Here in Western Australia, Chinese martial arts aren't very popular. As a result of that, I'd like to travel to Taiwan in the future and study there, as I've read the quality of gongfu there is very good. My main motivation in pursuing excellence in the martial arts is my love of classical weaponry, derived from my reading of the Chinese classics and study of military history. My question is, to people who are better informed; are there any particular styles of Chinese martial arts with their main focus on the practise of weaponry? For example, not only learning the various forms, but; conditioning exercises, manufacturing (perhaps), sparring, cutting with REAL bladed weapons (i.e. not flexible spring-steel imitations), and from the entire range of classical Chinese weaponry? I don't really know if such a style exists, but I've read that every style has it's perks (i.e. grappling, striking, weaponry, etc.) and if there is such a one as under the conditions I asked, I'd love to cultivate it here in WA.

PS: I'm desperately searching for info on reputable masters teaching in Taiwan to this day. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

No, yes, no, yes, no, no-ish (depends on your definition of classical weapons)

Taji Tanglangmen might be something you want to look into. 8 hand taolu, yet around 30+ weapons taolu. One of the really weird CMA systems that has more weapon taolus than hand.

Well, how about something like Xingyi Quan? I've read that the hand forms are based on the combat principles of the spear. I've also heard that traditionally, students of Xingyi would initially train with the spear, progressing to shorter weapons and eventually unarmed fighting. Is this as true today as it was back then?

It never was true. The idea merely was that the hand techniques of the system can be translated into spear techniques. But that essentailly is nothing special cause you can say the same for alot of other systems

Okay, that's answered the first part. Are you capable of answering the second? When I'm looking for a teacher in Taiwan, I want to have all the facts beforehand.

I do not believe it is a good idea to recommend or discredit any individual here. Too much risks to MA politics

Have you got any leads yet? I have been searching for the same thing with no real luck. There are some places where they supposedly teach stick/staff and bow but they are very far and I have not had the chance to check them out. As far as bladed weapons, spears, knives, et cetera my theory is that they are gone because the government outlawed all weapons. I suspect that there are still some people out there that know the real thing but keep it to themselves and it seems like there may be some research being done by the Chinese themselves, much like we have reconstructed a lot of our Western martial heritage.

I have been working on learning how to use some ancient weapons and slightly modify them for modern use by experimentation.

Good luck.