Chinese Sword Academy GRTC

There aren't many places left where you can talk about Chinese swordsmanship with people who actually train it.

Comment sections full of people who've never cut anything. Threads that become lineage arguments by the fourth reply. Experts who've never held a sharp.

So we built somewhere else.

The Chinese Sword Arts community opens today. It's for practitioners, whatever your line, whoever your teacher. People post their cutting footage and get real feedback. They ask questions and get answered by people who've done the work. They find training partners anywhere in the world.

Free to join, free to stay. Two full courses waiting when you get there: Chinese Swordsmanship in 12 Days across Jian, Dao and Miaodao, and a complete Yang Taiji Spear course.

Our first partner, Seven Stars Swords, has donated a hand-forged Winter Plum Jian for a member prize draw, and 10% off their range for everyone inside. Draw closes 5 September.

Come and train with us. Link in the comments.

Quick draw with the jian. Not something you see much of.

In the Japanese sword traditions, drawing from the scabbard became a formalised study with a substantial written record behind it. Chinese swordsmanship was transmitted differently, hand to hand, teacher to student, with relatively little committed to paper. The methods were there, they just travelled by a different route.

So Rodell Laoshi and the Academy have been reconstructing them from what survives: oral tradition, period illustrations, and the drawing techniques preserved inside recorded forms. The material is there once you know where to look.

This is a short compilation of where that work has got to. Curious what people make of it, especially anyone with a background in the Japanese traditions.

Full video in comments.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/k0UHQTOBMCs

Beauty of Chinese Swords #7: The Willow Leaf Saber (Liuyedao) — Rayskin Grip & Seven Stars The Liuyedao (柳葉刀) — "Willow Leaf Saber" — is the classic Chinese s...

Not your typical jian.

Rodell Laoshi has a new video up on a sword that breaks most of the assumptions people carry about the gentleman's weapon. 2 lb 6 oz. Blade 75cm, overall 83cm. Balance point sitting further forward than any jian has business sitting, closer to a dao. This one wasn't built to slice. It was built to shock.

Hold it lightly, tap the pommel, and it rings on and on like a tuning fork. Good steel, properly heat treated by someone who knew the blade was going to be asked to hit hard things.

And it did. There are nicks in the edge near the tip that were never polished out. Real combat damage. Possibly Qianlong, possibly earlier.

Now look at what isn't damaged.

Run a block of wood down the blade and it's dead straight. Nothing bent, nothing deformed. Nicks at the tip, nothing in the body.

That's not luck. That's the method leaving its fingerprint in the steel. Chinese sword arts deflect with the flat, turn the waist, lead the duifang's force off into nothing, rather than jamming edge into edge the way European swordsmanship does it. The sword records what it was asked to do. This one was never asked to block.

So, question for you:

Hand a 2 lb 6 oz jian to someone trained only on light, quick jian work. How long before they hurt themselves with it? And does a blade like this tell us the jian we practise today has drifted a long way from the jian people actually carried?

Tell us what you reckon below.

Video link in the comments.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fqA-B4Q7CNE

20 Seconds of Real Chinese Sword Skills Real Chinese sword skills in 20 seconds – knife draw and throw, jia...

Fast Draw Deflection using the
Jian Like A Staff~

Ever wondered what it's actually like to swing a real Chinese sword?

Now you can find out, for free, from home, no experience needed.

The Academy of Chinese Swordsmanship, led by Scott M. Rodell, a direct student of the late Wang Yen-nien, has just opened its free 12-Day Chinese Swordsmanship course.

From your very first cut through to real technique with three legendary weapons:

🗡️ The Jian (straight sword)
⚔️ The Dao (sabre)
🔪 The Miaodao (two-handed long sabre)

One short video a day. Real cuts, real stances, real martial application, not performance forms. By Day 12, you'll know exactly which sword is yours, and where to take it next.

✅ No sword or experience required
✅ No card required
✅ Free forever, plus a spot in our worldwide sword community

If you've ever been curious about Chinese swordsmanship, this is the easiest way in. 12 days. Zero cost. Your first cut starts now.

Link in the comments 👇

You cannot spar with a sharp sword. You cannot draw cut with most trainers.

So how do you ever pressure-test the draw?

Rodell Laoshi puts Santosh Weapons' answer through its paces: a wooden sparring jian with a matching wooden scabbard designed for exactly this. Draw, cut, spar, all with the same tool.

Link to the full review in the comments.