Niuweidao

The Niuweidao (Chinese: 牛尾刀; pinyin: niúwěidāo; lit. 'Ox-Tailed Sword"') was a type of Chinese saber (dao) of the late Qing Dynasty period. A heavy bladed weapon with a characteristic flaring tip, it was primarily a civilian weapon, as Imperial troops were never issued it.

It is the archetypal "Chinese broadsword" of kung fu movies today. It was first recorded in the early 19th century (the latter half of the Qing dynasty) and only as a civilian weapon: there is no record of it being issued to troops, and it does not appear in any listing of official weaponry. Its appearance in movies and modern literature is thus often anachronistic.^[1]^[2]

References

Tom PMW (2001). "Some Notable Sabers of the Qing Dynasty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art". Vol. 36. Metropolitan Museum Journal. pp. 11, 207–222. doi:10.2307/1513063. JSTOR 1513063. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help)
Lorge PA (2011). Chinese Martial Arts: From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-87881-4.

Citations

^ Tom, Philip M. W. (2001), "Some Notable Sabers of the Qing Dynasty at the Metropolitan Museum of Art", Metropolitan Museum Journal, 36: 211, doi:10.2307/1513063, JSTOR 1513063, S2CID 191359442
^ Tom, Philip M. W.; Rodell, Scott M. (February 2005), "An Introduction to Chinese Single-Edged Hilt Weapons (Dao) and Their Use in the Ming and Qing Dynasties", Kung Fu Tai Chi: 78–79

Types of Chinese weaponry

Swords

Short swords	Dadao 大刀 Dao 刀 Hudie shuangdao (butterfly sword) 蝴蝶雙刀 Jian 劍 Liuyedao 柳葉刀 Niuweidao 牛尾刀 Piandao 片刀 Yanmaodao 雁毛刀
Long swords	Changdao 長刀 Miaodao 苗刀 Wodao 倭刀 Zhanmadao 斬馬刀