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Chinese Concealed Weapons
Chinese Concealed Weapons are weapons that have been used by the Chinese for self-protection and close combats throughout the history of China. It comprises of various kinds of weapon prototypes and weapon combinations and they are dangerous as they can be concealed within the clothes and body of an individual and strike others with surprise.

Background
Countries such as China have a broad range of terrains; it has desserts, mountains, plateaus, as well as other terrains. It was these geographical locations that led to the production of substantial disparities in the evolution of the local Chinese cultures. However, Chinese ethnic traditions and physical traits differ from one area to another, and this is what formed the difference in the weapon developed in ancient times in China. Also, Chinese cultural backgrounds and lifestyles contributed significantly to the types of concealed weaponry used in ancient China (Zhenqiang, 2018). For instance, the warmer water and the widespread bodies of water in the Southern regions of China formed better swimming and fighting backgrounds in water for the northern inhabitants, and in this, it was easier to use most of the concealed weapons. Martial artists often used concealed weapons in the ancient times, and well-trained martial artists would carry at least three types of weapons. Among the three weapons, there was supposed to be a hidden weapon in their bodies such as a whip, dagger in their boots, or iron chain in their belt. These concealed weapons were to be used in events where the martial artist’s primary weapon was lost during the war. Also, the hidden weapons were to be used in instances of surprise attacks, or when fighting at long distance (Zhenqiang, 2018).

History
The booming development of the Chinese Concealed Weapons took place after the Song and Yuan Dynasty. When the nomadic peoples such as the Norther Jurchen and the Khitan were fighting against the Song Dynasty. They found out that it was inconvenient for soldiers to use long weapons during the war. Therefore, many hidden and concealed weapons were invented such as flying claws, reciting, and plowing guns. The appearance of the Mongols made full use of the hidden weapon, such as short javelin, lasso, flying knife and Qiankun circle. During the war against the Song Dynasty and the Western Expeditions, there concealed weapons were widely used by the army and the effect was obvious during war time. It was hard for Muslims and European people to fight against those tiny weapons by using the long-range weapons. The Ming and Qing Dynasties were the peak period of the development of the Chinese Martial Arts, and it was also the beginning of the invasion of the concealed weapons by the army especially in the Qing Dynasty (Britannica, 2019). The concealed weapons was more popular, and the farmers and peasants and industrials showed off with their concealed weapons .The concealed weapon of the Qing Dynasty could be divided into four categories and is was the same as the modern categories of the concealed weapons: hand throw, machine shoot, cable and spray.

Hand throw
A hand throwing weapon is a kind of utensil that throws an enemy with the strength of the arm. The main hand throw concealed weapon is a transformation of javelin, also known as shooting. It was used as a general weapon in ancient Greece and Rome. But the kind of javelin is very long and heavy, and it is similar to the javelin in today’s sports competition. It is not in the scope of the concealed weapon. The source of Chinese javelin is the shuttle gun used by the southern minority groups and it was made of bamboo. The other is that the Mongolians use a short javelin, more than one meter long, and put in the side pockets on the horse which is more flexible than the bows in melee combat (Yang,2019).This weapon was later shortened to the Qing Dynasty. Generally, the average size used by a knight is only a pound and a half, but it is only one meter long. The gun is made of wood, the tip is made of iron, and it is also made of pure iron. But it will not be heavier than five pounds. Most people can bring four with them. The skilled person could hit the target in 50 steps and bring a big impact to the enemy.

Cable
The cable hitting device is to hold the object at one end of the cable and the other end is held in the hand. The force of the arm is used to cause the cable striker to shoot a type of concealed weapon to the enemy in a tangential direction by the inertia of the motion. A net made of cotton rope, similar to throwing a fishing net when used. This will catch your opponent and they could not break from the inside. Although there are many types of concealed weapons, the hand throw and the cable system are appearing in the extensive confrontation between the cavalry and the infantry. In the immediate fight with the infantry, it is too slow to use bow and it will occupy both hands to use a bow. Once the infantry is fast, it is too late to use a bow to fight back. The concealed weapons used by one hand just makes up for these shortcomings. The development of the machine and drug spray later is the result of many improvements in the martial arts after the popularization of the hidden weapon. The development of the hidden weapon is an indispensable part of the development of the ancient Chinese cold weapons. This short and refined weapon type born out of the ancient large-scale combat weapons is a great significance for studying the history of ancient Chinese weapons history.

Machine Shoot
This is a type of concealed weapon that uses to shoot by a transmitter. The most common are the sleeve arrows and the back arrows. The so-called sleeve arrow is named after being hidden in the sleeve. It can be divided into two types: single tube and multiple tube. The cylinder of the sleeve arrow is cast from copper or iron with a hollow inner portion. A butterfly-shaped steel piece is placed on the cylinder cover to cover a circular hold, and the steel sheet acts as a trigger. The sleeve arrow body is about 24cm long and is made of bamboo. The arrow is loaded into the cylinder from the small hole of the cylinder over, and the spring in the cylinder is compressed. When in use, as soon as the steel piece is opened, the arrow is wounded by the force of the elastic force, and its range is determined by the force of the spring. The multi-tube sleeve arrow is generally six cylinders, so it is also called ‘plum sleeve arrow’. The working of the machine shoot is similar to the gun in present.

