Swordsmanship

Swordsmanship refers to the skills of a swordsman, a person versed in the art of the sword. The term is modern, and as such was mainly used to refer to smallsword fencing, but by extension it can also be applied to any martial art involving the use of a sword. The formation of the English word "swordsman" is parallel to the Latin word gladiator, a term for the professional fighters who fought against each other and a variety of other foes for the entertainment of spectators in the Roman Empire. The word gladiator itself comes from the Latin word gladius, meaning "sword".

African

North Africa

The sword in ancient Egypt was known by several names, but most are variations of the words sfet, seft or nakhtui. The earliest bronze swords in the country date back 4000 years. Four types of sword are known to have been used: the ma or boomerang-sword based on the hunting stick, the kat or knife-sword, the khopesh or falchion based on the sickle, and a fourth form of straight longsword. The khopesh was used region-wide and is depicted as early as the Sixth Dynasty (3000 BC). It was thick-backed and weighted with bronze, sometimes even with gold hilts in the case of pharaohs. The blade may be edged on one or both sides, and was made from iron or blue steel. The double-edge sword had a leaf-shaped blade, and a handle which hollows away at the centre and thickens at each end. These swords are of various lengths, and were paired with shields. Middle Eastern swords became dominant throughout North Africa after the introduction of Islam, after which point swordsmanship in the region becomes that of Arabian or Middle Eastern fencing.

Dragon (2011 film)

Dragon (Chinese: 武俠; pinyin: Wǔ xiá) is a 2011 Hong Kong-Chinese martial arts film directed by Peter Chan, and starring Donnie Yen, Takeshi Kaneshiro and Tang Wei. Yen also served as the film's action director. It premiered on 13 May 2011 at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival in the Midnight Screenings category. Donnie Yen and Peter Chan presided over the lighting of a billboard for Dragon that broke the Guinness Book of World Records for its size, 3591 square metres, previously held by a poster for a Michael Jackson album.

Plot

In 1917 Republican China, Liu Jinxi and his wife Yu are an ordinary couple with two sons, Fangzheng and Xiaotian, living together in Liu Village, Yunnan. One day, two bandits enter the village and attempt to rob the general store. Liu happens to be in the shop, and he fights and kills the robbers when they turn violent. During an autopsy, the detective Xu Baijiu, who is sent to investigate the case, discovers that one of the dead bandits was Yan Dongsheng, who is among the government's ten most wanted fugitives. The local magistrate is pleased, and his fellow villagers regard Liu as a hero.