Post-90s man from Guangxi creates handcrafted ancient-style Chinese suits of body armor

Mo Di, a young armor craftsman in Liuzhou city, south China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, has created several suits of handcrafted ancient-style suits of body armor over the past years.

Born in 1993, Mo has a passion for creating costume props. After he graduated from college, he became a full-time costume-prop maker at Hengdian World Studios, known as “China’s Hollywood” in east China’s Zhejiang Province.

Photo shows Mo Di (L) and his friend wearing full suits of armor. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

In 2019, a customer ordered a custom-made armor prop from Mo. It was a common practice to create such props using ethylene-vinyl acetate foam boards, but Mo was determined to make the prop look more true-to-life after thinking outside the box a little.

He then bought pieces of metal online and used the materials to create his first true-to-life handmade suit of armor. “I just wanted to have a try, but the body armor has astonished me,” Mo recalled.

At the end of 2019, Mo returned to his hometown and began to pour his heart and soul into creating ancient-style suits of armor. So far, he has produced several suits of ancient armor spanning from the Qin Dynasty (221 B.C.-207 B.C.) to the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911).

Photo shows Mo Di standing in an open field while showing off one of his handcrafted suits of armor. (Photo courtesy of the interviewee)

To produce a suit of armor, he would need to assemble together several hundred or even several thousand pieces of metal with bands made of leather or cotton, Mo explained, adding that it usually takes several weeks to even several months to finish a suit of armor.

“Due to the high material and labor costs, a suit of armor can be sold for more than 10,000 yuan ($1,492.8),” Mo said.

Mo Di surfs the Internet to look for information on ancient-style Chinese body armor. (Photo/Liu Juncong)

Nowadays, Mo has begun to showcase the handcrafted body armor he created on social media platforms, hoping that more people can learn about the culture behind ancient-style Chinese suits of armor.

“Suits of armor represent the heroic spirit of defending the motherland and China’s national character, which is the precious cultural value offered by this ancient body armor,” Mo said.

Mo Di displays a handcrafted suit of ancient-style Chinese body armor he created. (Photo/Liu Juncong)