How to deal with Chinese firelance spam?

I'm mostly playing on settler maps, online. I've been playing for a fairly long time, so if i stupidly don't get rushed over or else, I usually put up a good fight, even if the oponent's pretty good. However, it's been about 3 matches that were absolutely impossible to win, even resorting to all kinds of dirty tactics, against a couple of chinese oponents spamming Firelances.

I was both norse and greek against those, and there really was nothing I could do. Isent waves after waves of units against the firelances, to no avail. If these cheeky bastards get close to your buildings, you're done (since they do a shitload of damage against buildings).

What's your strategy against firelance spamming?