I am going to be traveling to Shanghai & Xi'an in about a week. Does anyone know of any good knife shops in these cities? Naturally, I am not looking for POS rip-offs but a place with local makers' work on display would be great. I would also appreciate any information you may have regarding carry laws. TIA.
-
The BladeForums.com 2024 Traditional Knife is ready to order! See this thread for details: https://www.bladeforums.com/threads/bladeforums-2024-traditional-knife.2003187/
Price is $300 ea (shipped within CONUS). If you live outside the US, I will contact you after your order for extra shipping charges.
Order here: https://www.bladeforums.com/help/2024-traditional/ - Order as many as you like, we have plenty.
Knives in China -- Shanghai & Xi'an
- Thread starter Brian C
- Start date
Well, I regret to tell you -- you have very high probabilityto get disappointed if you want a good custom knife in China. Unlike in the US, China has very very strict weapon control laws. Only in some minority areas could custom knife makers exist, most of them are in Xinjiang and Tibet. I would like to introduce some knives in those two area in the next post. But I do know a custom knife maker in Hangzhou, which is a beautiful city near Shanghai. This guy makes knives with D2 steel( it's almost impossible to get some high-end stainless steel in China). From reviews by some of my friends, those knives works pretty well. However, it's not legal for individual to make knives( except small small folders) in China! Also mail one is not legal. You must contact with him via email and get that knife in person. If you still have interest, I will try to find his email and give it to you.
Good news! You still have the chance to get a very very beautiful, unique, knife in China. In the Xinjiang Province, "Yingjisha" knives have been made by local forgers for hundreds of years. I was told that the some blades are forged to about RC 54. The handle is very very well decorated: with horn, glass, gold, silver, or jade... Currently, it is hard to find real good knife forgers there to make real good ones in the traditional way, but there is a knife factory there producing such knives... You can find many pictures online and have your Chinese friends to order one for you before you fly to China. The address is: http://www.enter-xinjiang.com/web_03/knife/index.htm
There are a lot of pics and, though I don't know the quality of the knives on this website, they are very cheap and worth a try!
Hope it is of help.
Below is the most(perhaps the only) traditional model of "Yingjisha" knife.
- Joined
- Nov 26, 2001
- Messages
- 45
I'm in beijing.It is right that what yzhai said.Besides laws,material is also the major reason that China donn't have outstanding knife-maker now.In china,we cann't buy ATS-34 ,154cm , G10,Kydex,and so on,except D2.Don't goto "enter-xinjiang" to buy anything ,As i know ,nobody can buy anthing form it ."Yingjisha" knives are good knives,but it is the old thing long time ago .Do you like chinese trational knife or sword ?If you go to beijing,I can introduce you somewhere.I know a knife-maker in Chengdu.He made knife using D2.
You can go here to find what you like.
http://www.hfsword.com/
http://www.sword-art.com/
Sorry,my english is too weak.I hope you can understand what i said and be useful to you.
You can go here to find what you like.
http://www.hfsword.com/
http://www.sword-art.com/
Sorry,my english is too weak.I hope you can understand what i said and be useful to you.
Thanks for the information, folks. It doesn't sound like I'll be doing any knife shopping. My schedule is not flexible enough to allow time for side trips beyond these cities.
What about carry laws? Is there a specific standard regarding what is & is not allowed? Thanks again for any information that you can provide.
What about carry laws? Is there a specific standard regarding what is & is not allowed? Thanks again for any information that you can provide.
- Joined
- May 9, 2000
- Messages
- 29,205
Just wanted to pop in here and welcome our members from China. Great to have yzhai and nut with us.
Five years ago I got my pocket knife confiscated at railway station of Harbin city, the police told me there was a blade length limit of 7 cm. Airport is another story, absolutely zero tolerance. They once took my gillette (spell?)safety razor head, of cause that was immediately after a hijack incident. Basically local policeman has the right to interprete if your knife is legal or not.
In China, other than kitchen knives, knife-making hasn't been industrialized yet. All because of the strict law regarding weapons. I don't know any individual makers. Factories who do make knives are under the name of artistic or tourism's or martial art practicing's name, and you can expect the quality from there.
China does have some exellent craftsmen, and suffient steel materials as well. Paul Chen's factory in Dalian is a good testomeny (spell again?). But because of the law, Paul Chen's products can only be used for export and can not be sold domestically.
Yes, only in some remote provinces where the so-called minority nationalities live, knife law is a bit loose because of the local people's traditional life style. But even in those areas, most of the stuffs you can see on the market are worthless tourist's stuffs.
I have been having a deep sorrow in my heart for China's current situation regarding knives for a long, long time. China is one of the most ancient countries with splended knife and sword making history. But the traditional knife and sword making arts probably have been lost... No one so far has standed out to persuade the goverment to at least do something to preserve the art.
Sheng
In China, other than kitchen knives, knife-making hasn't been industrialized yet. All because of the strict law regarding weapons. I don't know any individual makers. Factories who do make knives are under the name of artistic or tourism's or martial art practicing's name, and you can expect the quality from there.
China does have some exellent craftsmen, and suffient steel materials as well. Paul Chen's factory in Dalian is a good testomeny (spell again?). But because of the law, Paul Chen's products can only be used for export and can not be sold domestically.
Yes, only in some remote provinces where the so-called minority nationalities live, knife law is a bit loose because of the local people's traditional life style. But even in those areas, most of the stuffs you can see on the market are worthless tourist's stuffs.
I have been having a deep sorrow in my heart for China's current situation regarding knives for a long, long time. China is one of the most ancient countries with splended knife and sword making history. But the traditional knife and sword making arts probably have been lost... No one so far has standed out to persuade the goverment to at least do something to preserve the art.
Sheng