Looking at an original antique Chinese dao of quite large proportions. The dao is a general name for a sword type found all over China for hundreds of years - there are many varieties, one and two-handed, large and small. They were carried by all types of soldiers as sidearms. They can be found in all kinds of qualities, from mass produced government-issue to top quality heirloom weapons. This example is at the lower end of the scale and was probably produced for the Boxer Rebellion.