Over the years of my training i have come to see many different kinds of chinese weapons through tournaments... and one thing seems to be almost a regularity is that the weapons bend... how much they bend varies but they all have some bend to them... ive been told that this is to slightly off set and confuse your enemy, yet when i watch a kata and see a thrust in which the sword goes "pshshshshsh" i seem to doubt the practicality of it... i know there must be a reason and it must work otherwise they wouldnt make it... but i just cant find it, so i was hoping somebody could shed some light on why chinese weapons bend

Traditional Chinese weapons were much more heavy. What you usually see in tournaments are wushu weapons made out of spring steel or aluminum.

http://www.wle.com/antiques/ANT002.html Some day when I win the lottery I'd like to buy one of these.

Traditional Chinese weapons were much more heavy. What you usually see in tournaments are wushu weapons made out of spring steel or aluminum.

http://www.wle.com/antiques/ANT002.html Some day when I win the lottery I'd like to buy one of these.

Oh, yeah, now that's a weapon!

I think most of today's weapons are thin and flexible for the purpose of competition. Lighter=faster=higher score=more trophies.

I think most of today's weapons are thin and flexible for the purpose of competition. Lighter=faster=higher score=more trophies.

We also have materials that were not around even fifty years ago. One of my favorite examples is fiberglass. Given the choice betweeen a say a redwood/rattan/white oak/etc. or fiberglass escrima--I'd go with the fiberglass. It's lighter, allowing for more acceleration (as you mention), thus allowing for more force to be generated. But it also a harder composite than redwood and won't absorb as much of the energy (when compared to a wooden escrima) when it strikes a target.

Oh, yeah, now that's a weapon!

I think most of today's weapons are thin and flexible for the purpose of competition. Lighter=faster=higher score=more trophies.

exactly. spring steel and other wushu grade steel are lighter for competition reasons. I wouldn't reccomend fighting with those. That said, not all chinese weapons bend. My old sifu has an 80lb kwan dao.

80 lbs!? I'd imagine that the chinese weapons kata would be alot different if they were using weapons of that weight!

80 lbs!? I'd imagine that the chinese weapons kata would be alot different if they were using weapons of that weight!

http://www.wushudirect.co.uk/acatalog/Longquan.html

A kwan dao's a bit different than a Chinese Broadsword. We're talking a polearm with a big ol' metal blade on the end of it. It could be used to take the legs out from under horses. They ranged from 10 to 40 pounds, although now days 7-10 would be considered a heavy one. I would imagine that an 80 pounder would be used more for strength training. Bagua uses oversized weapons for training as well.

http://www.whitemountain-tao.com/html/bigs.html

These suckers weigh 5-9 pounds... talk about overkill. I'd like to see how someone with one of these would do in an open tournament.

http://www.whitemountain-tao.com/html/bigs.html

These suckers weigh 5-9 pounds... talk about overkill. I'd like to see how someone with one of these would do in an open tournament.

Holy cow! That is huge!

Actually, 5 to 9 pounds is probably about right for that size of weapon. I think that typically it would be wielded in two hands.

On a side note, did you know that the standard wieght of the medieval longsword was only about 3 lbs?

a side question that relates to the topic: Are the tassles on alot of the chinese weapons really meant to confuse an opponent? I'd imagine that they are more of a recent addition for show, but I know very little about CMA weapons...

a side question that relates to the topic: Are the tassles on alot of the chinese weapons really meant to confuse an opponent? I'd imagine that they are more of a recent addition for show, but I know very little about CMA weapons...

No, not really. The tassels were used more to absorb the blood on the blade, to stop it from running down the handle of the weapon, and affecting the wielder's grip.