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Eastern Zhou bronze ji. The ji (pronunciation: , English approximation: / dʒ iː / jee, Chinese: 戟; pinyin: jǐ) was a Chinese polearm, sometimes translated into English as spear [1] or halberd, [2] though they are conceptually different weapons.
The three most common types of Chinese polearms are the ge (戈), qiang (槍), and ji (戟). They are translated into English as dagger-axe, spear, and halberd. [1] Dagger-axes were originally a short slashing weapon with a 0.9–1.8 m (2 ft 11 in – 5 ft 11 in) long shaft, but around the 4th century BC a spearhead was added to the blade, and it became a halberd.
A guandao is a type of Chinese polearm that is used in some forms of Chinese martial arts.In Chinese, it is properly called a yanyuedao (偃月刀; lit. "reclining moon blade"), the name under which it always appears [citation needed] in texts from the Song to Qing dynasties such as the Wujing Zongyao and Huangchao Liqi Tushi.
During the Zhou dynasty, the ji or Chinese halberd gradually became more common on the battlefield. The ji was developed from the dagger-axe by adding a spear head to the top of the shaft, thereby enabling the weapon to be used with a thrusting motion as well as a swinging motion.
The halberd was inexpensive to produce and very versatile in battle. As the halberd was eventually refined, its point was more fully developed to allow it to better deal with spears and pikes (and make it able to push back approaching horsemen), as was the hook opposite the axe head, which could be used to pull horsemen to the ground. [7]
Qiang (pronunciation: [tɕʰjáŋ], English approximation: / tʃ j ɑː ŋ / chyahng, simplified Chinese: 枪; traditional Chinese: 槍; pinyin: qiāng; Jyutping: coeng1) is the Chinese term for spear. [1] Due to its relative ease of manufacture, the spear in many variations was ubiquitous on the pre-modern Chinese battlefield.
For example, the word "halberd" is also used to translate the Chinese ji and also a range of medieval Scandinavian weapons as described in sagas, such as the atgeir. As well, all polearms developed from three early tools (the axe, the scythe, and the knife) and one weapon, the spear. [1] In the words of the arms expert Ewart Oakeshott,
Radical 62 or radical halberd (戈部) meaning "halberd" or "spear" is one of the 34 Kangxi radicals (214 radicals in total) composed of 4 strokes. In the Kangxi Dictionary , there are 116 characters (out of 49,030) to be found under this radical .