MANDARIN MANSION: BACK TO REALITY

Functional reproductions of Chinese swords and sabers

At present we only sell reproduction edged weapons of Huanuo Sword Arts, ran by Fred Chen. They have been a hassle to do proper business with and work without being hindered by previous agreements, signed contracts or business ethic. But truth be told: To date they make the best and most reliable steel blades available for reasonable prices on the market. There simply is no substitute, not even in the famous city of longquan with their fraudulous claims of centuries of tradition. All Chinese sword-making traditions have been re-invented from the ground up after Mao's age with various grades of success. While Huanuo profile themselves more as a factory than the famous of the longquan makers, their workshops all look alike with similar production facilities and both cram out swords in considerable numbers. We're sorry if we ruined any charismatic images of lone sword masters working on the anvil with lush mountains on the background, but let's snap back to reality.

What Huanuo doesnt do well is the finish of their products: Hilts and scabbard throaths often need slight adjustments, and Peter always replaces the work they do on the grip wraps. These wraps by the way, are almost uniformly bad throughout the reproduction sword industry. Yes, we do work for our money! Which other dealer takes the time to work on every single sword he sells for an average of nearly two hours?

Functional reproductions of archery equipment
The world of "traditional" Chinese archery equipment is equally distorted. Numerous makers sell "Mongolian" and "Chinese" bows but compare them to an antique or a simple depiction in artwork and you'll see that they are far off. In use they are even further away from the sophistication of bows of old. In our search for traditional Chinese archery equipment we got to work with Yang Fuxi, China's well-known last traditional bow-maker. Unfortunately he became a lot harder to do business with when we didn't live two blocks away anymore in Beijing, and the quality of his work was inconsistent as well which made us decide to steer away from him. The adventure did bring us to Korea where we found the best traditional Asian bow replica in its price range: The Korean Hwarang. Interestingly, it is of a style that is a remnant of Ming Chinese influence in the region ans thus resembles an early type of Chinese bows.

We started to use our source in Korea to work together ona project of reviving the true Manchu / Qing Chinese bow. The first prototypes are done and currently tested by a select group of our customers. They perform well but launch arrows so differently that we are still looking for optimal arrows to sell with this bow, as no standard arrow works well enough.

Curiosities

Here we offer a host of items that fall outside our core business of antique arms and functional reproductions. Examples are antique items that are not weapons, or contemporary Chinese handicrafts. All described honestly, everything stated antique is antique.

Library

A host of articles on various topics. Most with a historical emphasis or from an historical standpoint. Commercial articles that enhance the website are kept clearly separated from scholarly articles with no commercial intent.

Armory

As the name implies, this section is to represent the armory of the mansion. Here you can find our selection of antique and reproduction Chinese arms.

Most weapons however, make their way through a new owner without ever getting to the website. Demand is high, and good pieces are rare. If you want to be kept in the loop, email us and tell us you want to be kept informed.

Suki Low

Born in the year of the rooster from a Chinese family in Kuala Lumpur. Suki's family roots lie  near Guangzhou, Guangdong province. She spent most of her life in Holland, but has always travelled to Asia on a regular basis. This vivid little woman speaks her languages; Next to Mandarin, Cantonese, and some local southern Chinese dialects she is also fluent in both Dutch and English. Her interest in Chinese culture was awakened and enhanced by her father from ever she was a child. Her family's house and restaurant are filled from top to bottom with a wide array of curiosities from various Asian countries.

Within Mandarin Mansion she's the one to talk to about the intruiges of imperial court life, Chinese etiquettes, superstition, auspicious designs, the meaning of colors and numbers, etc. Food is her great passion and there's not much in China she hasn't eaten yet, nor are there many dishes she can't cook. If there's anything else she likes, it's horses. Knowing how to get things done in China, she started her own company where she helps business people look for and import products from China. Apart from being a translator, she usually acts as a personal assistant for her clients. She helps in finding factories, maintaining contact with the Chinese  producers, making sure the quality is up to the standard and the goods shipped properly. For any of these services and more, visit:

www.sourcingant.com

Peter Dekker

Driven by an unstoppable curiosity, Peter has worked his way up into a small circle of respected antique arms researchers. His studies have an emphasis on Qing period cold weapons, mainly edged weapons, archery and rattan armor. He believes in a practical approach that comprises not only of researching period sources and antique artifacts, but also to gain practical experience boy -for example- using the weapons researched. He is a practising archer in the (Ming) Chinese, Korean and (Qing) Manchu styles and practices historical Chinese swordsmanship under world renowned teacher Scott M. Rodell.

Among the skills he learned is reproducing rattan shields, arrow making, light sword restorations, and historical grip wrapping. He now does grip wrapping professionally for martial artists, professional restorers and antique collectors.

Peter has presented lectures in Europe, Northern America and Asia on the subject of Chinese arms and is advising martial art schools, museum curators, traditional archers and fellow researchers around the world.

He is also available for lectures, demonstrations and workshops on antique Chinese arms and their practical use. For more information, he can be reached at:

peter@mandarinmansion.com