The one bladed sword is called the dao in Chinese, and the one having two blades is called the jian. The commonly used dao include yaodao, gandao, pudao, godao, meidao, sanjiandao and feidao.

       There is a description, "the dao is like the tiger when it is to be used," illustrating the powerful movement that can be generated by the dao. The three major kinds of dao are dandao, dan meaning single, shuangdao, shuang meaning double, and dadao, da meaning big. The dandao and shuangdao are short weapons and dadao is a long weapon. The skills of using these weapons are different. When someone is using the dandao, he holds the sword in one hand and finds balance with the other hand. His head and chest are the most important parts to pay attention to, and he thrusts, cuts, chops, pricks, slices and blocks. When the shuangdao is in use, the user minds his legs to match the position of the swords. So it is said that the dandao places importance on the hand and the shuangdao on the legs. The strength he uses to move the two swords has to be divided equally between the two hands, his body has to be flexible, and the moving weapons should be just like two flying butterflies. The Dadao is a heavy long weapon, and the skill to use it emphasizes on cutting, repressing, wiping, pricking, stroking, blocking and picking.

       A story recorded in the book, Cingbai Leichao, says that a girl helped her village people to defend themselves from being attacked by the troops of the alliance of the Britain and the France in siejhuang, a place near Beijing, in the tenth year of emperor Siangfong's reign of the Cing. This girl called Wanjhen was 19 years old and learned martial arts from her father. She explained to her father that the British and the French were good in the gunpowder weapons but not in martial arts, so she organized the residents of the village to ambush the intruders by holding swords and shields and attacking them at very short distance. When they found a group about five to six hundred soldiers conveying the canon, Wanjhen raised her sword and started the battle. They killed around one hundred soldiers and saw the intruders withdrawing.

       Another story about the sword taking place in the Cing concerns the martial arts master Wang Jhihyi, known by his nickname Dadao Wangwu. He broke into the righteous official Tan Sihtong's home when he heard that the government was going to arrest Tan. Tan, who joined the party to introduce political reform in China, was sentenced to die after the party failed, known as the Coup of the Wusyu Year. He wanted to escort Tan to flee, but Tan refused. So he left by himself.

       Guan Gong, the symbol of righteousness, was famous for using the dadao. In the novel, Sangguo Yanyi, he once got stuck in a long lasting battle with Huang Jhong. So he pretended to be defeated and directed his horse to return. Huang Jhong chased him from behind. Out of Huang's expectation, Guan Gong suddenly made a U-turn and held up his dadao, and chopped Huang Jhong to death.

       The Dao is the very popular weapon described in wusia novels. Gu Long in his book Feidao Youjian Feidao created the discontented hero Li Syunhuan. In Gu Long's other book, Yuanyue Wandao, the highest level of using the sword is to give and to share the lives between the swordsman and his sword. The merit of Jin Yong in his novel, Yuanyang Dao, is "the righteous people have no enemies."