The Serpent Spear (丈八蛇矛 zhàng bā shé máo), or ‘eighteen-foot serpent spear’, is the weapon most commonly associated with Zhang Fei in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms and in later art, opera, and popular culture. The name combines 丈八 (a traditional measure of length) with 蛇矛 (serpent spear), suggesting a long shaft with a curved or serpentine spearhead.
History and sources
The historical Records of the Three Kingdoms do not name Zhang Fei’s weapon. The Serpent Spear appears in the Romance and in Ming and later folklore, where Zhang Fei is portrayed wielding it at the Oath of the Peach Garden, at Changban, and in other famous scenes. As with Guan Yu’s Green Dragon Crescent Blade, the association is literary and cultural rather than attested in the primary historical sources.
In culture
The spear has become part of Zhang Fei’s iconography—a symbol of his fierce, direct style of combat. It appears in video games, film, and other media set in the Three Kingdoms period.