page_title: Jian
section_title: Historical use
hierarchical_section_title: Jian / Historical use
caption_attribution_description: Jian event at the 10th All China Games. Photo from Wushu One Family, URL: http://w1f.net/photo/10th_all_china_games_and_china05/DSCF0406
context_page_description: The jian is a double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China. The first Chinese sources that mention the jian date to the 7th century, during the Spring and Autumn period; one of the earliest specimens being the Sword of Goujian. Historical one-handed versions have blades varying from 45 to 80 centimeters in length. The weight of an average sword of 70-centimetre blade-length would be in a range of approximately 700 to 900 grams. There are also larger two-handed versions used for training by many styles of Chinese martial arts.
  Professional jian practitioners are referred to as jianke.
  In Chinese folklore, it is known as "The Gentleman of Weapons" and is considered one of the four major weapons, along with the Gùn, Qiang, and the Dao. These swords are also sometimes referred to as taijijian or "tai chi swords", reflecting their current use as training weapons for taijiquan practitioners, though there were no historical jian types created specifically for taijiquan.
context_section_description: Originally similar to bronze double-edged daggers in varying lengths, jian reached modern lengths by roughly 500 BC. Though there is significant variation in length, balance, and weight of the jian from different periods, within any given period the general purpose of the jian is to be a multipurpose cut and thrust weapon capable of stabbing, as well as making both precise cuts and slashes, as opposed to specializing in one form of use. Although the many forms and schools of swordsmanship with the jian vary as well, the general purpose and use is still not lost.
  Historical jian wielders would engage in test cutting called shizhan, practicing their skills on targets known as caoren, or "grass men". Such targets were made from bamboo, rice straw, or saplings. Though similar to the Japanese art of tameshigiri, shizhan was never formalized to the extent that the latter art was.
  Today many Chinese martial arts such as taijiquan and their martial artists still train extensively with jian and expertise in its techniques is said by many of them to be the highest physical expression of their kung fu. Famous jian forms include Sancai Jian (三才劍), Kunwu Jian (崑吾劍), Wudang Xuanmen Jian (武当玄门剑), and Taijijian (太极剑). Most jian today are flexible tai-chi or wushu jian used mainly for ceremonial or performance purposes and not for actual combat. These swords have extremely thin blades or a high degree of flexibility compared to historical battlefield quality jian, properties intended to add auditory and visual appeal to a wushu performance. These same properties render them unsuitable for historically accurate combat.
caption: Wushu jian pair event at the 10th All China games
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