page_title: Chinese polearms
section_title: Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BC)
hierarchical_section_title: Chinese polearms / Spring and Autumn period (771–476 BC)
caption_attribution_description: English: A Late Warring States Period dagger-axe on display at the Shanghai Museum in Shanghai, China.Français&#160;: Extrémité en bronze d'une hallebarde ge de la fin de la période des "Royaumes combattants.. Musée de Shanghai
context_page_description: The three most common types of Chinese polearms are the ge, qiang, and ji. They are translated into English as dagger-axe, spear, and halberd. Dagger-axes were originally a short slashing weapon with a 0.9 to 1.8 m long shaft, but around the 4th century BC a spearhead was added to the blade, and it became a halberd. The spear is also sometimes called a mao, which is sometimes used to designate polearms with a wavy snake-like spearhead. There was another polearm weapon known as the pi, translated into English as either sword-staff or long lance, that was used from ancient times until the Han dynasty. It was essentially a short sword attached to a stick. From the Warring States period onward, the length of Chinese polearms varied from around 2.8 m to 5.5 m, however there is no specific designation for a pike in the traditional Chinese lexicon. A very long spear is just called a long spear.
context_section_description: By the late Spring and Autumn period, jians lengthened to about 56 cm. At this point at least some soldiers used the jian rather than the dagger-axe due to its greater flexibility and portability.
  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. By around 500 BC however the sword and shield combination began to be regarded as superior to the spear and dagger-axe.
caption: Scythed dagger-axe
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