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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Mao (矛)

Drawing of a Mao, from 'Deng Tang Bi Jiu (《登堂必究》)'.

Mao (矛, spear) is simply another name for Qiang (鎗), and there is no functional difference between a Mao and a Qiang, in fact both terms can be used interchangeably to refer to the same weapon. Nevertheless, Mao was sometimes used to designate a specific type of spear with a snake-like, curvy spearhead, colloquially known as She Mao (蛇矛, snake spear).

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Unique weapon of the Ming Dynasty — Chan (鏟)

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