers on the platform completely exposed to facilitate boarding action, Lou Peng's roof was well-protected by a battlement, making it more useful as a missile platform.

Interestingly, most illustrations of Dou Jian in Chinese military treatises depict the ship with a fully enclosed, one-storey tower with battlemented roof. While It is likely that some Dou Jian were indeed built as "one-storey Lou Chuan", another plausible explanation is that the base level of Lou Peng was only enclosed with large shields or free-standing wooden panels similar to Chinese-style hoarding.

Zou Ge (走舸, lit. 'Walking ship')

Illustration of a Zou Ge, from 'Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《古今圖書集成》)'.

Zou Ge was the smallest of the mainline combat vessels of ancient Chinese navies. Like its larger cousins, Zou Ge was also installed with crenellated bulwark to protect its passengers, but did not have any superstructure built on its main deck. Zou Ge was specifically designed for speed and maneuverability, and was generally assigned more oarsmen than marines, although these tend to be veterans and elites. Small enough to be towed into battle behind a larger ship, Zou Ge served a role akin to cavalry or elite reserve force in a land army, either launching decisive flanking attack after a battle was already joined (i.e. when two lines of warships clashed and engaged in boarding action), or reinforcing weak points in the battleline.

Hai Hu (海鶻, lit. 'Sea hawk or sea grebe')

Illustration of a Hai Hu, from 'Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《古今圖書集成》)'.

A relatively late addition first introduced during Tang period, Hai Hu was a mainline combat ship designed for rough water conditions that might give troubles to other warships. It had a specifically adapted hull with narrow bow and low sheer forward and wide stern with high sheer aft, as well as equipped with a pair of Fu Bang (浮板, lit. 'Floating plank'), or leeboards. These features suggest that Hai Hu was designed with heavy emphasis of stability in mind.

Like all combat vessels, Hai Hu was also installed with crenellated bulwark, although its was made of thick cowhide instead of wood. The ship was otherwise outfitted as a Dou Jian (see above).

You Ting (遊艇, lit. 'Wandering boat')

Illustration of a You Ting, from 'Gu Jin Tu Shu Ji Cheng (《古今圖書集成》)'.

You Ting was a small, fast boat used by ancient Chinese navies for scouting and relaying command between larger ships. As scouting vessel, You Ting lacked a crenellated bulwark, and was only minimally armed.

Curiously, some illustrations depict the boat being propelled by ordinary oars (pictured above), while others show the boat propelled by yuloh.

Distinguishing features of Chinese oared warship

Even though Chinese oared warships varied greatly in size, shape, and role, there were many elements generally shared across most Chinese oared warships. These distinguishing features not only set them apart from other oared warships, but also reflect the long naval and shipbuilding traditions, unique military history and approaches to warfare, as well as technological sophistication of ancient China.

Junk hull

Though larger and far more sophisticated, the hull of Chinese oared warship probably grew out of ancient sampan (舢舨), and still had much in common with its smaller cousin such as the stereotypical "three board" (i.e. a flat bottom, port and starboard) hull layout, flat bow and transom, as well as prominent "stern horns" to name but a few. Primarily designed for riverine warfare, particularly on Yangtze River, Chinese oared warships were generally keelless, although some later period oared warships designed to operate in the sea had a keel. Virtually all Chinese warships were fully decked.

Close-up photo of Han Dynasty shipwreck "Silk Road No. 1", showing its mortise and tenon planking.

Chinese shipwrights favoured a sturdy locked mortise-and-tenon planking technique, of which wooden planks were joined together with mortise and tenon, then locked in place by bamboo or wooden dowels, which were replaced by iron nails, staples and bolts during later period. Chinese shipwrights also developed multi-layered planking in the Song Dynasty, which improved ship durability immensely. Archaeological finds reveal that Yuan river junks could have up to two layers of bottom planking, whereas Song and Yuan period ocean-going junks manufactured in Fujian also had additional layers of hull planking, with one notable find having as many as six layers of hull planking.

Chinese ships were originally built shell-first, although shipwrights were quick to figure out a unique frame-first shipbuilding method called Chuan Ke Fa (船殼法, lit. 'Ship-shell method/hull method') after the invention of watertight bulkhead, as it was much easier to lay down watertight bulkheads first and then install planking around them, than vice versa.

