To take part in professional buhurt tournaments, the first thing a player needs is a period-and region-accurate suit of armor, generally ranging from the 13th century to the 17th.

In China, there are a handful of armorers who use age-old techniques to make suits for modern players. Wen Chenhua, a craftsman from Sichuan province, is one of the pioneers.

Almost 20 years ago, Wen, a then 24-year-old boiler fitter, dreamed of seeing authentic ancient armor, so he visited almost every museum in China that may have had some suits. His quest was fruitless.

Unlike European armor, where craftsmen can reproduce the suits from existing artifacts, in China, there is not enough armor to study because the military aristocracy disappeared after the Song Dynasty (960-1279) without leaving a real legacy.

"I thought maybe I could make a suit myself. I went to several temples and caves in northern China, where many sculptures and paintings of ancient armor were preserved, and spent many years collecting the right materials," Wen said.

He made careful drawings of every detail of each suit of armor he saw, noting the structure, texture and color. Sometimes he became over-involved in his work, once even becoming trapped overnight in the Huayan Temple, a 1,000-year-old building in Shanxi province, as he didn't realize it was closing.

In 2008, Wen started making his first Song Dynasty-style panoply, a suit comprising fish-scale armor. It took nearly a year to finish the more than 3,000 pieces. After that, came dozens of processes, including extrusion, rolling, and hot and cold forging with a mixture of copper and iron.

Six years later, Wen finished the replica. The 25 kilograms of armor covered with silver gilt metal was the first successful combat suit he had completed after more than 300 failed attempts.

"However, a perfect suit of armor should not only accord with historical fact, but must be wearable in simulations of battles, and you need to test your armor with a 'cold' weapon (an ax, blade or hammer) to ensure that it is more than just ornamental," he said, adding that buhurt players test every suit he makes.

He is China's leading craftsman in the manufacture of replica armor from the Tang (618-907) and Song dynasties, charging about 5,000 yuan ($708) per suit.

Wen also made the impressive, delicate armor that featured in the hit web series The Longest Day in Chang'an, a 48-episode historical suspense drama about an imprisoned former detective and a Taoist priest who join forces to stop a terrorist attack on Chang'an, China's capital during the Tang Dynasty.

"I am pleased that my efforts have seen more people become interested in this culture," he said.

"Now, the few original buhurt fighters have grown into dozens or even hundreds, and some of them have not only bought armor from me but have even started making it with me."