3000 Years of Chinese Infantry

Описание: Support more videos like this   / foojer  
Made with iOS IbisPaint. Tracks used are the China Atomic theme from the Civilization VI OST, and Action 150 and Main Theme IV from The Grandmaster OST. I don't own the rights to these.

The evolution of the Chinese armoured spearman from the late Shang dynasty right up to the twilight of the Qing. Major disclaimer that this is but a fraction of the wild array of weapons and armour available to Chinese troops within those 3000 years. And even within dynasties there would've been large variations between different regions of China. Not to mention I've skipped over many smaller dynasties.

I've chosen to focus on armoured spearmen - I've excluded other types of close combat infantry like swordsmen (and even shield-bearing spearmen), as well as unarmoured infantry.

Most of our reconstructions of warriors from the Shang period right up to the end of the Warring States period (3rd century BC) are hypothetical, as are the ones here.

The 'mountain' type armour featured on the Tang guardsman is hypothetical - we're not even sure what the actual name of this armour was, much less how it was constructed. All we have is a theoretical reconstruction made by modern scholars, and it's not without its flaws. (Name comes from the shape of each metal scale in the hypothetical reconstruction, shaped vaguely like the Chinese character for 'mountain')

I realise the last two figures aren't armoured, but I wanted to keep the spearman theme going. The Kansu Braves were an elite Qing unit that distinguished itself during the Boxer Rebellion, and I've chosen to give him a spear here though most of the Braves would've been armed with rifles - I'm guessing given the state of Chinese armies at the time, at least some of the Braves would've been armed only with melee weapons.