Pic story of ancient armour hobbyists in Ganzhou, Jiangxi

"Qianzhou Armament Department" members Zeng Fanqiang (L) and Xiao Qiu read books on ancient armours at their studio in Ganzhou, east China's Jiangxi Province, Nov. 13, 2020. Members of "Qianzhou Armament Department" share a common goal: to replicate ancient Chinese armours with their own hands. In 2018, the hobbyist group was founded by a bunch of local armament fans, and was named after its city of origin, Ganzhou, which was known historically as Qianzhou.

One of the group's proudest work so far has been a Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) armour, which took the members three months to replicate.

To make their replicas as precise as possible, "Qianzhou Armament Department" members not only browsed a sea of archives and visited museums to study armour structures, but also carried out detailed research into ancient Chinese garment, hairstyle and etiquette.

"Every detail on this Ming armour replica comes from our own research," Xiao Qiu, the group's founder, said with pride. "Altogether, it cost us more than 6,000 yuan (908 U.S. dollars)."

The group's passions for ancient Chinese armours have been welcomed by other hobbyists in the circle. Some have shown support by giving hand-made armour replicas as gifts. "Our love for armours is rooted in a love for the traditional Chinese culture," said Xiao Qiu. "And there are still more in the classics to be discovered." (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)