Qing Dynasty Militia Vest Circa ~1890

HatEnjoyer

HatEnjoyer

Well-known member
Long time no see! It's been a while since I last posted, so I thought I'd share one of my newest finds, sourced straight from China: A Qing Dynasty militia/"Brave" vest from the late 19th century.

In Qing Dynasty China, the term "Braves" could be used to refer to any armed unit from a small posse to a large provincial army. Unlike the Eight Banner Army (China's standing army in those days), Braves were tasked with not only fighting when regional authorities demanded, but also with policing and warding off bandits. This constant vigilance made them much more effective in combat than the Eight Banner Army. Many of the major victories against the Taiping Rebels during the Taiping Rebellion were credited to Brave units because the Eight Banner Army performed so poorly.

This Brave vest is completely hand-stitched, and although it isn't in the best condition, vests like these are so obscenely rare that I'm glad I even had the opportunity to pick one up. Based on the color of the fabric underneath the blue trim, I assume this vest used to be red or pink rather than white back in its heyday. The vest is pictured with my village-made oxtail dandao, which dates to around the same period.

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b.loree said:
Very cool and something I have never seen or heard of before! 👍
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Glad I could introduce you to the wonderful world of Qing Dynasty militaria! :cool:

It's all very fascinating to me, though there isn't much from the era that's collectable aside from bladed weapons and the occasional hat. Speaking of which, a hat I ordered from China recently arrived at my friend's place, so I'm very excited to put that together with the vest and sword!

You can't quite see it because these photos are pretty blurry and the hat is dusty, but there are painted Chinese characters on it that suggest either militia or patrol officer use.

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I have an intense fascination with the last years of the Qing Dynasty, and the European "interventions" in China.
These are very interesting articles, and certainly not anything I have ever seen.
Thank you for sharing your items.
 
Kaiser Wilhelm II said:
I have an intense fascination with the last years of the Qing Dynasty, and the European "interventions" in China.
These are very interesting articles, and certainly not anything I have ever seen.
Thank you for sharing your items.
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It's my pleasure! Here's one I think you'd enjoy. I had the opportunity to purchase this a while back, but I found it too delicate for shipping overseas (it was in China naturally). The characters on this one say something along the lines of "defeat the foreign demons" on it. Almost certainly a Boxer Rebellion piece.

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Fabulous I have a lot of Victorian Boxer medals but I did not realise you could get ancient Chinese uniforms! I guess it helps it you can speak Chinese. The Tiger spear looks especially nasty. Rob
 
Bobted said:
Fabulous I have a lot of Victorian Boxer medals but I did not realise you could get ancient Chinese uniforms! I guess it helps it you can speak Chinese. The Tiger spear looks especially nasty. Rob
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They are very rare, but they're definitely out there! I think the biggest challenge is finding the right spot to search. Western dealers have a tendency to overprice these items, even if they're very crude, village-made items like these. So, to work around that, I buy all my items straight from the source. The prices are fair, and the selection is much better than in the West.

The tiger fork in that reference image is awesome! I've debated buying the head of one just for kicks, but I'm afraid that the shipping cost might make me bankrupt. 😅
 
I have a few of these in my collection. I wrote a little of the history for my MilitarySunHelmets.com website a decade ago:

An expanded version is included in the chapter on conical hat in my book A Gallery of Military Headdress.

Some other history in a piece I wrote for Military Trader on Chinese helmets:
www.militarytrader.com

Combat helmets of Nationalist China

The history of Chinese helmets is a long and complicated story, beginning with the Shang dynasty (circa 1600 BC to circa 1046 BC).
www.militarytrader.com www.militarytrader.com
 
HatEnjoyer said:
Long time no see! It's been a while since I last posted, so I thought I'd share one of my newest finds, sourced straight from China: A Qing Dynasty militia/"Brave" vest from the late 19th century.

In Qing Dynasty China, the term "Braves" could be used to refer to any armed unit from a small posse to a large provincial army. Unlike the Eight Banner Army (China's standing army in those days), Braves were tasked with not only fighting when regional authorities demanded, but also with policing and warding off bandits. This constant vigilance made them much more effective in combat than the Eight Banner Army. Many of the major victories against the Taiping Rebels during the Taiping Rebellion were credited to Brave units because the Eight Banner Army performed so poorly.

This Brave vest is completely hand-stitched, and although it isn't in the best condition, vests like these are so obscenely rare that I'm glad I even had the opportunity to pick one up. Based on the color of the fabric underneath the blue trim, I assume this vest used to be red or pink rather than white back in its heyday. The vest is pictured with my village-made oxtail dandao, which dates to around the same period.

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That vest is truly fantastic!
 
Peter_Suciu said:
I have a few of these in my collection. I wrote a little of the history for my MilitarySunHelmets.com website a decade ago:

An expanded version is included in the chapter on conical hat in my book A Gallery of Military Headdress.

Some other history in a piece I wrote for Military Trader on Chinese helmets:
www.militarytrader.com

Combat helmets of Nationalist China

The history of Chinese helmets is a long and complicated story, beginning with the Shang dynasty (circa 1600 BC to circa 1046 BC).
www.militarytrader.com www.militarytrader.com
Click to expand...
Great articles! Chinese helmets and headgear are a fascinating subject to study. One thing I've found regarding these conical hats is that they aren't inherently military. In China, you can find a huge selection of these, many featuring characters indicating civilian usage. Since China used to speak Nanjing Chinese back then, it can sometimes be hard to decipher characters, especially names of villages, but occupations are usually pretty easy to pick out. I mostly see police/firefighter/civil servant examples, but you'll occasionally stumble upon a guard or militia piece. The example I purchased features the word "defense" alongside a string of characters I can only assume are the name of a village.

Good to see domestically produced Chinese steel helmets getting some time in the spotlight! They are very often overlooked. It's quite unfortunate we can't know everything about them, though, as they seem to come in all shapes and sizes in period footage. One interesting thing to note is that many Yunnan provincial M26's were actually made of brass rather than steel. I've seen a couple of examples sell in China, they'll typically have an oval manufacturer's plaque attached as well.
 
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