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I think that the main conclusion I'd draw from the description of this paper is that 3rd year undergraduates studying physics at Leicester aren't that good at maths...

quite impressive

Quote from: tadamson on April 15, 2025, 01:42:48 PMdrawn in by "...current researcherinto Quing history..."

organisation, equipment, deployment of non banner troops is sparse, should a research field be needed.  :-)

That may be forthcoming, though as a side interest rather than part of the main research.  A little patience will be needed as he is only in the first year of the PhD course and seems to have set aside his painting of Qing armies for tanks at the moment 

Quote from: Duncan Head on April 15, 2025, 11:49:35 AMThanks, Kim, that is helpful.

I've just found a Wikipedia reference to the combination "fuyue" being used in martial arts contexts for halberd - "Fuyue (halberds of various types)". There are other references to the compound term - as a symbol of Imperial-derived authority in both ancient and late-Imperial periods. This reinforces the idea that we're probably looking at one word, though doesn't help much as to what the weapon actually looked like.

I would be careful of material drawn from martial arts traditions.  Much of this, as in Japan, is drawn from 19th century nationalist ideas rather than having any basis in older history.

Recent excavations have solved the mystery of the "Deserted Castle" in Austria. See Deserted Castle.

drawn in by "...current researcherinto Quing history..."

organisation, equipment, deployment of non banner troops is sparse, should a research field be needed.  :-)

A couple of caveats..

Yue is commonly used in the histories and the encyclopedias. It typically refers to polearms in general and is the usual term for those weilded by guards and household troops.

I think that this text, written in the Yuan dynasty, was lifted from a Liao or Jin source. It's clearly a list of items and probaby this element refers to a hand axe and a polearm. That said I would futher suggest that a polearm would be for dismounted use whe on guard or in a fortification.

Tom..

Quote from: skb777 on April 15, 2025, 12:32:06 PMOk headfirst probably wasn't the best term to use

Apologies for being literal but if the question was meant "did individual combatants charge at each other from opposite directions with lances?" the answer is yes 

Quote from: Erpingham on April 15, 2025, 11:57:55 AM

Quote from: skb777 on April 15, 2025, 11:43:40 AMdid they really fight by charging headfirst at each other with lances or is this just a romance/joust thing?

No, in a joust you ran parallel with each other. Head on collisions did occur but it was accidental. In the 15th century, as a health and safety measure, they put a barrier running down the tiltyard to keep the riders from colliding. There is a nice image of this form of joust in the Medievalist article.

Ok headfirst probably wasn't the best term to use

Quote from: skb777 on April 15, 2025, 11:43:40 AMdid they really fight by charging headfirst at each other with lances or is this just a romance/joust thing?

No, in a joust you ran parallel with each other. Head on collisions did occur but it was accidental. In the 15th century, as a health and safety measure, they put a barrier running down the tiltyard to keep the riders from colliding. There is a nice image of this form of joust in the Medievalist article.

Thanks, Kim, that is helpful.

I've just found a Wikipedia reference to the combination "fuyue" being used in martial arts contexts for halberd - "Fuyue (halberds of various types)". There are other references to the compound term - as a symbol of Imperial-derived authority in both ancient and late-Imperial periods. This reinforces the idea that we're probably looking at one word, though doesn't help much as to what the weapon actually looked like.