Staff

The staff or Gùn (棍) is an ancient weapon.

It owns up to it's reputation as one of the 4 Great Weapons, and holds the title
"Lord of Weapons" (百兵之主)

However, its history in Chinese does not go back as far as we might think.

Staves had little to no place on the battlefield in Chinese history.

It was mostly used as a training weapon, and a defensive weapon for traveling monks, and civilian martial artists.

Staves were primarily made from wood, and some rare specimens were made of iron (these were called iron rods, or Tiě zhàng 鐵杖). Sometimes martial artists would place iron or bronze tubes at either end, both to protect the staff ends from damage, and to give more punishing blows when used to attack.

The staff is the iconic weapon of the Shaolin warrior monk.

Size and length varied from person to person, and from style to style. On average, staves were about the height of the user, although some preferred eyebrow height, which is called Qí méi gùn (齊眉棍) in Chinese.

Some styles use staves which are longer, such as the Wing Chun 6 and a half poles, (六點半棍) which are about 2.4 meters/8 feet long, or Taijiquan's Shaking Long Pole (抖大桿) which can be up to 5 meters/16.4 feet long!

There are also shorter staves called Bàng (棒).