As for the armor of the Chinese cavalry and, in particular, horse armor, then to judge what they were, for example, in the IV century. AD can be based on their depiction in a tomb at Tung Shou, on the border with Korea. It dates back to AD 357. and there we see the most ordinary quilted blanket. However, the Chinese already had the most real "armor", which consisted of plates with a rounding at the top, obviously sewn onto fabric or leather. In such armor appears the Chinese cataphract from the drawing on the wall in Tang Huang, dating back to 500 AD. NS. The rider does not have a shield, but he holds the spear with two hands, just as the Sarmatians and Parthians did. In this case, the blows are applied with the right hand from top to bottom, and they are directed with the left. That is, these warriors already had stirrups, but they used spears in the same way as in the old days.
K. Pierce argues that the new cavalry spread to China in the same IV century. AD, but the practice of ramming with spears developed somewhat later. And before that, the Chinese cavalry continued to use all the same halberds and, like the Byzantine cavalry, acted as horse archers, who, thanks to their armor, became completely invulnerable to arrows.
At that time, the rider's armor usually consisted of a chest and back piece, fastened on the sides and shoulders with straps. At the same time, the dorsal part was sometimes supplied with a low standing collar. The carapace at the bottom was complemented by lamellar legguards or a "skirt" that covered the warrior's legs to the knees, while the lamellar shoulder pads reached his elbow. But they, unlike Japan, were not always used.
Such a carapace was usually made of hard leather and painted with traditional Chinese designs with monster faces to intimidate the enemy. The most belligerent colors were chosen - black and red.
Another type of Chinese armor was called “laced discs”. They could be immediately distinguished from all others by two large round chest plates connected by a complex system of cords. It is possible that this was done on purpose in order to evenly distribute the weight of these "disks" on the warrior's torso, or it was something that we do not know, K. Pearce notes.
Mentioned in Chinese manuscripts and shells "rong kia". "Rong" can be translated as "soft core of young deer antlers." That is, "rong kia" could be ordinary scaly armor made of horny plates. Moreover, such armor is also known from the same Sarmatians, the plates for which, according to Roman authors, they cut out of horse hooves.
K. Pierce also draws attention to the fact that the plates of the Chinese shells were so carefully polished that they even received special names for their brilliance - "zhei kuang" ("black diamond") and "ming kuang" ("sparkling diamond"). That is, in the first case, it could be plates covered with black lacquer, and in the second - ordinary polished steel. Leather armor was also usually varnished or covered with patterned fabrics. The colors used were very different: green, white, brown, but red, of course, prevailed, since in China it was the color of warriors.
But chain mail in China was used very limited, and it was mainly trophies. So in medieval Chinese documents, you can find a mention of trophy chain mail from Turkestan. According to K. Pierce, they were too complex to be produced on the required scale and not suitable for the huge Chinese armies.
Helmets were made of leather and metal. The most famous type of helmet was a segmented dome made of several vertical plates connected with fasteners or straps or cords. Frame helmets were also used, which had a metal frame on which leather segments were fixed. One-piece forged helmets were known but were also rarely used. The aventail, attached to the lower rim of the helmet, could be both lamellar and quilted.
The original type of Chinese helmets was a helmet-head made of plates connected by straps, which was known in China since the 3rd century. BC. The plumes on the top could decorate the helmets. As already noted, the armor was supplemented with mantles and could have a standing collar, but the tubular bracers were made from plates of thick patent leather.
According to K. Pierce, the shields of the Chinese cataphracts were practically absent. Most likely, they prevented the rider from acting with their long spears, but the armor gave him sufficient protection even without him. However, equestrian shields from China were still known. So, in the British Museum there is a terracotta figurine of the Tang era, depicting a warrior with a round shield with a convex central part. Such a shield could be made of hard leather, and along the edge it was reinforced with a binding and five more round umbons - one in the center and four at the corners of an imaginary square. Usually shields were painted red (to strike fear into the hearts of enemies!), But there are references to black, and even painted shields. In Tibet, which borders China, as well as in Vietnam, wicker reed shields with metal reinforcements were used. The Chinese could also use them.
Although many images of horsemen's blankets show us solid, there can be no doubt that they did have certain cuts and divisions into parts. It is possible that the scaled horse armor of the Chinese was similar to those found at Dura Europos in Syria. But then they began to be made consisting of several separate parts, which, by the way, is confirmed by the finds of archaeologists and the texts of Chinese manuscripts. For example, in the V century. they included a forehead or mask, protection for the neck, hips and chest, two sidewalls and a headband - only five separate parts. The mane was covered with a special fabric bed cover, and the neck protectors were fastened to it. And here's what's interesting. In Western European horse armor, the nape was usually made of metal plates, that is, it served to protect the neck from arrows falling from above, while in the Chinese it was a decorative element. And, therefore, they were not afraid of arrows falling from above! Some sections in the armor could be missing, for example, side panels, and some could be one piece. Traditionally, a magnificent sultan of peacock or pheasant feathers was attached to the rump of a horse.
Since the middle of the VIII century. the number of horsemen in heavy weapons in the army of the Tang dynasty is rapidly decreasing, and to correct this situation in the 9th century. failed. However, armored cavalry existed in China until the Mongol invasion, after which, right up to the expulsion of the Mongols from China, there was no actual Chinese cavalry at all.
K. Pierce believes that the Chinese aristocracy was practically in every way similar to the knights of medieval Europe, although, naturally, there were many differences between them in details. For example, in China already in the era of the Song dynasty, that is, in the 13th century, it was horsemen who already used such exotic weapons as "tu ho qiang" - "spear of violent fire", which looked like a hollow cylinder, on a long shaft. Inside it was a powder composition mixed with glass. From the "muzzle" part of the "barrel" flames escaped, with which the Chinese cavalryman burned the enemy horsemen. Chinese sources mention that this type of weapon was used by the Chinese cavalry as early as 1276.
So we can even say that the horsemen of the Sui, Tang and Song dynasties not only were not inferior to the knights of medieval Europe, but also surpassed them in many ways. For example, the knights of William the Conqueror in 1066 had neither plate armor nor armored blankets on their horses. True, they had teardrop-shaped shields, while the Chinese horsemen still acted in the old fashioned way with spears, which they held with both hands.
As in Europe, the horsemen of China were the highest aristocracy and in the army were in the position of "volunteers", since from the VI century. bought weapons at their own expense. But it would be unthinkable to recruit an army from only volunteers in China, therefore, for men from 21 to 60 years old, there was military service, although they only took 2-3 years to serve. Even criminals were enrolled in the army, who served in the most remote garrisons and among the "barbarians", from auxiliary units, most often used as light cavalry. Well, it is understandable that it was easier to maintain such an army of foot archers and crossbowmen than to spend money on expensive cavalry on mighty horses and heavy weapons.
Ethical standards of Confucius also played an important role in the development of military affairs in China. The Chinese were disciplined by nature, so even the horsemen fought here not as they wanted, but as one team - "kuai-teuma" (equestrian team "). On the battlefield, it consisted of five rows of horsemen-spearmen, built with a blunt wedge and three rows of horse archers, standing behind the spearmen - that is, it was a complete analogue of the "wedge" adopted by the Byzantines. The first rows protected the archers from enemy missiles, and they supported them during the attack.
So on both "that" and "this" side of the Great Nations Migration, it was the threat posed by horse archers that forced the riders to make their armor heavier and even "armour" their horses. Well, the nomads themselves, thanks to their expansion to Europe, brought here a high saddle and paired metal stirrups, without which chivalry in medieval Europe would have been simply impossible!
