by Wong Koi Hin

Ancient Discoveries is a television programme produced for the History Channel by Wild Dream Films. The series focuses on ancient inventions and methods which often seem remarkably modern, challenging the laypersons’ view of the level of technology and sophistication of the ancients. This series is popular with audience and is still showing on the History Channel.

This review focuses on the episode in the series titled ‘Chinese Warfare’ which first aired in early 2007. The narrator introduces the episode by stating that ”the ancient Chinese brought inventions into existence that changed the world forever. Machines built on a scale and a level of sophistication that was unrivaled for millennia. Many of their inventions redefined engineering, but perhaps their most lasting legacy lies in one area - a sphere of technological innovation in the field of war.”

A grand statement and while I do have some nits to pick with this episode, my impression is largely favourable.

Production Values

The production values - i.e. the professional look and polish of the show - like the rest of the series is good, incorporating location shots, live reenactments, computer generated animations and expert interviews.

There were problems with the reenactments in terms of accuracy of costumes and action, but this is a common issue with all Chinese historical documentaries and movies that I have seen so far. The scene depicting modern wushu practitioners giving a weapons demonstration is however unnecessary and gratuitous.

The computer generated animations and images while adequate, fell short of quality compared to earlier episodes like The Siege of Troy, the Greeks and the Egyptians. In particular some of the CG has such obvious errors in depiction it is surprising they were not caught by the consulting experts on this show (for instance, the whirlwind Catapult which I will discuss later). Hopefully Wild Dreams Film will improve on this in future series.

The ‘Discoveries’

The technologies covered include swords, Ge 戈 (dagger-axe), gunpowder, flamethrower, siege triple-crossbow, whirlwind catapult, firearms, land mines, crossbow, repeating crossbow and rocket technology. Most of the technologies covered were well done, and reflected well on the experts they consulted.

I learned quite a bit watching the flamethrower and crossbow segments. Richard Windley, an ancient weapons expert, reconstructed the flamethrower with reference to primary texts. He also gave a good demonstration of its lethal power and range in a live test. This horrifying weapon would not be seen again till the first World War when the Germans brought it to the battlefield again.

The crossbow segment was very informative and entertaining, where amongst other things they demostrated how the weapon could be easily disassembled for transport and then assembled again before battle. The repeating crossbow was fascinating as you see the ingenuity of what was the world’s first repeating shooting weapon. John Naylor reconstructed the weapon and explained in detail how it worked.

Some segments however could be improved.

The narrator started off by discussing the Warring States (400 BCE) and how the intensifying conflict led to technology innovation in warfare. But he abruptly moved the clock back to 800 BCE and rather confusingly started talking about hand-to-hand combat. It was confusing to say the least.

The narrator then claimed that Chinese advances in iron metallurgy led to the Qin long sword. However the Qin long sword was made of bronze, not iron. He proceeded to talk about how Chinese sword-smiths have mastered chromium plating and highlighted this as one of the remarkable advances. In fact, there is insufficient evidence to suggest the ancient Chinese had this technology and the truly remarkable advances about Qin weapons were somehow neglected.

For instance, the Qin had a level of standardisation and large-scale production capabilities not seen until the European Industrial Age. Admittedly, highlighting manufacturing processes is not as exciting as talking about ‘chromium plating’ or how wonderfully sharp the swords remained. But it is the manufacturing capabilities and standardisation of parts that gave the Qin their military technology edge, not some fancy coating.

The next weapon introduced was the Ge 戈 , or dagger-axe. Apart from the fact it was a unique weapon to the Chinese, there is really little to highlight it as a ‘discovery’. Nothing was mentioned about its relation to chariot warfare. The narrator instead emphasized on the weapon’s length and strength, traits which are neither remarkable nor unique.

On the Whirlwind catapult, they used CG animation to illustrate how the Whirlwind catapult would have functioned. However, they incorrectly depicted the projectile holder as a fixed spoon-like end attached to the throw arm when it should be a free-swinging bag instead. Other aspects of the catapult were also not right such as depiction of fork supports for the crossbeam that attaches to the throw arm when no such structures exist in sources. Since they had apparently consulted Liang Jieming, author of Chinese Siege Warfare, such errors should have been easily avoided.

Aside from this, the segment overall was still informative and accurately identified some of the advantages of this type of catapult. I would have liked for them to point out that the larger versions of the Whirlwind catapult had up to 120 human pullers, giving it a corresponding increase in range and load.

Conclusion

This show is a nice introduction to the technology advances in warfare the ancient Chinese made. The issues highlighted above are unfortunate creases on an otherwise good documentary and a little more care and research could have prevented them. While certain aspects were rather sensationalist  and could have benefitted from a more scholarly treatment, I realise for a TV programme a certain amount of sensationalism is required to hold the attention of the general audience. Apart from the inaccuracies and some disappointing CG, this is a great episode and I recommend it highly especially to folks new to Chinese history and warfare.

Tags: ancient discoveries documentary, chinese military history, Chinese warfare technology

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 6:27 pm and is filed under Impressions | Conversations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.