The evolution of shields in China — Part 3: Song to Qing

The Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms that followed the downfall of Tang Dynasty was a period of chaos and upheaval. Eventually, the northeastern part of China largely fall under the dominion of Khitan Liao Dynasty, while various kingdoms of China proper eventually unified under Song Dynasty, very much like Northern and Southern Dynasties period.

Most of the recognisable designs and aesthetics of Chinese shield, such as painted-on tiger or dragon head motif, lack of shield boss, and strong preference of round and pentagonal shields, as well as free-standing shields, became firmly established during this period. While new shields continued to be introduced, they no longer deviate significantly from the established norms.

Song Dynasty (960 AD – 1279 AD)

Must like its Southern Dynasties predecessors, Song Dynasty faced constant threat from several enemies with overwhelming cavalry superiority, namely Khitans, Jurchens and Mongols, as well as Tanguts to a lesser extent. However, Song Dynasty's attempts to emulate the combined arms force of its predecessors had largely failed due to several factors, chief among them the prohibitive cost, as well as the lost of technical knowledge of military-grade wagon crafting (due to the fact that exceedingly powerful Tang cavalry made war wagon obsolete and its knowledge forgotten).

A heavily deteriorated mural found in an ancient tomb at Xinhua county, depicting an armoured soldier with an enormous shield. Based on the coinage found inside the tomb, it is believed to date to late Northern Song period.

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The evolution of shields in China — Part 2: Northern and Southern Dynasties to Tang

MINOR UPDATE MARCH 4, 2024

The Uprising of the Five Barbarians overran North China in 316 AD and caused the downfall of Western Jin Dynasty. The remnants fled southward and founded the Eastern Jin Dynasty, while the barbarians (and a handful of Han rulers) founded their own kingdoms in North China, collectively known as the Sixteen Kingdoms. Eventually, the sixteen kingdoms reunified into Northern Wei, first of the Northern Dynasties, under Xianbei ruler Tuoba Gui (拓跋珪), while Eastern Jin Dynasty was overthrown by Liu Song Dynasty, first of the Southern Dynasties, under Han ruler Liu Yu (劉裕).

Thus China entered a period of turmoil and constant struggle known as Northern and Southern Dynasties. Due to nomadic influences, this period saw many drastic changes to Chinese military tactics and ultra-heavy cataphracts came to dominate the battlefield. Ironically, Chinese shield did not evolve as drastically as the previous dynasties. Both Northern and Southern Dynasties inherited the same type of long shield from Jin period, although as time went on Northern and Southern shield designs gradually diverged from each other.

Northern Dynasties (386 AD – 581 AD)

Despite their nomadic/barbarian origin, Northern Dynasties adopted and inherited much of the military legacy of Western Jin Dynasty, which they overthrew.

Oblong long shield with zoomorphic shield boss

Section of a mural depicting an armoured Northern Wei warrior with a long shield. Datong, China.

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The evolution of shields in China — Part 1: Shang to Han

A couple days ago I chanced upon this interesting article in Periklis Deligiannis's blog. It is nice to see that ancient Chinese military is gaining interest overseas, although (I presume) due to language barrier the author has to rely on questionable artist's renditions of Chinese shields for his article. While my blog isn't strictly academic, I think it'd be nice if I supplement his article with a more in-depth look on the evolution of Chinese shield.


A shield is known as Dun (盾), Pai (牌, can also be written as 排, but less common), as well as its archaic names, Gan (干, note that this character cannot be written as 幹), Lu (櫓), and Bing Jia (秉甲, lit. 'Handheld armour'), in Chinese language. In modern usage, Chinese characters "Dun" and "Pai" are usually combined into a single word, Dun Pai (盾牌). Shield had been an integral, if obscure, part of Chinese culture for thousand of years, not just for warfare but also for art, ceremony and religious purposes.

Shang Dynasty (1600 BC – 1046 BC)

As the earliest verifiable dynasty in Chinese history, archaeological finds of Shang shields are extremely scarce. There are only a few known types of shields in use during this period.

Oracle bone script, interpreted as either Gan (干) or Dun (盾).

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Traditional Chinese and Byzantine armour components: A brief introduction and analysis

Left: An unnamed general or guard in Chinese-style "Cataphract" armour. Middle: Wu Dao Jiang Jun (五道將軍), one of the Chinese deities of afterlife. Right: Saint Nicetas the Goth, Christian martyr and military saint of the Russian Orthodox Church.

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Lamellar and scale armours of the Ming Dynasty

For most of China's history, lamellar armour and, to a much lesser extent, scale armour were the most widely used armour types in Chinese armies. The use of lamellar armour declined during Ming period, having given way to the more convenient yet no less protective brigandine. Nevertheless, it never disappeared completely from Chinese arsenal.

Generally speaking, there were several different styles of lamellar or scale armour in use during Ming period.

Traditional Song Dynasty-style "Ornate" Armour

Section of an early Ming Dynasty religious scroll painting, depicting a Chinese general in an ornate suit of composite armour. Shanxi Museum.

This type of armour was one of the most recognisable of Chinese armours, and was usually reserved for the highest ranking generals and Jin Yi Wei (錦衣衛). It could be of either lamellar, scale, mountain pattern or even mail construction, or a composite of multiple types. As this type of armour was often ornamental in nature, it was usually made of bronze or gilded iron/steel. Field armour of this style also existed, but never common.

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Some thoughts on why Chinese never developed complex hilts on their swords

Extant jian probably dated to Ming period.

"Why Chinese/Japanese/other cultures never developed complex hilt" is a question that seems to be brought up fairly often. In honesty, this question feels quite Eurocentric to me, as it presuppose the development of European-style complex hilt as the natural and superior evolution of sword design, while in reality complex hilt appeared quite late and was more of an exception rather than the norm. The question should be rephrased "Why no one but Renaissance Europeans developed complex hilts", given that most non-European complex hilted swords such as Indian Khanda (खंडा) and Chinese Hu Die Dao (蝴蝶刀, butterfly sword) were likely influenced/inspired by European designs and not of local development.

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The ghost-faced warrior monks of the Shaolin Monastery

Section of a mural depicting Shaolin warrior monks training with their weapons. From 'Shao Lin Wu Seng He Lian Tu (《少林武僧合練圖》)',  Shaolin Monastery, Henan province.

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