WEAPONRY

Historically, weapons were practiced for martial purposes. Their persistence remains to uphold the traditional Chinese martial education while assisting in the development of advanced coordination skills. There are eighteen primary weapons which are used for long, medium and short range application, as well as countless derivatives of these primary weapons. Some examples of traditional Chinese weaponry, used by Novice and Advanced Kung Fu Practitioners, include staff, spear, sword, knife, fan, whip-chain, halberd, double axes, bench, three-sectional staff, projectile weaponry, and many more.Most Chinese styles also make use of training in the broad arsenal of Chinese weapons for conditioning the body as well as coordination and strategic drills. Weapons training is generally carried out after the student shows proficiency in the basics, forms and applications training. The basic theory for weapons training is to consider the weapon as an extension of the body. It has the same requirements for footwork and body coordination as the basics. The process of weapon training proceeds with forms, forms with partners and then applications. There are 18 primary weapons in most systems and have training methods for each.

  1. Dao (sabre, 刀)

  2. Qiang (spear, 槍)

  3. Jian (straight sword, 劍)

  4. Gun (棍) also known as Staff

  5. Halberd (halberd, 戟)

  6. Axe (斧)

  7. Battle axe (鉞)

  8. Hook sword (鉤)

  9. Trident(叉)

  10. Chain whip (鞭) Biān

  11. Mace (鐧)

  12. Hammer (錘)

  13. Talon (抓)

  14. (Trident-halberd)

  15. Long-handled spear (槊) also known as Lance

  16. Short cudgel (棒)

  17. Walking Stick (拐) also known as Crutches, or Tonfa in western-adapted language.

  18. Meteor hammer (流星 Liu xing)