Chinese armour

Chinese armour is any of various types of protective gear used in China prior to the modern era. Lamellar armour predominated from the Warring States period until the Ming dynasty. Before lamellar, personal armour in China consisted of animal parts such as rhinoceros hide, rawhide, and turtle shells. Lamellar armour was supplemented by other forms of armour such as scale since the Warring States period or earlier. Large metal plates worn over the chest and back, known as "cord and plaque" armour, was used from the Northern and Southern dynasties to the Tang dynasty. Evidence of mail and mountain pattern armour started appearing from the Tang dynasty onward, although they never supplanted lamellar as the primary type of body armour. Chain mail had been known since the Han dynasty, but did not see widespread production. Mail was used infrequently and may have been seen as "exotic foreign armor" used to display the wealth of rich officers and soldiers. During the Ming dynasty, brigandine began to supplant lamellar armour and was used to a great degree into the Qing dynasty. By the 19th century most Qing armour, which was of the brigandine type, were purely ceremonial, having kept the outer studs for aesthetic purposes, and omitted the protective metal plates.

Ancient armour

Shang dynasty (c. 1600 BC–c. 1046 BC)

The earliest archaeological evidence of armor in China dates to the Shang dynasty. These were either breastplates made of shell tied together or a one-piece rawhide or leather breastplate. Helmets were made of bronze and often sported elaborate designs consisting of animal motifs. Armour was almost exclusively for nobles; regular folks had little to no protection and more commonly used a hide-covered shield made of wood or bamboo.

Zhou dynasty (c. 1046 BC–256 BC)

Armour in the Zhou dynasty consisted of either a sleeveless coat of rhinoceros or buffalo hide, or rawhide/leather scale armour. Helmets were largely similar to Shang predecessors but less ornate. Chariot horses were sometimes protected by tiger skins.

Warring States (c. 475 BC–221 BC)

In the 4th century BC, rhinoceros armour was still used. In the following passage Guan Zhong advises Duke Huan of Qi to convert punishments to armour and weapons:
By the late Warring States period in the 3rd century BC, iron weapons and armour had come into widespread use.

Lamellar armour

Lamellar armour of leather, bronze and iron appeared by the mid-4th century BC. It consisted of individual armour pieces that were either riveted or laced together to form a suit of armour. Iron helmets constructed with multiple lamellae began to replace the one-piece bronze helmets of old. One sample discovered in Yi county, Hebei Province was composed of 89 lamellae, averaging 5 cm x 4 cm.
In the 3rd century BC, both iron weapons and armour became more common. According to the Xunzi, "the hard iron spears of Wan are as cruel as wasps and scorpions." Iron weapons also gave Chinese armies an edge over barbarians. Han Fei recounts that during a battle with the Gonggong tribe, "the iron-tipped lances reached the enemy, and those without strong helmets and armour were injured." The effectiveness of bronze axes and shields may have been superseded by new iron weaponry and armor. The efficiency of crossbows however outpaced any progress in defensive armour. It was considered a common occurrence in ancient China for commoners or peasants to kill a lord with a well aimed crossbow bolt, regardless of whatever armour he might have been wearing at the time.
The heaviest and most protective armours were often restricted to elite soldiers, though each state distributed armour in their own ways. The state of Chu favoured elite armoured crossbow units known for their endurance, and were capable of marching 160 km 'without resting.' Wei's elite forces were capable of marching over 40 km in one day while wearing heavy armour, a large crossbow with 50 bolts, a helmet, a side sword, and three days worth of rations. Those who met these standards earned an exemption from corvée labor and taxes for their entire family. By the time of the Qin dynasty, approximately half the soldiers could be equipped with some form of heavy armor as indicated by the Terracotta Army.
According to Su Qin, the state of Han made the best weapons, capable of cleaving through the strongest armour, shields, hide/leather boots and helmets. Their soldiers wore iron facemasks.
The state of Wu divided its army into three sections. The main army wore plain armour, the army of the left wore lacquered red armour, and the army of the right wore black armour.
By the end of the 3rd century BC at least a few horsemen wore armour of some kind.

