The Weapon Culture of the Pearl River

Delta

Another article from Hong Kong Wu Lin...

In southern China, many styles have dual sword techniques, especially in the Guangdong
Pearl River Delta region, almost all schools have “Butterfly” Knife set. The names are
varied, including “Dual Butterfly Knife”, “Double Flying Butterfly Knife” or just “Butterfly
Knife”; however there is also a form of butterfly knife set that does not use the “Butterfly”
name, like the “Charging Cart Double Knife Set” of Lam Style Hung Kuen (also known as
the drifting moon knife) and the “Eight Cuts Knife” of Wing Chun. To a certain extent, the
butterfly knifes along with the six and half staff are the common and representative
weapons of Guangdong martial arts, popular throughout the Pearl River Delta and are not
unique to a single school. Although there are definite differences between the knife sets of
different schools, there are many commonalities, and this can be clearly seen from the
level of application.

Source and Transmission

As a form of common culture, the butterfly knives make almost no appearance in official
documents. Luckily, the artefacts from the Pearl River Delta area dating from the end of
the Qing Period are an important primary source for the weapon researcher. In addition,
the Western travelogues in China dating from the nineteenth century to the beginning of
the twentieth century, also make mention of the weapons used by the common people in
Guangdong, making these the earliest documents for the research on Butterfly knives.

Simply put, the information concerning butterfly knives comes from three sources: (1) the
“Butterfly knives” dating from the Qing era, which are now for the most part in the hands
of western collectors, (2) the written records and diagrams of Westerners in the 19 th
century, (3) the applications and weapons sets preserved in Cantonese popular martial
arts.

The surviving examples of butterfly knives basically date from the end of the Qing Dynasty,
and date from the last third of the 19 th Century. Looking at these Butterfly knives we see
that they have different shapes, weight and do not have a unified standard. Some of the
knives have unique shapes, and are probably customized for their original owners. This
personalization is a special characteristic of weapons in civil society, and one can say that
Butterfly knives are a special type of weapon of the end of the Qing Period, especially the
Pearl River Delta area. This can be seen by the fact that Qing official documents do not
have any diagrams or written records regarding Butterfly knives. Also it is worth noting
that although the weapons used by the Qing Government do contain dual knife sets, their
shape is based upon the Willow-leaf sabre popular during the Qing era, and is obviously
different from the so called “Butterfly knife” of the Pearl River Delta.
For the diagrams and files of Butterfly knives, the most comprehensive I have seen are
from Gavin Nugent’s Swords and Antique Weapons website.
(http://www.swordsantiqueweapons.com/index.html) and I would like to thank Gavin for
providing advice and valuable photos.

Military Exercises and the exchange with Popular Martial arts.

Existing research on Butterfly knives has been scanty up until now, Ben Judkens’ article is
the only one I have seen which is worth reading from an academic perspective. In “A Social
History of the Hudiedao in the Southern Martial Arts”, Judkens raises several points worth
noting:

First, Butterfly Knives came into existence towards the end of the eighteenth and beginning
of the nineteeth century. In Judkens’ research, the earliest mention of the Butterfly knive
comes from Lieutenant Colonel Charles Joseph Doyle article regarding his personal
“Collection of Oriental Weapons” in the “Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society” in 1827.
In it there is a mention of “a pair of Chinese Butterfly knives”. After this a more detailed
account comes from the American businessman Nathan Dunn in an exhibition catalogue
which mentions a “Butterfly knife” collected from Guangdong. “A Peep at China in Mr.
Dunn’s Chinese Weapon’s Collection, Philadelphia, 1839”. What is worth noting is that
English language records of the nineteenth century mostly refer to “double swords”. As to
when the term Butterfly knife came about, this awaits further research.

Secondly, although Butterfly knives were not the official issue of Qing Era military, but
were once one of the main weapons of the joint exercises and local militia of Guangdong
province.

[Governor] Lin recruited 3000 local militia, and led military exercises outside of Canton city
everyday, training in archery, spear, and double sword. The latter is a special weapon of
China. Each soldier was issued with a pair of short, but straight bodied, double sword: one
was held in each hand, and they would bang them against each other creating a noise to
intimidate the enemy.

At the same time Commander J. Elliot Bingham of the English Marines wrote the following
on the double knives. According to him, of Lin Ze Xu’s 3000 men, approximately one third
used the double knives.

This kind of double sword, before it is pulled out of the scabbard, looks like a clumsy
weapon, and is of approximately two feet in length; the hilt extends out to a point, forming
a two inch hook. When using the weapon, the thumb rests upon the hooked portion, with
a twist of the wrist, one could change the position where the knife is held.

(Narrative of the expedition to China, from the commencement of the Present Period. Vol.
1 London 1842.)

