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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Yu Da You's Du Lun Che (獨輪車) — Part 3

Circling up the wagons

Defensive formation of war wagons was fairly straightforward: war wagons were deployed into a rectangle or circle to form a makeshift fortification. However, owing to its lighter weight, the war carts of Yu Da You (俞大猷) could maintain some mobility even after a defensive circle was formed. This was very crucial to Yu Da You's war cart regiment, as Mongol horsemen were simply too fast and too unpredictable. A mobile defensive circle was a temporary defensive formation that protected the army so that it could relocate to a favourable position and deploy into a proper wagon fort.

Yu Da You drafted the following formations based on a medium sized battlegroup consisted of seven Xiao Ying (小營), or ninety-one war carts.

Battlegroup on the march: War cart battlegroup formed into a long column, with mounted scouts riding ahead and behind the formation.

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Yu Da You's Du Lun Che (獨輪車) — Part 2

Yu Da You (俞大猷) organised his war cart regiment to be able to functions at different tactical levels. The smallest military unit in Yu Da You's war cart regiment capable of independent operations was Xiao Ying (小營, small battalion), consisted of thirteen war carts.

Small Unit Tactics

Yu Da You's war cart formation (small) at its initial position, from 'Zheng Qi Tang Ji (《正氣堂集》)'.

As the smallest operational unit in the war cart regiment, Xiao Ying was geared towards small scale engagement, namely to engage and defeat small numbers of Mongol skirmishers or raiders looking for plunder. As such, mobility and firepower were far more important than forming impenetrable defensive formation to defeat an enemy that frequently employed hit-and-run tactics and would not hesitate to retreat at the first sign of trouble. Xiao Ying did not form into wagon fort (Yu Da You thought that defensive formation should be left for larger unit) but deployed in checkerboard formation to maximise the firepower of Fo Lang Ji (佛狼機) cannons.

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