The incredible robustness of junk hull, combined with watertight bulkhead technology (see below), permitted Chinese shipwrights to construct warships of incredible size. In fact, it was not unusual for large warships to carry a crew of nearly a thousand.

Shipbuilding and caulking material

Thanks to the vast geographical reach of China, Chinese ships were built from a huge variety of woods—a fact used by archaeologists to distinguish Chinese shipwrecks from shipwrecks of foreign visitors (Korean ships, for example, were nearly exclusively built from red pine). Most shipbuilding manerials were locally sourced, although foreign imports played a supplementary but increasingly important role since Yuan period. Common Chinese shipbuilding materials included Chinese fir, Chinese red pine, mulberry, champor, sandalwood, zelkova, Chinese elm, Chinese jujube, Chinese bean tree, Japanese pagoda tree, champor, lychee, castanopsis, Erythrophleum fordii, nanmu and many more, although Chinese fir remained the most dominant shipbuilding wood. Generally, load-bearing parts and equipment that must be subjected to constant wear and tear, such as anchor and rudder, were made of more durable woods like elm and Japanese emperor oak, as well as imported wood such as teak, sal wood and Ceylon ironwood.

Chinese shipwrights also developed a unique and highly effective caulking material dubbed "Chu-nam putty". It was a mixture of oakum or bamboo fibres, limestone or shell lime, as well as tung oil.

Watertight bulkhead

A Chinese junk ship under construction, with very visible watertight bulkheads. Photo credit © Huang Liang, 2007.

Watertight bulkhead technology was a significant Chinese invention that greatly enhanced the survivability of Chinese ships. Bulkheads not only provided lateral structural strength to the hull, but also partitioned the hull into multiple watertight compartments, thus preventing a breach to one section of the hull from causing flooding to the entire ship.

So far the earliest archaeological find of watertight bulkhead dates to Tang period, although written records suggest that the technology may have existed as early as fifth century AD. The earliest ship that may have been equipped with watertight bulkhead was a type of four-storey Lou Chuan called Ba Cao Jian (八槽艦, lit. 'Eight trough warship') built by Eastern Jin rebel Lu Xun (盧循). The warship was probably so named from the close resemblance of its compartmentalised hull to a feeding trough.

Sternpost-mounted "true" rudder

Illustration of a Lou Chuan with its rudder highlighted. From 'Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武經總要》)'.

Rudder was another important Chinese invention that greatly simplified the steering of the ship, and offered far better control, responsiveness, efficiency and stability than steering oar. Early adoption of true rudder gave Chinese warships unprecedented maneuverability, and allowed Chinese shipwrights to construct huge, heavily built vessels without sacrificing steerability.

Mast tabernacle

Most oared vessels were equipped with supplementary sails for long distance travel, and Chinese oared ships were no exception. For fighting vessels, sails, masts and rigging had to be stripped away and left ashore when a battle was imminent to minimise their interference with ship-to-ship combat. Unfortunately, this posed a problem when no friendly port to safe keep the rigging was available, to say nothing about the hurdles of dismantling and storing large amount of masts and rigging. Many an oared warship had to make do with furled sail but upright mast in battle due to lack of friendly port or time.

Illustration of a Lou Chuan with its laid down mast highlighted. From 'Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武經總要》)'.

During Song period, Chinese shipwrights invented mast tabernacle that allowed a mast to be laid down and secured horizontally when not in use. Primarily designed to protect the mast during extreme weather (such as violent winds breaking the mast), the innovative design also allowed Chinese ships to sail under bridge and warships to sprang into combat-ready state in a much shorter time.

Chinese shipwrights taught mast tabernacle technology to their Korean counterparts in the eleventh century. Hence, similar mast design can be seen on later period Joseon warships such as Panokseon and Turtle Ship.

Yuloh sculling oar

The Yuloh, known as Lu (櫓) or Yao Lu (搖櫓) in Chinese language, is a type of large, slightly bend oar originated in China. Designed to be used with a rowing method misnomed stern sculling (even though yuloh can be mounted on any part of a ship, including its bow), of which the oar blade never leaves the water, a Yuloh is significantly more ergonomically- and energy-efficient than an ordinary oar, allowing even a single oarsman to propel a heavy ship at considerable speed without quickly tiring himself out. On the flip side, Yuloh lacks the sheer output of an oar's rowing strokes, so it cannot match the high acceleration and top speed of an oar, especially on light, speedy vessel.