From this we can theorize, although the “Officially Sanctioned Troops” of the Qing army
did not carry weapons like the Butterfly knives, actually the [local militia] led by the gentry
all used this weapon. In addition, as the Bannermen stationed in Guangdong had become
thoroughly corrupt by the end of the nineteenth century, and the garrison troops were
unreliable, the force actually enforcing the peace in society were the local militias. From
this perspective the Butterfly knives were a product of the exchange between the martial
arts of the army and popular martial arts.

The weapons of Lin Ze Xu’s Resistance against the British

Thirdly, the development of the Butterfly knives was probably influenced by western
swords and knives. The most characteristic part of the Butterfly knife was its D-shaped
hilt, however traditional Chinese swords did not have this kind of guard. Conversely, the
sabre and cutlass of the west both had this form of guard. According to Judkins’ analysis,
Canton was the only trading point open to the outside world before the Opium Wars, and
was the center of trade between China and the outside world, there is a possibility that the
butterfly knives were influenced by western weapons.

Fourthly, the shape of Butterfly knives underwent an evolution through the years, the
original Butterfly knives had a straight long blade that tapered to a point, and it was only
in the early twentieth century that the short wide bladed butterfly knive with a blunt point
appeared in overseas Chinese communities. This change came about because the early
knives were practical military weapons, and the straight blades were effective on the
battlefield, and from its shape it could be used for thrusting and slashing. And the blunt
Butterfly knife that emerged in the twentieth century, was a beloved weapons of the triads
in the overseas communities, killing an opponent was usually done with the empty hands
or a dagger, or a common knife and these short weapons had divorced itself from the dual
military and civil use weapons of the Qing era.

What we need to pay attention to is that, apart from strangely shaped butterfly knives,
nineteenth century knives were approximately 60-65 cm long and had a straight and
relatively narrow blade, a sharp point and a relatively wide back. One can see from the
shape that the main use of the knife was to “thust”. As the numbers of this form of butterfly
knife are relatively small, and from the shape they are relatively standard, I surmise that
these are knives used by the military in the nineteenth century in group exercises, and
may have even been used by Lin Ze Xu in his resistance against the British.

Conversely, the short bladed blunt pointed version, the earliest example is from early
twentieth century San Francisco Chinatown. Judkins found a picture of an early example
of a street performer in Chinatown and was demonstrating with a pair of Butterfly knives.
(Now kept in the Bancroft Library in UC Berkely), and he is using the short blunt version.
At the same time, in Chinese Society in America, the performers in popular theatre and
the secret societies had already begun to use these sorts of knives. The most famous
picture dates from the 1930s and shows the New York Triad Leader Eddie Gong inspecting
a pair of newly forged Butterfly knives.
Yip Man’s prized Butterfly Knives

I believe, what is now commonly seen (including those used by Wing Chun), are the
Butterfly knives from the earliest twentieth century, this is cold steel that has divorced
itself from its military roots, and has evolved in civil society. As to why the martial arts
world would completely adopt this kind of weapon, there is an interesting story behind this,
and is related to the Wing Chun Yip man of the movies that have overtaken the world. A
lot of people know that his system has an “Eight Cut Knife” form, of which the form is
similar to the twentieth century Butterfly Knife. Few people know that the knives that Yip
Man used in those days were made from [Pear Wood]. Traditionally in Chinese society
[Pear Wood] is considered to have the power to drive away evil spirits. In the past many
literati who loved to play with swords and knives would have a wooden sword made from
[Pear wood] hanging in their study. Yip Man’s “Eight Cut Knife” has a strong sense that it
is for self training / performance, and he liked to consider himself a gentleman and person
of culture, so using a wooden knife is very appropriate. According to Ben Judkins, a disciple
once took Yip Man’s knives and had an aluminum set made; later someone had a set made
from steel. With the rise of Bruce Lee, it was very natural for him take the Wing Chun of
his teacher Yip Man.

As mentioned above there is no Butterfly Knife mentioned in the written records. What was
mentioned in the early Western accounts were the term “double swords.” So where did the
term come from?

We believe that Butterfly Knife is a technical term used by the popular martial arts. Many
styles in Guangdong have the Butterfly knife. In addition, Guangdong marital arts has an
empty hand from called “Butterfly Palm”, its application is that of the two hands crossing
over each other in a synchronized manner, and its appearance is that of butterflies in flight,
thus it was called Butterfly palm. It central form is of the co-ordinated changeover of the
back and palm of the right and left hands, and it is very close to certain double knife
movements. From another perspective Cantonese martial arts are adept at using terms
that are vivid and upon hearing the name one is immediately able to imagine an object or
phenomenon. In popular martial arts there are many examples of this. If one is not wrong,
the Butterfly knife is a description of the actual movements of using the knives in training,
and not the shape of the knives themselves.