Who We Are:

World Jianshu League (WJL) is an organization that promotes the art of jianshu (Chinese swordsmanship) as a competitive combat sport. In addition, we are a cooperative community that jointly develop jianshu rules, standards and cultures with our members. Our purpose is to provide a standardized competitive environment where jianshu practitioners can experiment, verify, and progress their jianshu through vigorous competitions. Our other purpose is to provide a communication forum for all jianshu enthusiasts to share their knowledge and interest in jianshu.

WJL Goal :

Our goal is to restore, preserve and progress the art of jianshu through both physical and intellectual developments. We wish to see the art of jianshu in its true essence and properly represented in the modern sports arena.

League Format:

The League's format is simple. Each WJL swordsman can opt to be rated for the individual competition format. Each WJL affiliated team is free to host sanctioned local or regional tournaments. A swordsman can advance his rating by winning matches in sanctioned tournaments. The rating adjustment depends on the outcome of the match, initial rating differences between two competitors, and the type of the tournament. At the end of each season, a swordsman's rating will qualify him for different categories at the annual WJL championship tournament. A similar format is also available for team style competition, where each team is rated as a single entity and competes against other team entity.

Elo Rating System with Achievement Adjustment:

Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games such as chess and Go. We adapted this rating system in order to give one's jianshu ability an objective indicator. Since jianshu expertise is multi-faceted we also adjust up to 20% of the competition rating base on achievements and merits.

Jianshu Equipments:

The specially designed CS-Jian and standard fencing mask are basic required equipments to practice jianshu. Torso, hand, wrist, groin, and shin protective gears are also required but no specific style is designated. It is up to each team to decide what is the safetest and most functional form of protective gears for them. Teams commonly borrow equipments from field hockey, lacross, paintball, motorcycle jacket, or other specialized martial art protective gears. Please see more discussion in equipment page.

Standard Jianshu Match Rules:

Please see rule section.