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Hook swords, typically used as a pair. The hook sword , twin hooks , fu tao , hu tou gou (tiger head hook) or shuang gou ( Chinese : 鈎 or 鉤 ; pinyin : Gōu ) is a Chinese weapon traditionally associated with northern styles of Chinese martial arts and Wushu weapons routines , but now often practiced by southern styles as well.
The three most common types of Chinese polearms are the ge (戈), qiang (槍), and ji (戟). They are translated into English as dagger-axe, spear, and halberd. [1] Dagger-axes were originally a short slashing weapon with a 0.9–1.8 m (2 ft 11 in – 5 ft 11 in) long shaft, but around the 4th century BC a spearhead was added to the blade, and it became a halberd.
Deer horn knives are especially associated with the soft style Chinese martial art Baguazhang, which is known for its diverse weaponry. They are mainly used in trapping an opponent's weapon in aid of tying up or breaking the opponent's weapon, disarming the opponent and other close combat applications.
The word dao is also used in the names of several polearms that feature a single-edged blade, such as the pudao and guandao. The Chinese spear and dao (liuyedao and yanmaodao) were commonly issued to infantry due to the expense of and relatively greater amount of training required for the effective use of the Chinese straight sword, or jian ...
This sickle is similar in appearance to the hook sword and although it is named a dao (saber), it is based on the double-edged sword . There are several variations of this weapon. All have the distinctive hook and chicken "spur" on the head, but the sword blade is sometimes shortened to a small metal pole-arm. It is used for close-quarters combat.
Some butterfly swords had a long narrow blade that emphasized stabbing. While a deadly stabbing blade with a sharpened point—known as "Red Boat" knives—was used by Chinese revolutionaries in the Wing Chun lineage, modern Wing Chun practitioners tend to prefer a blade profile with a wider belly that emphasizes chopping and slashing.
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Historically, Chinese swords are classified into two types, the jian and the dao.A Jian is a straight, double-edged sword mainly used for stabbing, and has been commonly translated into the English language as a longsword; while a dao is a single-edged sword (mostly curved from the Song dynasty forward) mainly used for cutting, and has been translated as a saber or a "knife".