Chinese polearm

File:Weapons (1496427957).jpg polearms]]

File:Bronze Halberds in Xuzhou Museum 2013-01.JPG

Early handheld weapons included the dagger-axe, a bronze blade mounted at right angles to a {{convert|0.9-1.8|m|abbr=on}} long shaft, and bronze spears roughly {{convert|2.1|m|abbr=on}} in length.{{sfn|Peers|2006|p=19}} The dagger-axe was the first Chinese weapon designed to kill other people. Battles were fought in open formation to allow for the swinging of dagger-axes.{{sfn|Lorge|2011|p=18}}

File:Late Warring States dagger-axe SM.JPG

By the late Spring and Autumn period, jians lengthened to about {{convert|56|cm|abbr=on}}. At this point at least some soldiers used the jian rather than the dagger-axe due to its greater flexibility and portability.{{sfn|Lorge|2011|p=36}}

China started producing steel in the 6th century BC, but it was not until later on that iron and steel implements were produced in useful amounts.{{sfn|Lorge|2011|p=37}} By around 500 BC however the sword and shield combination began to be regarded as superior to the spear and dagger-axe.{{sfn|Peers|2006|p=31}}

By the end of the 4th century BC, dagger-axes with spearheads began to appear, essentially becoming a halberd. Spears and halberds came in two general sizes. One about {{convert|2.8|m|abbr=on}} long and the other around {{convert|5.5|m|abbr=on}} in length, or what would be considered a pike in western terminology.{{sfn|Peers|2006|p=32}} According to Wu Qi, tall men were given bows and arrows while short men spears and halberds.{{sfn|Peers|2006|p=31}}

{{quotation|Halberds and spears marked the rise of mass warfare and the departure of aristocratic dominance of the battlefield. War became the activity of commoners and the knightly class, rather than an arena for proving aristocratic identity. At least in the Warring States period, the halberd and spear were the individual weapons of soldiers fighting en masse, not the individualistic weapons of an outstanding warrior. We have no mention of anyone fighting an individual contest with a halberd or spear, in sharp contrast to battle descriptions of aristocrats shooting at each other with arrows.{{sfn|Lorge|2011|p=45}}|Peter Lorge}}

File:Eastern Zhou Bronze Mao (Spear).jpg|Eastern Zhou bronze spear (qiang)

Warring states spearhead.jpg|A shu (殳): three-edged spearhead with an octagonal end-head from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng

File:Bronze weapons, Marquis Yi’s Tomb of Zeng State, Warring States, Hubei Museum1.jpg|Mace spear from the Tomb of Marquis Yi of Zeng

File:Warring States Bronze Pi.jpg|Warring States lance (pi)

File:郳公戈03560.jpg|Dagger-axe (ge, 戈)

File:Bronze trident, Warring States period, Hubei Museum.jpg|Triple dagger-axe

File:Weapons (1505157164).jpg halberd, Han dynasty]]

File:漢朝鉞戟 (51581179762).jpg

File:Han Iron Fish Fork & Hammer (9979127134).jpg

The jian was mentioned as one of the "Five Weapons" during the Han dynasty, the other four being dao, spear, halberd, and staff. Another version of the Five Weapons lists the bow and crossbow as one weapon, the jian and dao as one weapon, in addition to halberd, shield, and armour.{{sfn|Lorge|2011|p=68}}

During the Battle of Zhizhi in 36 BC, the Chinese deployed their troops in three sections, with men carrying 'great shields' in front, spearmen behind them, and crossbowmen in the rear.{{sfn|Peers|2006|p=146}}

An account of Duan Jiong's tactical formation in 167 AD specifies that he arranged "three ranks of halberds (長鏃 changzu), swordsmen (利刃 liren) and spearmen (長矛 changmao), supported by crossbows (強弩 qiangnu), with light cavalry (輕騎 jingji) on each wing."{{sfn|Crespigny|2017|p=157}}

{{quotation|The characters zu and mao both indicate lances or spears, but I suspect the changzu may have had two blades or points. Such weapons, commonly identified as 戟 ji, but also as 鈹 pi and 錟 tan, have been known from early times. Some bronze horsemen found in the tomb at Leitai 雷台 by present-day Wuwei are armed with halberds. An alternative rendering for changzu would be “javelin,” but javelins were not common

in ancient China.{{sfn|Crespigny|2017|p=157}}|Rafe de Crespigny}}

File:Bronze Weapons from Tomb -3 (10112860776).jpg|Spear and glaive polearm, Han dynasty