Spray
It is a concealed weapon that sprays poison or weapon with mechanical force or gunpowder force. Most of the spray is used to shoot poison or small shape stones in order to hurt the short-range enemy. This concealed weapon could not meet the need of long-range combat.

Dagger
In ancient China, daggers were used primarily for self-protection and were not used primarily for close encounters. A dagger was used as a throwing weapon and was used in cases where it was hard preventing the enemy from closing or when a primary weapon had been misplaced or lost. This type of weapon comprised of a shorter balder attached to a longer handle (Douglas, 2016). They were commonly used because they were easy to carry around and in a variety of situations where slicing and chopping were to be applied.

Whip chain dart
The Whip chain dart was used in the Chinese martial arts especially in the Chinese traditional disciplines. It comprises of many joined metal rods to form a complete flexible chain. At one end the whip has a handle, and the other end is comprised of a metal dart. The metal dart functioned as a weapon of piercing or slashing an enemy when fighting. Both ends of the chain whip are covered by flags to add a visual appeal when the whip swings in the air (Kovandzic, Marvell&Veraitis, 2015). The flags were used to stabilize the entire whip as well as preventing instances of fighters striking themselves as this weapon moves faster to be recognized.

The Flying Claw
The flying claw was used to capture an enemy during the war and throw them off balance. It is one of the hidden, soft, and flexible weapons that were used during the martial arts. It falls under the same category with the chain whip, and it uses a spring mechanism that makes it easier to open and close when the tether is pulled and pushed to attach the foe during the war. However, this type of weapon varies significantly in the length of the chain or the rope used. Also, this type of a weapon is closely related to a rope dart. It was used to catch a running enemy and climbing walls during the fights in ancient days (Bennett et al., 2016).

Javelin
The Javelin was denoted as a very light spear that can be thrown to an enemy in an attack during the traditional attacks, but in today's century, it is used in sports. This type of weapon was thrown by hand, but it never assisted in attaining a greater distance. This type of weapon was used in events where a spear was lost. Therefore, it was primarily used as an alternative to a bow and an arrow or a spear (Yang, 2014). It would mainly cause death when used by Javelin men at every blow.

Poison Needle
Toxins and poisons have been used in China for the longest time and the toxins and poisons were applied to the weapon to make it more lethal. The poison needle was used as a hidden weapon to get foes dead quickly during warfare. One might choose to shoot their enemy using a needle out of their mouth. Poison weapons were prevalent in Chinese warfare. For instance, the fighters and the warriors made use of the poison arrows, spears, and darts (Douglas, 2016). They would make use of poison secreted from the skin of poisonous frogs and curare.

The sling
The sixth concealed weapon used in China during the ancient days was the sling. It is denoted as a projectile weapon used in dispensing a blunt projectile such as clay, and stone. It is also denoted as a shepherd’s sling and has a small space or pouch in the middle of 2 lengths’ cord. This type of weapon was easy to establish during the time and was inexpensive as well. Thus, it was used in combat and warfare. However, in the modern days, a sling is used as an improvised weapon as well as a wilderness survival tool. The length of the sling depends on the average range the user wanted to hit their foes in combat. Therefore, longer slings are primarily used when the fight happens on a greater range. The centre pouch or cradle was made mostly from the same material used to make the cords or at times it was made of a different material such as leather. During the combat, the preferable projectile was a smooth stone probably from the nearest river (Zhenqiang, 2018). Also, the clay would be used to make projectiles and this provided room for moulding different sizes and shapes.

Reference
1.Bennett, Matthew et al., (2016). Fighting Techniques of the Medieval World: Equipment, Combat Skills and Tactics, Thomas Dunne Books. 2.Britannica, T. E. (2019, March 14). Qing dynasty. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Qing-dynasty 3.Douglas H.Y (2016). Ancient Chinese hidden weapons. Distributor, McLisa Enterprises 152 Pages. 4.Kovandzic TV, Marvell TB, &Veraitis LM (2015). The impact of “Shall Issue” concealed carry handgun laws on violent crime rates: evidence from panel data from large cities. Homicide Studies 2015; 9:292-323 5.Yang J (2014). Ancient Chinese Weapons. A martial artist’s guide. YMAA Publication Center. 6.Yang, J. (2019, February 15). Ancient Chinese Weapons. Retrieved from https://ymaa.com/articles/ancient-chinese-weapons 7.Zhenqiang, P(2018)A Study of China’s No-First-Use Policy on Nuclear Weapons,Journal for Peace and Nuclear Disarmament,1:1,115-136,DOI:10.1080/25751654.2018.1458415