槍扎一條線，棍掃一大片
The spear binds a line, the staff sweeps a large area1.
劍走青，刀走黑
The sword goes green, the sabre black2.
青龍偃月刀：劈、砍、撩、掛、斬、抹、截、攔、挑、刺
Green dragon crescent moon sabre: hack, slash, lift up, hang, chop, strike out, intercept, block, pick, stab.
Since pretty early in history, martial arts circles in China were linked to a lot of practices, from the pure battlefield ones to hunting (the bow), physical strength (weight lifting with the famous tripod cauldron), spiritual search (lots of martial arts have such a claim. Let’s also remember that among the six arts taught by Confucius two were the chariot and the bow), ceremonial (dance3 and the bow), competitive (tripod cauldron lifting, wrestling and, again, the bow), protection (militias and escorts) and so on… In times of constant war or great insecurity, almost everybody knew how to handle a weapon, in times of peace, some martial practices became pure entertainment4, in times of unrest some practices were constricted to the elite, in times of peace sometimes the establishment looked down on martial skills5.
