Halberds in all shapes and sizes were still used by many famous warriors
during the Three Kingdoms period, however, including one-handed hal-
berds, and double-ended or paired halberds (both the term and context
often leave this unclear). These idiosyncratic weapons appear primarily in
the biographies of notable warriors, where their distinctiveness is a marker
of the warrior’s own outstanding martial arts, as well as a necessary
literary device for physically or visually emphasizing the individual’s
prominence.
This wide range of variation reflects a later stage of the weapon develop-
ment cycle. When a weapon isfirst produced, it comes in many forms as
users search for a balance of form and practice. It then enters a mature
stage where there is a fairly narrow range of form and practice, and the
weapon’s characteristics are well understood. We have seen this in earlier
chapters with respect to swords in particular. After the uniform, mature
stage, new variations sometimes develop as individuals seek customized
forms thatfit their own personal style of martial arts. A customized
weapon may not only more closely match an individual’s physical capa-
bilities but it is also harder to defend against since it is not a standard
weapon. The custom weapon emphasizes the user’s separate martial arts
capabilities by setting him or her apart from the general martial arts taught
to all the soldiers. This is one of the reasons that later Chinesefiction
regularly provided notable warriors with nonstandard weapons.
A Wei general, Zhang Liao, used a halberd while charging into the
enemy ranks, killing“several tens of men and beheading two generals.”^9
This appears to have been the standard form of the halberd. By contrast,
one Zhang Rang, realizing he was being spied upon by his ruler in his own
house, took up a one-handed halberd and began to perform a halberd
dance. He then used the halberd to break a hole in the wall, and depart.^10
Presumably he did this suddenly rather than simply standing there hacking
at a wall, and the action showed the power of his technique. The double
halberd could be quite idiosyncratic: Dian Wei’s double halberd reportedly
weighed some eighty jin (somewhat over a hundred pounds).^11 It would
have been made of solid steel and would have required immense strength
and skill to be used effectively.
Yet the halberd was already disappearing from the battlefield in the
third century as notable warriors as well as the rank-and-file soldiers
turned to the spear. While Cao Cao was warned on one occasion of the
difficulties of facing the strong soldiers of Guanxi who practiced with long
spears,^12 an accomplishedfighter and general, Gongsun Zan, could wield
a two-bladed spear from horseback, and kill or wound several tens of the
The Northern and Southern Dynasties 79