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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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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