What are the "eighteen kinds" of martial arts?

The written record of the "Eighteen Martial Arts" first appeared in the southern Song Dynasty Huayue's compilation of the military book "CuiWei Northern Expedition". The book was written in the first year of the Southern Song Dynasty, in which Hua Yue called himself "a subject ... Eighteen Martial Arts...", which shows that the term "Eighteen Martial Arts" should have arisen before the first year of the Southern Song Dynasty.

Ancient books often say that people with high martial arts are "proficient in all kinds of martial arts", which means that they will use all kinds of martial arts equipment. But what exactly does this "Eighteen Martial Arts" refer to?

Although the original specific reference to the "Eighteen Martial Arts" can no longer be examined, later generations have explained this.

During the Ming Dynasty, Xie Zhaochun believed in the "Five Miscellaneous Tricks" that the "Eighteen Martial Arts" were: one bow, two crossbows, three guns, four swords, five swords, six spears, seven shields, eight axes, nine axes, ten halberds, eleven whips, twelve hammers, thirteen hammers, fourteen hammers, fifteen forks, sixteen rakes, seventeen cotton rope lassos, and eighteen white punches. The first seventeen of them are all weapon names, and the eighteenth is called "White Strike", which refers to "freehand boxing".

There are also people who believe that the so-called "Eighteen Martial Arts" is the general name for various weapons in ancient China, specifically referring to "nine long and nine short": "nine long" refers to guns, halberds, sticks, cymbals, forks, mirrors, hooks, mallets, and rings; "nine shorts" are knives, swords, crutches, axes, whips, hammers, sticks, and pestles.

In fact, the "Eighteen Martial Arts" may not have specifically meant it. Because "eighteen" is a very special number, in ancient times often used to refer to the variety of changes, as often said "female university eighteen changes" refers to the girl to eighteen years old after the appearance will undergo a variety of changes; "Huangmei Tian Eighteen changes" means that in the Huangmei days the weather will change a lot, etc., so later generations often use "eighteen martial arts" to refer to a variety of martial arts and skills.