The survival of the Chinese handgun in the late Ming, c. 1550–1644

Abstract This paper examines the simultaneous use of the older handgun and the newer harquebus by Ming Chinese armies before and after the Imjin War (1592–1598), a conflict which saw the Japanese launch a destructive invasion of the Korean peninsula. Although the conflict foregrounded the value of the harquebus in the eyes of many Chinese, its aftermath saw a number of Ming Chinese civil and military officials continuing to affirm the value of the handgun vis-à-vis the harquebus and developing the designs and tactical roles of both types of firearm. Against the backdrop of their discourse on hand-held firearms, I will argue, in this paper, that the Eurocentric focus of modern military scholars has caused them to underestimate the advantages that the older handgun still held over the harquebus in the different Ming Chinese context. In Ming China, the harquebus was valued primarily for its accuracy, which led it to be assigned a different tactical role and undergo a different technological developmental trajectory compared to early modern Europe. Nevertheless, Ming designs tended towards a universal infantry firearm anticipating the solution eventually adopted by early modern European armies: a relatively accurate bayonet-equipped harquebus capable of high rates of fire.