Corslet is a sort of arming used to protect soldier's body in ancient battles. It is comprised of lorica and helm. Lorica is a garment made of leather or metal and provides the function of protecting the body, while helm is an armet used to protect the head. The combination of these two is referred to as armature. The appearance of corslet has close bearing on the following factors in late primitive society: the appearance of private ownership, increasingly frequent battles, sharper attack armament, and the development of social economy. Corslet was capable of protecting the bodies of officers and soldiers to a comparatively high degree and thus enhancing their battle effectiveness.
Legend has it that corslet was invented by Ch' ih Yu (god of war) who contended for hegemony with Yellow Emperor, or by Zhu, the son of Shao Kang (an outstanding monarch) in the Xia Dynasty. Original corslet was a garment made of fell, and afterwards of leather, for the sake of lightness. Leather corslet was prevalent in the Shang-Zhou Period in China. In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the technique for making leather corslet was rather mature, and iron corslet began to come into existence. The Qin Dynasty acted as a transitional period when leather corslet and iron corslet were in coexistence. At that time, leather corslet accounted for certain proportion while iron corslet still served as the main arming. In the Western Han Dynasty, iron corslet was applied more commonly due to the improvement in steel-making technique. Iron corslet replaced leather corslet as the main arming in the mid of the Western Han Dynasty. In the Sui and Tang Dynasties, head-to-foot lorica came into existence because of the upgrading of attack armament. Corslet was improved and standardized in the Five Dynasties Period based on those in the Tang Dynasty. It was tailored in the Northern Song Dynasty when the technique of corslet-making had its prime time in ancient China. Corslet in the period was featured by high sophistication and unprecedented solidness.
Corslet has undergone continuously improvement over the past thousands of years with increasingly perfected protective function, thus acting as crucial military armament in the cold arms age.
