Some thoughts on why Chinese never developed complex hilts on their swords

Extant jian probably dated to Ming period.

"Why Chinese/Japanese/other cultures never developed complex hilt" is a question that seems to be brought up fairly often. In honesty, this question feels quite Eurocentric to me, as it presuppose the development of European-style complex hilt as the natural and superior evolution of sword design, while in reality complex hilt appeared quite late and was more of an exception rather than the norm. The question should be rephrased "Why no one but Renaissance Europeans developed complex hilts", given that most non-European complex hilted swords such as Indian Khanda (खंडा) and Chinese Hu Die Dao (蝴蝶刀, butterfly sword) were likely influenced/inspired by European designs and not of local development.

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Interesting parallels between Chao Xian Shi Fa (朝鮮勢法) and European swordsmanship

**Disclaimer**

I do not practise martial arts, but I do love to read about them. That being said, I am aware that researching martial arts based on scholarly texts alone is totally insufficient. There might be mistakes and oversights in this blog post that will be immediately noticeable by someone trained in HEMA or Chinese martial arts, but oblivious to someone that doesn't. If you happen to find one (or more), feel free to correct me in the comment section.

Recently I took a more in-depth look into Ming period martial arts, particularly swordsmanship, and found many interesting parallels between Chinese and European systems.

Recorded in seventeenth century military treatise Wu Bei Zhi (《武備志》), Chao Xian Shi Fa (朝鮮勢法, lit. 'Joseon stance techniques') is the only surviving Ming period martial arts that teaches two-handed jian techniques. Mao Yuan Yi (茅元儀), the author of Wu Bei Zhi, claimed that he acquired the manual from Korea, but later contradicted himself by stating that he acquired the manual "across the sea*".

*Note: China and Korea are connected by land.

Although Chao Xian Shi Fa was named after Korea, there's a high probability that it had a Chinese origin, based on the following evidences:

• Some of the terms in the manual show heavy trace of Song and Yuan period language practise.
• Korean martial arts manuals that predate Wu Bei Zhi, such as Muyejebo (《무예제보》 or 《武藝諸譜》), make no mention of Chao Xian Shi Fa. In fact, Muyejebo only records imported Chinese martial arts.
• The author of Muyejebo explicitly stated that Koreans had no other martial arts (or had lost all of their martial arts) other than archery. 
• The author of Muyedobotongji (《무예도보통지》 or 《武藝圖譜通志》), an eighteenth century Korean martial arts manual that contains Chao Xian Shi Fa, denied both of Mao Yuan Yi's claims. He went on to suggest that Mao Yuan Yi wrote the manual himself but falsely attributed it to the Koreans.

A brief introduction to the stances of Chao Xian Shi Fa
The stances of Chao Xian Shi Fa can be categorised into Ji (擊, strike), Ci (刺, thrust), Ge (格, guard) and Xi (洗, wash) techniques. However, not all stances are categorised, some stances are recorded but not explained, and some stances are mentioned in the explanation of other stances but found nowhere else.

There is a total of twenty-four illustrated stances in Chao Xian Shi Fa, most of which I found equivalent stances in European swordsmanship. However, this does not necessary mean that Chinese swordsmanship is compatible or even comparable with European swordsmanship, as Chinese jian lacks the large crossguard found on European longsword which is integral to many binds, strikes and parries in longsword fencing.

Note that the while I use "stance" as the translation for Chinese term Shi (勢), it is not a perfect translation. In martial arts term, Chinese shi is different from the concept of "Guard" in European swordsmanship or "Kamae (構え)" in Japanese swordsmanship. A more literal (but still inaccurate in this context) translation for shi would be "momentum" or "form".

(Special thanks to zigzagmax for pointing out my error on Shi (勢). Although I can't read Japanese, several books quoted in his article are written in Chinese. Checking out those books is enough to make me realise my error.)


Stances that are exact or near exact match

You Jia Shi (右夾勢, lit. 'Right flanking stance') and right Pflug (Plow) guard

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