The Chinese Long Sabre: Chang Dao

This video contains a distillation of techniques of the long sabre known as the “Chang Dao”. It does not attempt to present one single style, but rather a synthesis of practical fencing techniques of the two-handed sabre in China, using forms primarily intended for 2-person practise. More modern martial arts forms, particularly ones created after the Cultural Revolution, might be very acrobatic and crowd-pleasing in their performance value, but they give practical application a back seat. In this video, researcher Dan Djurdjevic (author of the award-winning blog “The Way of Least Resistance”) attempts to present the techniques relating to the chang dao in the form they were originally intended: as training for war. So rather than serve an aesthetic function, the two forms in this video are in fact a codification of various 2-person drills, inculcating situation-specific responses to various cuts and thrusts. The video is intended to provide a conscise, self-contained course for inclusion in an existing syllabus. For convenience, Japanese bokken (wooden katana) have been used as practise weapons in the video since these are more easily sourced than any Chinese variant. For a preview video see: https://youtu.be/ujZsop03nxA