Pa-Kua and the Study of the Jian (Chinese Sword)

Unlike the dao (刀), which has a single-sided blade, the jian (剑) is the name of the two-bladed Chinese sword which has been used in China for over 2,500 years.

When thinking of Chinese swords, people are most familiar with the extremely flexible swords we’ve seen in Chinese martial arts schools, which are used mainly for the study of martial arts forms. However, this style of sword has a proud history in many battlefields throughout history. While the modern form of the sword is often flexible, at times this was a rigid and robust blade, which was…