Transcript Warfare and defense in ancient China

By Mason Lau and James Lew
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 crossbow
The 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.
Gunpowder
Boom! 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.