Hilt of a Chinese Jian as drawn by AaronMK.
The Jian is the standard issue officer's decorations arm in the NPC military. The Jian itself is a double-edged straight sword with a storied history dating back two-thousand five hundred years ago.
History of the Jian[]
Records of the Jian date back to the Spring and Autumn Period (771 to 476 BCE). Originally these swords were forged from bronze and then as metalurgy improved advanced to iron and then steel.
The sword is often referred to as the "Gentelmen of Weapons" and one of the four primary melee weapons in Chinese martial arts. Its title of being a "gentelman's weapons" was the reason why it was picked as the officer's weapon in 1960.
Today, as far as Precipice goes, they are still in use as a decoration for officers captain and highier. Although they are sometimes used by brave officer's on the field as a commanding weapon or even as a legitimate hand-to-hand weapon in the trenches. Continued use by some parties in this instinces have not disuaded the Chinese military from producing them to a quality any less than deadly. And officer's are still trained in the arts of Tai Chi Chuan to prepare them to use their swords in a combat situation. Active officers from captain to general and commander are encouraged to continue practicing Tai Chi in a martial context to keep their skills sharp, even through retirement.
Design[]
Jian are produced by folded steel sheets pressed into sword-shape and the sharpened. The blades average seventy centimeters and weigh 700-900 grams. The hilt and pummel are forged tempered steel and often coated with a decorative brass finish. The handle is wrapped in ox-hide. A red laynard of tassal often sticks out from the pummel for further decorative or handeling purposes in some cases (all colors but red are banned from being used in tassals and laynards).