Illustration of a Lou Chuan with its yuloh highlighted. Note the oarsmen facing forward. From 'Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武經總要》)'. 

The adoption of yuloh can inform us about some of the design considerations of ancient Chinese oared warships, as well as their tactics. For instance, Chinese oared warships were almost certainly more heavily built and robust, but slower than equivalent-sized oared warships of other cultures such as Mediterranean galley, due to the use of yuloh. Moreover, even the mightiest Chinese oared warship only had a single bank of oars, due to the fact that oarsmen took up a lot of vertical space (as yuloh is usually sculled standing up) which prevented them from being arranged into multiple levels/banks. Fortunately, the freed space in turn allowed Chinese warships to carry a larger contingent of dedicated combatants or more siege engines. Last but not least, since yuloh mounted on Chinese warships jutted downwards rather than fanning out like oars on galleys, this allowed Chinese warships to navigate narrower channels and form into denser formations.

Crenellated bulwark

Illustration of a Lou Chuan with its crenellated bulwark highlighted. From 'Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武經總要》)'.

Unlike warships of other cultures which were only equipped with railings, simple, uncrenellated bulwarks, or shield lists, Chinese shipwrights routinely installed crenellated bulwarks to the sides of their warships, making this often overlooked and underappreciated feature truly unique to Chinese oared warships.

While the purpose of the battlement is obvious enough, the reason why Chinese shipwrights specifically went out of their way to install crenellation on bulwarks can only be speculated. The simplest reason is that this was due to Chinese naval doctrine placing heavier emphasis on missiles, although there might be another explanation, namely protection of oarsmen. To elaborate, since oarsmen sculled yuloh standing up making them easy targets for enemy missiles, Chinese warships required higher-than-usual bulwarks to protect oarsmen from danger. However, this would result in bulwarks of excessive height that obstruct the view, so it was necessary for crenels to be cut into the bulwarks to allow marines to fight behind them effectively.

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Patron only: Telling apart Chinese polearms — EXTRA: Armour-piercing awl and hanging moon spear

This blog post contains some extra information about Chinese polearms, which is exclusive to my Patrons and can be accessed here. If you like my content, please support me via Patreon!

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Chinese fortification: an overview of parts and terminology — Part 2: Gate and moat

UPDATED JUNE 10, 2024

2) The gate

The second part of this series will provide an overview on various components of Chinese gate, as well as their names. As before, italicised names are likely modern terminology.

2.1) Cheng Men (城門, lit. 'Wall gate')

As with all fortifications around the world, the gate is the most vulnerable—and often the most heavily fortified—part of a Chinese city. The Chinese term Cheng Men can refer to both the gate door itself, as well as the gatehouse securing the entrance. For clarity's sake I will separate gatehouse, gateway tunnel, and gate doors into three sections.

Gatehouse

Zhonghua Gatehouse of the city wall of Nanjing.

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Chinese fortification: an overview of parts and terminology — Part 1: The wall

UPDATED JUNE 10, 2024, minor update JULY 9, 2025

A recent discussion in the comment section of my previous blog post has sparked my interest in learning more about Chinese fortification (that and marathoning Castles! YouTube video series). To my surprise, despite having some of the most well-known fortifications in the world such as the Great Wall of China, Chinese fortification is very little studied and understood, and researching for information proved more difficult than my anticipation due to various reasons. Chief among the reasons is the large-scale movement to demolish old city walls in the 1920 to 1950s as China tried to modernise (in fact there are only three places with authentic and relatively intact major city walls: Pingyao, Jingzhou, and some parts of Xi'an), meaning that many historical sites, along with the knowledge about their designs, were wiped out. Modern historians also tend to overlook military history, so many design features on the surviving walls are either misunderstood, misnamed, or forgotten altogether. It doesn't help that many available information are diluted for tourist consumption, and tour guides certainly don't make good historians!

Overview

For most of its long history, China was ruled by a centralised bureaucratic government and had a highly nationalised military establishment. As China's centralised government could mobilise more resources and form cohesive defence strategy on a grand scale, Chinese fortification strategy focused on building up an interconnected network of fortified settlements, military fortresses, outposts, chokepoints, postal/relay stations, watchtowers, and most importantly, the Great Wall. As such, Chinese people generally did not build fortified private residence in the manner of European medieval castle (barring a few notable exceptions, such as the late Ming-high Qing period House of the Huangcheng Chancellor), and the state would've actively discourage such practise.

