"Ratio" of weapons of "civilian" S.Chinese... ?

KuKulzA28 · 12th January 2011, 02:33 AM

I was wondering the other day, what the ratios were of the weapons amongst the civilians in Southern China / Taiwan? The time period would be around 1600-1800... a period of continued Southern Chinese seafaring, piracy, and colonizing of Taiwan and other SE Asian islands...

Classic Chinese weapons of the time can be roughly divided into the Staff, Spear, Dao, Jian, Bows/Crossbows, and Guns. There were different length staves for different heights and styles of martial arts. Spearheads varied greatly, though the tradition somewhat leaf-shaped form is pretty common throughout the world. Dao could be divided into sabers (which can be further divided) and big knives (such as baat jaam do), as well as two-handed choppers and pole-arms. Jian could be short, long, ring-pommeled villager swords, or even high-class "scholar's swords". Bows... did Chinese still used their traditional bow at this time or did the Manchurian bow already displace the native one? I know in Taiwan they had bows, but not sure which style... Crossbows seem to have been common in the military - but amongst civilians? Firearms were definitely known, and used by the military in the North, and used by frontiersmen, pirates, and traded to aborigines - but how common were they? Seems like pirates had great stores of them... And of course other weapons like maces, axes, chain-whips, etc. were probably rarer than swords right? They don't seem to be as glorified or common as the other weapons.

I'm just trying to get an idea of what the dispersal of weapons was like for non-military men of the day. The staff would've been a common civilian weapon, and the spear a common weapon overall... What about the dao and jian? Since they're swords, probably less common, yes? What about Bows, crossbows, and firearms?

My guess is that a variety of staves, spears, polearms, and long knives were probably the most common, followed by swords, bows, and guns, and then all the other more exotic stuff. But truthfully I am limited of knowledge, and I am just guessing based on logic.

If any of the experts here can help shed some light on this matter, I'd greatly appreciate it.

12th January 2011, 02:33 AM	#1
KuKulzA28 Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: between work and sleep Posts: 731	"Ratio" of weapons of "civilian" S.Chinese... ? I was wondering the other day, what the ratios were of the weapons amongst the civilians in Southern China / Taiwan? The time period would be around 1600-1800... a period of continued Southern Chinese seafaring, piracy, and colonizing of Taiwan and other SE Asian islands... Classic Chinese weapons of the time can be roughly divided into the Staff, Spear, Dao, Jian, Bows/Crossbows, and Guns. There were different length staves for different heights and styles of martial arts. Spearheads varied greatly, though the tradition somewhat leaf-shaped form is pretty common throughout the world. Dao could be divided into sabers (which can be further divided) and big knives (such as baat jaam do), as well as two-handed choppers and pole-arms. Jian could be short, long, ring-pommeled villager swords, or even high-class "scholar's swords". Bows... did Chinese still used their traditional bow at this time or did the Manchurian bow already displace the native one? I know in Taiwan they had bows, but not sure which style... Crossbows seem to have been common in the military - but amongst civilians? Firearms were definitely known, and used by the military in the North, and used by frontiersmen, pirates, and traded to aborigines - but how common were they? Seems like pirates had great stores of them... And of course other weapons like maces, axes, chain-whips, etc. were probably rarer than swords right? They don't seem to be as glorified or common as the other weapons. I'm just trying to get an idea of what the dispersal of weapons was like for non-military men of the day. The staff would've been a common civilian weapon, and the spear a common weapon overall... What about the dao and jian? Since they're swords, probably less common, yes? What about Bows, crossbows, and firearms? My guess is that a variety of staves, spears, polearms, and long knives were probably the most common, followed by swords, bows, and guns, and then all the other more exotic stuff. But truthfully I am limited of knowledge, and I am just guessing based on logic. If any of the experts here can help shed some light on this matter, I'd greatly appreciate it.