Jianshu
剑术
In the history of the development of the no-powder weapons in ancient China, sword appeared earliest. Early in the years of Shang and Zhou dynasties, there appeared the sword made of bronze.
在中国古代冷兵器发展的历史上，剑是一种较早出现的兵器。早在商周时期，就己经出现了青铜制成的剑。
During the periods of Spring and Autumn and the Warring States, the sword had become the most important weapon with the rising status of the infantry in the battles. That the infantry had to fight closely with the enemies with bare hands made swords have more advantages because of its mobility.
春秋战国时期，由于步兵在战争中地位的日益提升，剑是最受人们重视的一种兵器。因为步兵在战斗中必近距离肉搏，而剑在运用时的灵活自如能使它享有更多的优势。
When it came to Han dynasty, the cavalry became the main force in battles and the broadswords and spears, which were long and could cover a long distance, had become the major weapons in the battles. So the sword had retired from the wars step by step. But the retired sword is not discarded. On the contrary, it was attached importance to some special fields. It had become a special pendant due to its agility, prettiness, the convenience for carrying and the decoration.
至汉代，由于骑兵逐渐成为战场上的主力，长可及远的长刀、长枪成了战场上的主要兵器，这样，剑便渐渐退出了战场。但是，退出战场的剑并未被人们弃而不用，相反，它在一些特殊的领域受到了人们的重视。因为剑轻巧美观，既便于携带，又具装饰作用，加上它还有攻防兼具的功能，故成为人们的一种特殊的佩饰。
There are different forms of jianshu performance. It can be played single-handedly, and still by many people according to certain sets of jianshu. Or it is played between the jianshu practitioners.
剑术表演可以有不同的方式，既可以单人表演，也可以多人同时按照一定的套路舞剑。另外，还可以在剑手之间进行格斗表演。
In the years of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, jianshu practice and performance had been widely accepted in the world. Besides, the sets of jianshu had become more and more standardized and systematized with the constant summary done by the jianshu masters and the further development of jianshu theory. Meanwhile there appeared a lot of new sets and styles such as qingping sword, wudang sword, Damo sword, taiji sword and eight-trigram sword etc.
宋元明清时期，剑术训练和表演在社会上一直盛行不衰。而且，由于剑术名家的不断总结，剑术理论进一步深化，剑术套路也越来越规范化和系统化。同时还出现了不少新的剑术套路和门派，较具代表性的有青萍剑、武当剑、达摩剑、太极剑、八卦剑等。
Now jianshu is the competitive game in the World Wushu Championship. But Chinese jianshu is different from the fencing as an official competition in the Olympic Games. Though they take swords as competitive instruments, the fencing is from Europe and mainly accents on the actual combats when fighting, and Chinese jianshu puts weight on the show of the sets.
目前，剑术是世界武术锦标赛的比赛项目。但是中国剑术与作为奥运会正式比赛项目的击剑是两类不同的运动，虽然它们都是以剑为比赛器械，但是击剑源于欧洲，以参赛者的对攻实战为主，而中国剑术则侧重套路表演。
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