Dao (Chinese Saber)

The dao is a single-edged Chinese sword used mainly for slashing and chopping, made in both straight and curved forms, with broader versions sometimes called Chinese broadswords. The earliest straight-backed dao appeared in the Bronze Age Shang dynasty, but the weapon became militarily significant during the Han dynasty, roughly 200 BCE to 200 CE, when its durability as a chopping weapon made it popular with cavalry. It gradually replaced the double-edged jian as the standard battlefield sword by the end of the Three Kingdoms period, in part because soldiers could become competent with it in about a week rather than the year needed for the jian, and its curved form, more pronounced after Mongol influence, suited mounted combat and draw cuts.