Weapons of the Chinese Green Standard Army

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by Peter Dekker

I haven't found sources on the actual size of people in Beijing by the time this text was written, though. Looking at the bows and arrows they used, and extant clothing, I tend to think they averaged around 170 cm and 175 cm. The emperor, a Manchu from further north, was quite tall. He was probably closer to 180 cm or 190 cm.

18th century adult male height in southern China was about 5'4.5", 164cm. This is close to the 18th century English average of 165cm. The modern height difference between north and south is about 2"/5cm (or 1"/3cm, depending on source), so about 170cm is plausible for the average adult male height in Beijing at the time.

I don't know what the historical urban/rural differences in height were (it can go either way, largely depending on the nutrition of the urban poor compared to the rural poor). There will also be a difference between the poor and the better off, and those whose bows and clothes survive are more likely to have been in the better off, so 170cm-175cm is a fair estimate.