The 18 Chinese Weapons (十八般兵器)

For the sake of those who are unfamiliar with Chinese martial culture, I feel I should explain why I chose "18 Chinese Weapons" as the title of my blog and what its historical and modern significance is to Chinese martial arts.

The 18 weapons were a list of the most common Chinese weapons used by the Chinese solider or martial artist in ancient times.  The 18 weapons are referenced several times in Chinese literature going back as far as the Song Dynasty, especially in the Chinese classic, "Outlaws of the Marsh" (水滸傳) also known as "The Water Margin".

The original list of 18 weapons changed over time and varied by region and culture, as did the styles of martial arts. So, today, there are several versions of this list of 18 weapons.
The most commonly seen version is the one from the book, "Outlaws of the Marsh."

1. the ancient spear (矛) 
2. the hammer-mace (錘), 
3. the bow (弓),
4. the crossbow (弩), 
5. the firearm (銃), 
6. the hard whip (鞭), 
7. the mace/iron slip (鐧), 
8. the jian sword (劍), 
9. the chain whip (鏈鞭), 
10. the pole-pick (撾), 
11. the hatchet (斧), 
12. the yue, or great axe (鉞), 
13. the ge, or dagger-axe (戈), 
14. the ji, or halberd (戟), 
15. the shield (盾牌), 
16. the club (棒), 
17. the spear (槍), 
18. the trident (叉).

(Note: Most of these weapons appear on this blog, all except the dagger-axe, firearm, club, and shield, which I substituted with weapons from other lists that I felt were more important. There are dozens of other Chinese weapons that are not part of the 18. Let me know in the comments if you want to see a post about any of them.)

Another version appears in the book, "Wǔzázǔ" (五雜俎) written by Ming Dynasty author Líng Méngchū (凌濛初).

There was even a Shaw Brothers film about the 18 weapons, and was released in 1982, with the English title "Legendary Weapons of China."

Legendary Weapons of China 

Aspiring Chinese martial artists were regarded as masterful warriors if they were able to achieve a level of proficiency in the use of the 18 weapons. Mastery of the 18 weapons came to be seen as a standard of excellence a martial artist would strive to achieve.

It is both fascinating and sad to note that the Chinese Martial arts of the modern day use very few of these weapons. Some Kung Fu styles only feature one or two weapons. It is only in the most obscure and rare styles that you see the older, less common weapons.