By Mason Lau and James Lew

WARFARE AND DEFENSE IN

ANCIENT CHINA

Boom! Clash! Pow!!! How you ever wondered how people battled 4th century B.C. in china? Do you ever wonder if ancient China’s military was powerful or not? Well We can teach you the answer to that question and many more.

The Repeating crossbowThe repeating crossbow was a very popular weapon in ancient china. It must have been a really deadly weapon, I am getting scared just by writing about it. The repeating crossbow was a more advanced weapon to the Chinese military. It was because shooting arrows from a repeating crossbow was a lot faster than the regular Chinese crossbow, also it was easier to load arrows into it, and you could shoot arrows with only one hand.

Ancient Chinese Swords

Ancient Chinese swords were strange, the Chinese’s daggers were strange to. But that did not give the Chinese advantage on the battle field. Most Chinese swords were made out of bronze, they were made out bronze because it was sharp so it made good sword tips. Certain metals would make swords or weapons much stronger.

Ancient Chinese Chariots

An ancient Chinese chariot could hold three types of warriors. The three types of warriors were halberdiers, archers, and charioteers. The material that chariots were made of was wood. Chariots were pulled by two to four horses. Some of the chariots would have decorations like a fake bronze bull head. In the fourth century B.C. the Chinese invented their first crossbow. This invention was a big threat to chariot riders. During chariot raids, someone can shoot the warriors in the chariot from a safe distance.

Armor in Ancient China Ouch! How do Chinese warriors protect themselves from dangerous spears, swords, daggers or halberds? Armor of course! But some bodies of armor are stronger than others. This is because some are made out of different materials. Armor could have been made out of leather supported by lacquer [tree sap that immediately turned hard as a rock], or overlapping plates of bronze or iron. Armor was usually 40 lbs. and made out of 612 armor shards. Can you imagine wearing ancient Chinese armor? 40 pounds is very heavy for a kid. You would have to have a lot of strength to carry it for a while. Since the armor was so heavy, foot soldiers would have to throw off their armor to attack with certain weapons like a halberd. This way, warriors could throw their halberd at their enemies. Except halberds can be very heavy because they are metal. So sometimes a soldier may hit one person on the same team. Armor was very important to warriors in battle.

 

GunpowderBoom! Boom! Boom! What is that sound? It is the sound of fireworks exploding in the air. Gunpowder helps make fireworks explode. Long, long ago in ancient China, some doctors were trying to find a medicine that can make people live forever [crazy right?]. But instead they made gunpowder. Gunpowder could be used in cannons, rockets, guns and fireworks. Did you know that in ancient China that fireworks were not just used for celebrations, but also for warding off evil spirits and scaring enemies. In Chinese fireworks were called “crackling cannons”. Weapons that contained gunpowder were called fire weapons. Weapons without gunpowder were called cold weapons. One time, some people tested a bomb with gunpowder. It burned rather than exploded. When the bomb hit a wooden object, it spread a poisonous gas. So next time you use fireworks, thank the Chinese for inventing gunpowder.

Putting it all Together

As you saw before, there is a big ancient Chinese battle. When you put all the information together, you get one huge Chinese war. Warriors use armor, crossbows, cannons, horses, chariots, Gunpowder, and much more. These items were all used in the battle field.