European Longsword vs Chinese Chang Jian, How Similar and Different Are They? ft.@Skallagrim

Skallagrim's review of the LK Chen Flying Cloud Ming Two-handed Jian    • This is NOT the Chinese Equivalent of a Lo...   Skallagrim's Review of the LK Chen Striking Eagle and Roaring Dragon Warring States and Han Dynasty Two-handed Jian    • Chinese "Greatswords" are... Different.  (...   My review of the LK Chen Striking Eagle, comparing to the Albion Maximilian    • 2200-Yr-Old Chinese Zweihander - LK Chen S...   During Skallagrim’s visit to Vancouver, we engaged in conversations involving a number of topics regarding historical arms and armor. In last week’s video of the comparison between German kriegsmesser and Japanese katana linked in the description below, Skallagrim and I broke down the similarity between the two revered types of single-edged two-handed swords hailing from 2 distinct swordmaking cultures, and deem it a better juxtaposition to be had than the infamous katana vs longsword debate, the Internet’s darling child of the “East versus West” faceoff. In next week’s video, we will entertain the longsword vs katana premise as the grand finale of this series of intercultural cross-pollination discussion. For now we will discuss another pair of comparands in the East vs West faceoff. Skall and I agree that a more evenhanded comparison, the European longswords and Chinese chang jian would be the appropriate counterparts, which we would discuss in the topic of this video. To even the playing field, we chose a lightweight longsword (Zireael, Ciri's sword in the Witcher 3) made by Chris Fields of ‪@SterlingArmory‬ , which weighs almost exactly the same as the LK Chen Striking Eagle. The comparative analysis was rather conclusive. The European longswords and Chinese Chang Jian is a pair that share a lot more similarities than the crossover between kriegsmesser and katana. They are both double-edged straight long bladed swords designed primarily with finesse in mind for aristocrats and the elite warrior class. While both are designed for cut and thrust actions, it does seem that European longswords enjoy a great variety on a wide spectrum from cut-oriented all the way to thrust-oriented, with either cutting power or armor penetration in mind, and the Chinese counterpart focuses more on speed and reach, and rarely enjoys the needle point tip for extreme penetration in armored fighting. At the end of the day, both definitely are illustrious symbols of the martial systems that have become cultural icons throughout history. I hope this discussion has been illuminating, and stay tuned for our definitive version of the longsword versus katana debate coming next week! Skallagrim's video breaking down of the Sterling Armory Witcher Ciri's Zireael    • Zireael: Ciri's Sword - How Good is It in ...   Skallagrim's channel:    / @skallagrim   Academie Duello's channel:    / @academieduello   LK Chen's channel:    / @lkchen4706   Sterling Armory's channel:    / @sterlingarmory   LK Chen's website: https://lkchensword.com/