Qin armour

The Qin calculated fines for more severe crimes in terms of one or two coats of armour, lower crimes in terms of shields, and the lowest in terms of coins. Qin soldiers sometimes threw off their armour in a kind of berserk rage and engaged in fanatical charges. Qin armour usually used rectangular lamellae with dimensions of 7.5 cm x 8.5 cm and 10.5 cm x 7.8 cm. Dimensions of lamellae used for charioteer armour varies between the upper body, lower body, and arms. Lamellae on the upper body were 7 cm x 6 cm, the lower body 9 cm x 6.5 cm, and arms 4–7.5 cm x 4 cm. Lamellae on cavalrymen were 8 cm x 5.7 cm. A complete set of Qin armour, judging by the finds in the Terracotta Army consisted of 250 to 612 pieces in total, not including the helmet.
Six groups of armour have been identified in the Terracotta Army corresponding to rank and military division. Some soldiers are outfitted with little to no armour at all, cavalrymen with armour that covered the chest, charioteers with longer armour, armed infantry with armour covering the torso and shoulders, low-ranking officers with armour using large lamellae, middle-ranking officers with shorter armour covering the torso and waist or just the breast, but with decorations such as ribbons, and generals with a distinctive coat showing torso armour and ribbons to signify their status. None of the terracotta soldiers have been found wearing a helmet or holding a shield. However, this may be because the terracotta soldiers are simulating a funerary procession for their ruler, and according to protocol, subordinates had to remove their helmets when appearing before the emperor. Helmets have been found in other excavated pits near the terracotta soldiers. Furthermore, another explanation for both the lack of both weapons and helmets for the terracotta army is that most of the functional, usable equipment made for the terracotta army were believed to have been looted during the rebellion against the Qin dynasty.
There is some evidence that armour for horses might have existed for Qin cavalry judging by 300 lamellae too large for human use.

Han dynasty (206 BC–220 AD)

armour was largely the same as the Qin dynasty with minor variations. Infantry wore suits of lacquered rawhide, hardened and lacquered leather , or iron lamellar armour and caps or iron helmets. A suit of iron armour dating to the Western Han period consisted of 328 lamellae pieces. Some riders wore armour and carried shields and some horses were armored. However, more widespread and more comprehensive horse armour is not attested to until the late 2nd century.

Item	Inventory	Imperial Heirloom
Jia armour	142,701	34,265
Kai armour	63,324
Thigh armour	10,563
Iron thigh armour	256
Iron lamellar armour	587,299
Helmets	98,226
Horse armour	5,330
Shields	102,551

During the late 2nd century BC, the government created a monopoly on the ironworks, which may have caused a decrease in quality of iron and armour. Bu Shi claimed that the resulting products were inferior because they were made to meet quotas rather than for practical use. These monopolies as debated in the Discourses on Salt and Iron were abolished by the beginning of the 1st century AD. In 150 AD, Cui Shi made similar complaints about the issue of quality control in government production due to corruption: "...not long thereafter the overseers stopped being attentive, and the wrong men have been promoted by Imperial decree. Greedy officers fight over the materials, and shifty craftsmen cheat them... Iron is quenched in vinegar, making it brittle and easy to... The suits of armour are too small and do not fit properly."
Composite bows were considered effective against unarmoured enemies at 150 metres, and against armoured opponents at 60 metres.

Hook shield

During the Han dynasty, a hook shield was used in combination with a sword when fighting against polearms. The hook shield was a small iron shield that had hooks at the top and bottom for hooking halberds or spears. Sometimes it had a thorny protrusion in the middle for attacking.

Three Kingdoms (220–280)

By the Three Kingdoms period many cavalrymen wore armour and some horses were equipped with their own armour as well. In one battle, the warlord Cao Cao boasted that with only ten sets of horse armour he had faced an enemy with three hundred sets. The horse armour may however have just been metal partial frontal barding or a mixture of metal and rawhide barding rather than fully comprehensive all metal barding.
References to "great shields" occur in their usage on the front line to protect spearmen and crossbowmen. Shields were also commonly paired with the single edged dao and used among cavalrymen. Descriptions of the Battle of Guandu mention that Cao Cao's soldiers employed shield cover above their heads each time they moved out into the open due to oppressive arrow fire from Yuan Shao's wooden towers.