A series of reforms were done on garment styles, including reforms of army suits. There were thirteen types of armor suit designated as official army wear, made with materials from copper to wood, leather and cloth. Iron and leather suits were used in actual wars, whereas decorative armor suits made with silk and cotton, visually pleasing as they were, were used as daily wear or ceremonial suit for generals. More decorations were found in the Tang helmet, suit and boots There were more decorations, carvings and metal plates. The chips were better formed for ease of movement. At the prime of the Tang Dynasty, the strong national power 1ed to a more peaceful time. The once practical armor suits became more decorative than functional. The suits were painted, and even the inner garments were embroidered with animals.
In ancient China, greater protection in the armor suit was often achieved by increasing the number of chips. Chips became heavier and heavier through the ages. There were two kinds of armor suits in the Song Dynasty, one for use in actual fight and the other for ceremonial purposes. According to Song History, the entire suit had 1825 pieces of chips that were connected with leather threads. Tile total weight was approximately 25 kilograms. Paper suit existed as well, with chips made of folded soft paper joined with nail fasteners. Delicate as they seemed, they were hard to penetrate with arrows. As for ceremonial armor suits, tile face was made with yellow silk while the lining was made with cotton cloth. Chips were painted on with a yellowish green color, complete with edging decoration of red brocade, black trousers, red leather ribbons and painted faces on front and back. The paper armor suit was an invention of the Song Dynasty. However, we
can no longer find out how these were made. There were guesses that the suit was made of silkworm paper, light, durable and strong. History books of that time had recorded the exchange for a paper suit with several sets of fine metal suits, thus validating our estimate of its high quality and value.
