A question of Chinese Pole arms

Philip · 23rd March 2008, 03:04 AM

"Kek" is one of the southern Chinese dialectic terms meaning "halberd". The Cantonese say "gok". In Mandarin, it's "ge" ("ko" in the Wade-Giles romanization, and so used in many of the older books dealing with classical Chinese art and culture). In ancient times, the "ge" was a bronze dagger-axe, a sickle-like blade attached to a wooden pole.

By the Ming Dynasty, the "ge" had morphed into a polearm comprised of a spear, with a SINGLE crescent blade mounted points-out from two short lateral brackets springing out of the solid steel shaft between the spear blade and the pole-socket. It has an uncanny resemblance to the crescentic-bladed halberds used in Europe at about the time of the Spanish conquest of America, and later events. However, I doubt that there is Euro. influence on the "ge" since similar weapons are shown in Song Dynasty texts, albeit by different names.

A weapon as described above but with a PAIR of addorsed crescents,one on each side of the spear, is called "ji" (partizane). The name of the weapon is a homophone for "auspicious"; you see court paintings of royal progeny playing with toy partizanes and shooting off firecrackers on New Year's Day. A stand of "ji" represents someone who has attained the rank of an officer.

23rd March 2008, 03:04 AM	#6
Philip Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: California Posts: 1,036	"Kek" "Kek" is one of the southern Chinese dialectic terms meaning "halberd". The Cantonese say "gok". In Mandarin, it's "ge" ("ko" in the Wade-Giles romanization, and so used in many of the older books dealing with classical Chinese art and culture). In ancient times, the "ge" was a bronze dagger-axe, a sickle-like blade attached to a wooden pole. By the Ming Dynasty, the "ge" had morphed into a polearm comprised of a spear, with a SINGLE crescent blade mounted points-out from two short lateral brackets springing out of the solid steel shaft between the spear blade and the pole-socket. It has an uncanny resemblance to the crescentic-bladed halberds used in Europe at about the time of the Spanish conquest of America, and later events. However, I doubt that there is Euro. influence on the "ge" since similar weapons are shown in Song Dynasty texts, albeit by different names. A weapon as described above but with a PAIR of addorsed crescents,one on each side of the spear, is called "ji" (partizane). The name of the weapon is a homophone for "auspicious"; you see court paintings of royal progeny playing with toy partizanes and shooting off firecrackers on New Year's Day. A stand of "ji" represents someone who has attained the rank of an officer.