How many kinds of weapons are there in China's weapons spectrum from ancient times to the present?

Eighteen weapons refer to a variety of martial arts, with different contents in different periods. Its name was first seen in Yuanqu. For example, there is a lyric in "Respecting Virtue and Refusing to Accept Old Age" included in "Ancient and Modern Zaju", which reads "He has learned all 18 martial arts, and he is familiar with all six books". "Water Margin" the second time: "Which eighteen martial arts? Spears, hammers, bows, crossbows, spears, whips, hammers, swords, chains, blades, axes, cymbals, halberds, cards, sticks, guns and picks. " Of all weapons. During the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, Xie wrote in Five Miscellanies-Volume V: "Eighteen styles: one bow, two crossbows, three guns, four knives, five swords, six spears, seven shields, eight axes, nine cymbals, ten halberds, eleven yellows, twelve mallets, thirteen pickaxes, fourteen rafts and fifteen forks.

Since the Qing Dynasty, there have been four theories about the Eighteen Martial Arts:

(1) refers to "knives, guns, swords, boring tools, sticks, forks, rakes, whips, hammers, axes, hooks, sickles, pickaxes, crutches, bows and arrows, rattan cards".

(2) The arrangement is the same as (1), except that the last three items are changed to: generation, judgment, bow and arrow.

3 refers to "nine long and nine short". Nine are guns, halberds, sticks, cymbals, forks, boring, hooks, shackles and rings; Nine short ones are knives, swords, crutches, axes, whips, mace hammers, clubs and pestles.

(4) refers to 18 kinds of weapons, which are called knives, guns, swords, halberds, axes, cymbals, hooks, forks, whips, mallets, hammers, claws, cymbals, sticks, crutches and meteor hammers by some people in the modern theater.

Note: (3) The bows and arrows of long-range weapons and the cards or rattan cards of defensive weapons are not listed, which reflects that modern fighters are not good at learning bows and arrows and only teach routines.