190 Chinese Clay Figures 



ceros-hide (si se) being employed for them, and sometimes being sup- 

 planted by buffalo-hide. 



In the History of the Liao Dynasty x rhinoceros-hide armor is still 

 recorded for the year 952 as a tribute of the Nan Tang dynasty to the 

 Court of the Liao. The captains in the army of the kingdom of Nan- 

 chao are reported to have used cuirasses made from rhinoceros-hide. 2 

 During the middle ages, when the rhinoceros grew scarcer, other hides 

 began to take its place. It has been demonstrated above (p. 162) that 

 under the T'ang the district of Kuang-ling sent to the Court tribute of 

 buffalo-hide armor. 3 Marco Polo 4 says regarding the Mongols that 

 on their backs they wear armor of cuirbouly (boiled leather) , prepared 

 from buffalo and other hides, which is very strong; and all contemporary 

 western writers speak of the leather armor used by the Mongols. 

 This fact is confirmed by the Annals of the Yuan Dynasty. 6 



The type of cuirass styled "hoop armor" has possibly at one time 

 existed in China, though there is no description of it. At the Court 

 of the emperors of the Kin dynasty (11 15-1234) in Peking, the guards 

 were all clad with armor. On the left were stationed those with a 

 banded cuirass colored blue (tsHng t'ao kid), holding in their hands a 

 flag on which was represented a yellow dragon. On the right were 

 stationed those with a banded cuirass colored red (hung t'ao kid), holding 

 a flag with a red dragon represented on it. 7 The word kia used in this 

 connection indicates that it is the question of hide cuirass; and the word 

 t'ao (" band ") defines the peculiar character of this armor in that it was 

 banded or hooped, the bands being cut out of leather, perhaps in a 



administrative organization of the period K'ai-yuan (7I3-74 1 ) of the T'ang dynasty, 

 the authorship being ascribed to the Emperor Yuan-tsung (713-755)1 and Li Lin-fu 

 and others contributing to the interpretation of the work (Wylie, Notes on Chinese 

 Literature, p. 67; Pelliot, Bulletin de l' Ecole francaise d'Extrime-Orient, Vol. Ill, 

 1903, p. 668). 



1 Liao shi, Ch. 6, p. 1. 



2 C. Sainson, Histoire particuliere du Nan-Tchao, p. 19 (Paris, 1904). 



3 In Yen kien lei han (Ch. 228, p. 14) a book Ts'e lin hai ts'o is quoted to the 

 effect that what is designated "rhinoceros-hide armor" in the T'ang History is at present 

 made from buffalo-hide, but is generally styled si ("rhinoceros"). 



4 Ed. of Yule and Cordier, Vol. I, p. 260. 



5 W. W. Rockhill, The Journey of William of Rubruck, p. 261 (London, Hak- 

 luyt Society, 1900), and p. 180. 



6 For instance, Yuan shi, Ch. 78, p. 12 (K'ien-lung edition). 



7 This information is contained in the Pei yuan lu, the narrative of a journey in 

 1 177 a.d. from Hang chou to Peking, described by Chou Shan and translated by 

 Chavannes (T'oung Pao, 1904, pp. 163-192; the passage indicated is on p. 189). It 

 is quoted, though incompletely, in P'ei wen yiinfu (Ch. 106, p. 74). Chavannes' 

 translation "cuirasses avec des cordons bleus" certainly is all right, as far as the 

 translation is concerned; but I am inclined to think that this term is capable of the 

 interpretation as given above. The word t'ao ("band") is in Giles, No. 10,817. 



