Shao Lin Gun (少林棍)

Drawing of a Shao Lin Gun, from 'Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》)'.

Named after the famous Shaolin Monastery, Shao Lin Gun (少林棍, Shaolin quarterstaff) was a simple quarterstaff measuring eight chi to eight chi five cun in length and two and a half to three jin in weight. It was usually slightly longer than Da Bang (大棒), another Chinese quarterstaff, but lighter. There was also an iron version of Shao Lin Gun, which was one chi shorter, but weighed five times as much as the wooden version.

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Da Bang (大棒) and Jia Dao Gun (夾刀棍)

A Da Bang and a detached Ya Zui, from 'Ji Xiao Xin Shu (《紀效新書》)'.

Da Bang (大棒, 'Big club' or 'Big staff'), also known as Gun (棍, staff) or Bai Bang (白棒, 'White club' or 'White staff'), was the Chinese version of quarterstaff. It measured seven chi in length and three jin eight liang in weigh. The Chinese had a long history of using quarterstaff as battlefield weapon, especially in Northwest China.

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