VI. DEFENSIVE ARMOR OF THE T'ANG PERIOD 



In the preceding notes we had occasion to refer repeatedly to de- 

 fensive armor of the T'ang period (618-906). Mention has been 

 made of the fact that cuirasses of rhinoceros-hide were then still in 

 existence (p. 189), and also that those of buffalo-hide then came into 

 vogue (p. 162). Plate mail reached its climax at that time (p. 277), and 

 chain mail was introduced from Iranian regions (p. 246). The types of 

 armor utilized under the T'ang must have been of a large variety. The 

 Statutes of the T'ang Dynasty, drawn up by the Emperor Yiian-tsung 

 (7 1 3-75 5), 1 enumerate thirteen classes of armor manufactured by the 

 Imperial Armory (to k'u) : six of these were of iron, and of the types of 

 plate, scale, and chain armor; others were of white stuffs, black silk, 

 hide, and even of wood (p. 276). How the military uniform was then 

 combined with armor has also been set forth (p. 2 75) . Besides the means 

 of protection officially recognized in the army, there were other plain 

 and cheap contrivances for the use of the people, such as are still com- 

 mon in the country. Thus we hear in the Annals of the T'ang Dynasty 

 in regard to a certain Ch'eng K'ien that he made defensive armor from 

 layers of felt. 2 The most curious armor of which we read in that period 

 was a kind made from sheets of paper laid in folds, which could not 

 be pierced by the strongest arrows; this invention is credited to Shang 

 Sui-ting. 



Under the Sung dynasty, paper armor was officially recognized, for 

 we hear that in the year 1040 the troops stationed in Kiang-nan and 

 Huai-nan (in An-hui Province) were ordered to fabricate thirty thousand 

 suits of paper armor, to be distributed among the garrisons of Shen-si 

 Province. The localities mentioned are celebrated for their paper 

 manufacture, and were accordingly obliged to contribute to a demand 

 which could not be filled in Shen-si. The Wu pel chi (Ch. 105, p. 17) 

 of 1 62 1 has preserved for us an illustration of such paper armor 

 (Fig. 45), arranged in triangular scales slightly rounded at the base. 

 These suits were especially favored under the Ming in southern China 

 by the soldiers fighting the Japanese, who then invaded the Chinese 

 coasts. 3 The favorite brand of paper for this purpose in recent times 



1 See above, p. 189. 



2 P'ei win yun fu, Ch. 40, p. 86. In 1286, according to Yuan shi, the country 

 of Ma-fa sent a tribute of saddles, bridles, and felt armor. 



3 The same work illustrates also armor of plaited rattan; but it is not known at 

 what time this type of armor sprang up in China. 



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