Great Ming Military

5 June 2018

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.

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).

Du Zhan Qian Li Che (獨戰千里車)

A badly drawn illustration of Du Zhan Qian Li Che, from 'Wu Bian Qian Ji (《武編前集》)'.

Du Zhan Qian Li Che (獨戰千里車, lit. 'Wagon that can fight alone for a thousand li') was a six-wheeled gun-armed mobile fortress designed to combat Wokou and Mongol raiders alike. Unlike most other Ming war carts and wagons, it was not designed to form a wagon fort, but rather to operate alone or in small groups.

Du Zhan Qian Li Che featureed a rather odd wheel configuration. It had two pairs of wheels like normal wagon, but also had one extra front wheel and one extra rear wheel, which allowed it to traverse rough terrains such as narrow path and log bridge. Its fully enclosed body was made of wooden frame covered in protective leather screens measuring five chi tall by five chi wide, and was equipped numerous gun loops on all sides. The wagon could be further equipped with spikes and hooks mounted around its chassis, as well as two cannons at its front and rear for additional firepower.

It should be noted that the source of locomotive power of this wagon was not explained. The name implied that this wagon was pushed by its passengers from the inside, although it should be possible to equip the wagon with yoke and shafts so that it could be pulled by draught animals.