Swordsmanship
山寨刀

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A Brief Introduction

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Good Gongfu in China is becoming rarer and rarer.. Swordsmanship skills have all but died out. Master Zou Jianhua (邹建华) has always believed that proficiency in weapons use was historically more important than unarmed fighting and remains relevant to this day. “If I handed the MMA champion of the world a sword and he wasn’t versed in its use I would carve him up easily”, he maintains. With that thought in mind he hunted down as many masters that possessed this ancient knowledge as he could during his lengthy journey across China.

His main mentor, Grandmaster Li Chenghong (李承鸿), was like a surgeon with the Jian, the Chinese double-edged sword. He taught Zou Shifu using a hard, yet flexible type of reed that was often used to make feather dusters. They had no safety equipment, so they trained in winter, wearing a thick winter coat, gloves and a wool hat. Injuries were common. He was also taught how to use various other single-handed Chinese sabres, the two-handed Baguadao and the spear.

After Grandmaster Li passed away, Zou Shifu continued to learn other weapons such as the Miaodao, a long two-handed sabre, and the Biangun, a short

waxwood staff that is thirteen fists long. The latter was taught to him by a village

in Shaanxi province that had inherited the skill from a long line of caravan bodyguards. He brought three goats with him as a tuition fee. The dagger

(hidden in the unarmed system) was not neglected either, nor bayonets, which

he familiarised himself with during his tenure as an army combatives instructor.

Though unique in their own ways, all of these weapons share many similarities and, indeed, many of the techniques overlap. Zou Shifu firmly believes that it is important that one trains to transcend styles or specific weapon types. Training unarmed skills should improve armed fighting and vice versa. Still, over years of testing his skills against many a fighter, he has drawn some conclusions that lead to the development of Shanzhaidao (山寨刀) – an art that combines the skills of all of these disparate weapons into one easy-to-learn sabre system to be taught alongside Shanzhaiquan, the unarmed combat system.

The sabre has some advantages over the double-edged straight sword, such as being more durable, easier to cut with and less difficult to forge. One can also press down on the back of the blade, which is blunt and wider than that of the Jian to add power or control the opponent’s sword. Combat with the Dao isn't refined posturing and pointing, a scholarly pursuit, but a brutal affair of

quick slashes, cleaving cuts and the occasional well-timed thrust.

The techniques are also more easily transferable to other weapons such as baseball bats, umbrellas and walking canes due to the point of balance being further up the blade and because the power comes from the waist, which results in larger, but more powerful motions. Most of the techniques can be used either one-handed or two-handed and knowing how and when to change between them is one of the most important tactics of the system.

The type of sabre that is most able to utilise all of Shanzhaidao's many

techniques and strategies is the Dadao (大刀), which was still wielded on the battlefield as recently as World War II. Not a weapon of grace or elegance,

the savage cleaving cuts that it dealt struck fear into the hearts of the invading Japanese. To properly wield such a top-heavy blade the body must be re-trained to move as a whole. A Dadao towards the lighter end of the spectrum, that can still be comfortably swung with one hand for a short duration, is preferable, as this allows for greater versatility. The uniquely Chinese design also allowed the user to grip the widest portion of the blade during close encounters.

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Zou Shifu learned his swordsmanship from some of the last masters that still knew how to apply it in fencing. Many details and nuances can only be learned through experience and fencing a lot is critical to mastering the art, just as sparring is for unarmed combat.  When Maarten first asked to learn sword fighting his Master told him that this training had been painful and dangerous and that he wouldn’t wish it upon anyone, so several years passed by

before the subject was again broached..

Maarten had already left Guilin for over a year and was living in Manchuria, all the way on the Russian border in Heilongjiang province, when his Master called him back to learn his sabre art. They now had the equipment to safely fence and it didn’t take much convincing before Maarten was back at it again. This ended up being the most brutal training yet and they fought every single day until Maarten graduated, which was a grueling right of passage where he fenced most of his fellow disciples one after the other for hours on end, simulating the fatigue of fighting on a battlefield, and finally emerged victorious, marking the end

of this challenging, but rewarding period of his life.

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At a time when most weapons arts have turned into fancy games of tag or

martial dances, Shanzhaidao offers something unique; a complete system of authentic swordsmanship designed to teach you how to fight. The fact that it can easily be applied to other weapons, edged or not, ensures that it will remain relevant for many years to come. Due to the increased rarity of this knowledge, Maarten has decided to focus his energy on promoting and spreading the art of the Chinese Sabre, thus preserving it for future generations!