Chinese polearms rearguard officer, and a porter. Chinese polearms The three most common types of Chinese polearms are the "ge" (戈), "qiang" (槍), and ji (戟). They are translated into English as dagger-axe, spear, and halberd. Dagger-axes were originally a short slashing weapon with a 0.9 to 1.8 m long shaft, but around the 4th century BC a spearhead was added to the blade, and it became a halberd. The spear is also sometimes called a "mao" (矛), which is also sometimes used to designate polearms with a wavy snake-like spearhead. From the Warring States period onward, the length of Chinese polearms
Lochaber axe time, it consisted of two parts: shaft and blade. The shaft was usually some five or six feet (1.5 or 1.8 m) long, and mounted with a blade of about 18 inches (45 cm) in length which usually resembled a bardiche or voulge in design. The blade might be attached in two places and often had a sharp point coming off the top. In addition a hook (or "cleek") was attached to the back of the blade. A butt spike was included as a counterweight to the heavy axe head. Langets were incorporated down each side of the shaft to