Hi all, I have a question that's been concerning me for quite some time. Here in Western Australia, I used to practise gongfu at a placed called the "Ging Mo Academy". The style taught there was called "Ging Mo Kune" and was said to be based on nanpai tanglangquan. It was their particular way of chopping with the dao that irked me. Instead of reaching out and pulling down when cutting, like I was more familiar with, I was taught to push it forcefully from my shoulder. The thin wushu blades would flex and straighten, making a loud cracking noise and sometimes breaking off the tip. I was told the purpose of chopping like this was to channel power to the tip of the weapon.

I was rather skeptical that this same method could be applied to a realistic, stiff-bladed dao. After a while, I decided that the training I was receiving at this school was not worth the fees I was paying. I eventually settled down in a school teaching qixing tanglangquan and met a guy there who had experiences at the Ging Mo Academy and left for similar reasons as me. However, he would test-cut at home with real dao and use the same forcible push-action to chop. By then I'd begun studying iaidou and the cutting techniques I learnt there seemed easily transferrable to any curve-bladed weapon, including dao, but I still needed something more substantial than a weak correlation between styles. So here's my question. In the art of Chinese swordsmanship, what is your opinion on the correct method of cutting?

There are dozens of way to cut with a blade. Beng(崩), chan (鏟), cuo(剉), dian(點), duo(剁), ge(割), gua(刮), gwa(掛), hua(劃), jian(剪), kan(砍), liao(撩), pi(劈), pi(批), qie(切), sao(掃), shan(搧), shuo(搠), xi(洗), xiao(削), zhan(斬) and zhou(斫) are all 'cuts' by either definition or application.

In addition, different types of dao would dictate different forms of 'cutting'. Might I ask which type of cut and which kind of Dao you are refering to ?

I was told the kind of dao we were training with was the "dadao", although it looked more like an oxtail knife. I don't think the weapons training was taken too seriously anyway as the dao were of such poor quality that the handles would often come apart not long after their purchase.

That's quite a remarkable amount of different ways to cut. I suppose the list you gave me would have to include thrusts and striking with the flat of the blade too. The only applications of an edge to a target I can think of are: 1) slicing: where the blade slides through the target using the sawing effect of the curve, and 2) hacking: where a single point of the blade drops on the target from above, cleaving its way down.

I couldn't imagine the "push-cut" I mentioned earlier to be a very effective cutter at all as the force behind it is motivated entirely by your own muscle power as opposed to the weight of the blade itself. On top of that, a large proportion of the edges' surface area is coming into contact with the target at once, making it more of a bludgeon than a slice. Maybe that could be effective against a heavily armoured opponent if you couldn't get to the unprotected spots...

Could it be that all those different ways of cutting you listed are more like descriptions of the actual blade's effect on certain materials, eg. flesh, bone, wood, than the actual flight of the knife through the air itself?

The techniques I have given are all 'cuts'. I taken out all the thrusting and blocking and other non-cut actions. And no, slicing and hacking are but two general ways. Things like twisting, flicking, pressing, etc can also count a cutting when using a blade. In addition, the difference in angle, force, motion, dept, all contribute to how a cut can be delieved. Hence, the list. If you add in the matter of tactical dispositions of these techniques, then the zhao of a dao becomes an even more complicated matter.

You have to remember that all martial arts are composed of Zhi (式)，Zhao(招)，Tao(套). The list I have given was merely the Zhi(式).

I'm beginning to understand what you mean now. You must excuse me, my current swordsmanship is only very basic at best, but I'm looking for a good teacher. Given what you have said above, what term would you apply to the cut I mentioned before? From the shoulder, it snaps out at an angle that enters the opponent's neck and severs the carotid artery and jugular vein. It is then retracted with a flick of the wrist.

I have a few possible candidates as to what you are talking about but I can't be sure without a demo.