Due to the emphasis on protecting the settlement, fortified wall became the centrepiece of Chinese fortification. A wall was the last line of defence against the attackers, and very often the first line as well. Thus it is no surprise that Chinese people became the world's greatest wall builders. Virtually all cities and towns in China, as well as a significant numbers of villages, were walled. In contrast, Chinese fortification layout tend to be very simple. The vast majority of Chinese walled cities were nothing more than settlements surrounded by a wall and a moat, with the main city gate almost always placed facing the south.

Parts of a Chinese fortification

Basic layout of a Chinese city gate, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

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Chinese multiprod crossbow

MINOR UPDATE OCTOBER 2, 2024

Credited with the invention of crossbow, the Chinese were keen on tinkering with their crossbow and coming out with ever more efficient and powerful designs. Apart from repeating crossbow, which was invented as early as 4th century BC, Chinese bowyers also created another unique crossbow design—the multiprod crossbow, sometimes also known as multiple bow arcuballista. The weapon mounted multiple prods to extend the draw length (and powerstroke) of the crossbow, thus getting more power out of the same draw weight. It was also more efficient and portable than a single prod crossbow of equal power.

There were several variants of multiprod crossbow in use during Tang and Song period, which will be detailed below:

Shuang Gong Chuan Nu (雙弓床弩, lit. 'Double-prod bed crossbow')

Also known as Liang Gong Nu (兩弓弩, lit. 'Two prod crossbow') during Tang period, this crossbow had two prods mounted facing opposite directions of each other. It was spanned by a simple windlass.

Da He Chan Nu (大合蟬弩, lit. 'Great combined cicada crossbow')

Drawing of a Da He Chan Nu, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

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Flails of the Ming Dynasty

Tie Lian Jia Bang (鐵鏈夾棒, lit. 'Iron chain with clubs')

Drawing of a Tie Lian Jia Bang, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

Tie Lian Jia Bang was the Chinese version of two-handed infantry flail. It was also known as Lian Ting (連梃, lit. 'Linked staff'), Lian Jia Bang (連耞棒), and several other names.

Early references of this weapon can be found in the works of Warring States period Mo Zi (《墨子》) and Tang period Tong Dian (《通典》). However, according to Song period Wu Jing Zong Yao (《武經總要》), this weapon originated from a specialised cavalry weapon used by the nomadic enemies of China.

A pair of flails, from 'Huang Chao Li Qi Tu Shi (《皇朝禮器圖式》)'.

During Qing period, flail became associated with Han Jun (漢軍, lit. 'Han Banners'). Qing flails were generally smaller and usually used in pairs.

Nowadays this weapon is known as Shao Zi Gun (梢子棍) and Pan Long Gun (盤龍棍, lit. 'Coiling dragon staff') by the Chinese martial arts communities.

Lian Zhu Shuang Tie Bian (連珠雙鐵鞭, lit. 'Linked bead double iron whip')

Drawing of a Lian Zhu Shuang Tie Bian (highlighted), from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

Lian Zhu Shuang Tie Bian was a variant of common infantry flail that had two connected striking ends, making it an early predecessor of three-section staff.

Ball-and-chain-flail

Ming period painting of Lei Gong (雷公), Chinese god of thunder, with a ball-and-chain flail. The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

While extremely uncommon, ball-and-chain flail was known to the Chinese. However, whether this weapon was actually used on the battlefield is anyone's guess.

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The myths of Shan Wen Kia

Section of the Ming period scroll painting 'Sou Shan Tu (《搜山圖》)', depicting Chinese war deity Er Lang Shen (二郎神) in a full suit of Shan Wen armour.

The so-called "mountain pattern armour/star scale armour" or Shan Wen Kia (which is a misspelling, correct Pinyin should be Shan Wen Kai or Shan Wen Jia) was a type of scale armour that was (almost) unique to China. However, like many ancient Chinese military equipment, it is shrouded in mysteries and misconceptions. 

In this blog post, I will attempt to clear up some misconceptions regarding mountain pattern armour.

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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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