Ji, came on the scene in the Shang Dynasty. It has both the beak like the dagger-ax, ge, and the pike like the lance, and was more difficult to manufacture. So it was mostly used among the nobles. The powerful courtier Cui Shu who killed the lord of his country, the Ci, in the Spring and Autumn Period, used the halberd to threaten the other officials who did not follow him.

       The guards of a palace usually held the halberd, which looks more solemn than other weapons. Dongfang Shuo, the court jester, was very tall. He held a halberd and stood beside Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty, when Wudi sat in his throne in the Weiyang Palace. The ancient Chinese emperor used to give a halberd to his generals as a symbol of reward for their military achievements. Thus the halberd represents authority and triumph.

       The halberd is far more difficult to employ than its cousins, the lance and the dagger-ax. The dog-butcher, who became one of the founding generals of the Han, Fan Kuai used a halberd whose weight was 98 jin. It could hardly be used by an ordinary person. The famous General Lyu Pu weapon was also a halberd, at the end of the Han. Using this weapon he could fight against Liu Bei, who used two swords, Guan Yunchang, who used a long armed sword cinglong yenyue dao, and Jhang Fei, who used a long lance jhangba shihmao. There were smaller and lighter halberds, which were used as a pair, produced in the Three Kingdoms Period, and the persons who used the double halberd include Sun Chuan and Gan Ning, the latter was a General in the Cao camp.