Hanwei Chinese Swords

by Garrett C.
(Edmonton, Canada)

On the SBG forums I find that there are a lot of misconceptions about the Hanwei Chinese swords. Many people buy them expecting them to compare favorably to Hanwei's Japanese and European lines. However this is not the case!

Hanwei did not design their Chinese swords for serious cutting or to historical accuracy standards. I'll explain why. Even though they have a "practical" Chinese line it does not compare in any way to the Practical Katana or European swords. This is because of the nature of Japanese sword arts (JSA) and Western martial arts (WMA)...JSA usually includes test cutting on tatami mats and bamboo. WMA has some test cutting as well as blunt steel blade on blade work. This means that Hanwei needs to make tough swords for their JSA and WMA customers to be satisfied.

Most modern Chinese martial arts (CMA) are quite the opposite. Most CMA people don't know a thing about swords! In fact it's not uncommon to find people who think that the flexible wushu weapons are actually real Chinese weapons! Due to lack of education and different presentation in media between Chinese and Japanese swords, consumers expect much less in a Chinese sword. From kung fu movies, wushu flexibility is expected in a Chinese sword whereas samurai movies promote a razor sharp katana that can cut tanks in half. Hanwei then offers a product accordingly.

All that being said, the Chinese sword market is still under development mostly because of the reasons stated above. Hanwei has done a great job in stepping up the quality from floppy wushu swords but please please please do not cut with Hanwei Chinese swords like they are real swords! They can handle light casual cutting but they will fail when repeatedly pitted against heavier targets.