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July 6, 2022

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Zhujiajiao’s knight in shining armor

Chinese armor is a rare treasure for fans of traditional culture since it transports them to an earlier era. It is made of metal, with clues hidden in ancient stone statues and cultural artifacts.

The armor culture in Shanghai has expanded beyond a specialized interest and has emerged in Zhujiajiao, a historic watertown in Qingpu District.

Liu Xiang, an admirer of Chinese armor, helped turn it into a modern-day cultural enterprise. He runs a studio, called Nanzhili, in Zhujiajiao.

Nanzhili, or South Zhili, was a province in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and included parts of the modern provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui, as well as Shanghai.

“My favorite armor style is from that era,” Liu said. “Putting on armor, picking up weapons and riding a war horse is the dream of many men, including me.”

He displays a variety of armor replicas in his studio.

“In ancient times, battles were not very long because a suit of armor was very heavy, and soldiers could not hang on to it for a long time,” he said.

Liu focuses on finding out the cultural significance of armor and the nearly extinct handicrafts that were used to make them.

“China has a long history of developing armor and weapons, and it has many varieties of armor,” he said. “I have visited a few places around the country to study many different kinds of armor, which date from the Han Dynasty (206 BC to AD 220) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).”

From his collection of sketches, he found that different dynasties had different armors. His research also indicates there are significant disparities among armor types in terms of construction materials, weave forms and degrees of protection.

“Armors were manufactured from a variety of materials, including leather, plants and metals,” Liu said.

Metal armor was tougher and more durable than armor made of plants. They were designed for different types of soldiers.

The most popular type of armor was lamellar armor, or zhajia, because of its high level of protection, Liu said. Additionally, there was yulinjia which resembles fish scales and shanwensuozijia, or chain mail armor with scales resembling the Chinese character shan (山).”

He spent a lot of time figuring out the woven style of the chain mail because none of the previously excavated artifacts could be used as a reference.

“Our present replica of chain mail has been updated from what in ancient texts or on stone statues found in ancient temples and historic sites,” Liu said.

The more he studied, the more obsessed he became. He has turned the production of armor into a business and is attempting to scale it up.

“The culture of armor has a very long history and is linked to many fields. It also reflects the development of society at that time,” he said.

“We can learn so much about how clever our ancestors were from the process of building armor.”

Along with various types of armor, his studio also displays a wide range of traditional Chinese outfits. These outfits attract a large number of admirers, some of whom dress in various styles while others dance in armor.

They all share the same goal, which is to preserve Chinese traditional culture.

“People come here,” Liu said, “not to make money, but to share a common interest, to exhibit their passion for the inspired Chinese historic culture.”




 

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