Ge, a Speical Long Weapon in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties
Ge (戈) was a special long weapon in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. It had a transverse dagger and a long wooden handle. It could transversely hit or hook an enemy. It appeared in the Shang Dynasty and was used widely in the Zhou Dynasty, because chariots were main forces at that time. Ge was a powerful weapon to fight against chariots. Of course, a long wooden handle was not suitable for fighting very closely. So some hotheaded warriors might draw the transverse dagger and hold the dagger to fight.
Ge was also a ritual implement. A monarch had two guards who held Ge. In a meeting of feudal states, Prince Wei (王子围), the prime minister of the Chu (楚) State, followed two guards who held Ge. So people from other states thought the man disregarded his young king. Later, the ambitious prince killed his king and ascended the throne.
Ge was a strong weapon. In an assassination, the guard of Qing She (庆舍, an imperious minister of the Qi [齐] State) suddenly used his Ge to hit Qing She. When the dagger of the Ge pierced into the left shoulder of Qing She, the guard forcibly pulled the Ge, so that the shoulder of Qing She was seriously broken.
Since the middle days of the Warring-States Period, cavalry gradually took the place of chariots. Ji (戟), another long weapon with a vertical edge and a transverse edge, gradually took the place of Ge and later was used widely by the infantry of the Han Empire. But Ji had never been a ritual implement.
The following photos were taken in the Historical Museum of Shaanxi Province.
The Edges of the Ge of the Shang Dynasty
Another Style of the Ge's Edges of the Shang Dynasty
The Edge of the Ge of the Zhou Dynasty
In the following photo, the upper weapons are the edges of spears, while the lower weapons are the edges of Ge. They were the weapons of the Zhou Dynasty.
The Edges of the Ge of the Qin (秦) Dynasty
In the following photo, there is the edge of a Ji from the early days of the Western Zhou (西周) Dynasty. It is different from the Ji of later times, because its vertical edge is bent. So the function of its vertical edge perhaps was to hook an enemy.
