The weapons used by gung fu masters originate mainly from ancient military weapons. The 18 Arms, the term used to describe gung fu weaponry includes the saber, spear, sword, halberd, axe, battle axe, hook, fork, whip, mace, hammer, talon, trident-halberd, cudgel, long-handled spear, short cudgel, staff and meteor hammer. A long weapon is defined as longer than the height of a person and wielded with both hands during practice. This category has long weapons not found in other specific categories such as spear or staff.

Ji (halberd), the Chinese halberd, was used as a military weapon in one form or another from at least as early as the Shang dynasty until the end of the Qing dynasty. They are still used for training purposes by many Chinese martial arts. The ji resembles a Chinese spear for the most part, with a small crescent blade attached to the head and a red horsehair tassel where the head is fixed to the shaft. It was a relatively common infantry weapon. There were several types of ji, e.g. with a rectangular, serrated blade instead of the crescent-formed one, or spear tips with two curved blades attached.

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