File:Han Iron Halberd.jpg|Axe halberd (yuejihttps://www.easyatm.com.tw/wiki/%E9%89%9E%E6%88%9FNote: Yueji is a term used in the present time to differentiate this weapon from the regular ji) variant, Han dynasty

File:漢朝鉞戟 (51582230188).jpg|Han axe halberd (yueji)

File:Han Iron Halberd, Han Tomb of Liu Wu, King of Chu (10084945133).jpg|One piece ji, Han dynasty

File:Bronze Spear from the Tomb of the King of Chu, Shizi Mountain Xuzhou Jiangsu Western Han 2nd century BCE MH.jpg|Sword-staff/lance (pi), Han dynasty

File:中國古代鎩 (51582230103).png|Spear with a mini trident guard known as sha (鎩)

File:中國古代鎩 (51582230073).jpg|A sha spear

File:3K spearhead and caltrops.jpg

Halberds became less common during the Three Kingdoms period due to its weight in comparison to the spear. However idiosyncratic weapons such as double ended halberds, one handed halberds, or paired halberds are mentioned to have been used by noteworthy warriors in their biographies.{{sfn|Lorge|2011|p=78-79}}

Spear throwing was uncommon among Chinese troops, but was practiced by tribesmen in northwestern China during the 3rd and 4th centuries.{{sfn|Peers|2006|p=79}}

File:Li Shou Tomb, Tang, 630 AD (9913067685).jpg, 7th century]]

According to Tang texts, spearmen were all supposed to carry a bow and crossbowmen to be armed with halberds for self-defense, but it is unclear how well this worked in practice.{{sfn|Peers|2006|p=118}}

File:Weapons (1504313613).jpg or Yuan dynasty guandao, an anti-cavalry glaive weapon]]

Song texts recommend using both mixed and non-mixed units. The practice of deploying crossbowmen in combination with shields and spears was common, but the Wujing Zongyao recommends that crossbowmen make up their own units and defeat enemies through firepower alone.{{sfn|Peers|2006|p=187}} Spears were also combined with gunpowder tubes to create the fire lance.{{sfn|Peers|2006|p=184}}

File:Pole hook, axe, bladed lance with pommel, scratch lance, projecting lance with pommel, scratch lance wjzy.jpg|Various polearm weapons in the Wujing Zongyao

File:Maces wjzy.jpg|Various spiked maces and hook weapons in the Wujing Zongyao

File:Northern song Cavalry.jpg|Song lancers

File:Spear MET 36.25.2061 003feb2015.jpg

Qi Jiguang deployed his soldiers in a 12-man 'mandarin duck' formation, which consisted of four pikemen, two men carrying daos with a great and small shield, two 'wolf brush' wielders, a rearguard officer, and a porter. A rearguard of two men with three-pronged fire-lances [later replaced by musketeers], an officer, and a porter, completed the squad. This arrangement may seem rather inefficient, with only one man in three actually equipped for offensive action, but in the context of Qi's isolated command, with plenty of peasant manpower available but no capacity for manufacturing sophisticated weapons, it was no doubt a logical approach.{{sfn|Peers|2006|p=203-204}}

File:宋代刀八色與明代刀器.png|Ming dynasty glaives and sabers

File:Mandarin Duck Formation.jpg|Qi Jiguang's 'mandarin duck formation' in standby and combat.

File:Imperial Encyclopaedia - Military Administration - pic550 - 狼筅圖.svg|Bamboo wolf brush stick

File:Ming mace and axe cavalry.jpg|Ming dynasty mounted mace bearers and halberdiers

File:Liang Bing (俍兵).jpg|Southern "wolf troop" mercenaries carrying hooks and glaive weapons

File:Koxinga's soldier.jpg|Dutch depiction of a Ming soldier holding a glaive weapon

• Chinese armour
• Chinese siege weapons

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{{Chinese weapons}}

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Category:Chinese polearms

Category:Chinese martial arts

Category:Weapons of China