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Wildwoo
10-03-2004, 12:22 AM
Hey fellows does anyone know the name of the village in China where the Dragon Well weapons are forged? I have heard it is somewhere in Western China.
Thanks for your kind help.

WWII
SimonM
10-03-2004, 09:00 PM
Longquan, it is in the south-east part of Zhejiang province. I'm going out to Hangzhou next year and am planning a trip out to Longquan soon after I arrive.
SimonM
10-03-2004, 09:01 PM
I meant South-West.
GeneChing
10-04-2004, 07:45 PM
We have a piece on dragon well (http://www.martialartsmart.net/dragonwellfo.html) that I think you'll find very informative. It'll be in our Jan/Feb 2005, available at the end of Nov 2004. :cool:
Wildwoo
10-05-2004, 03:24 AM
That is really cool and I can't wait to see it.
Have any of you ever beeen there? Is it an easy journey or is there some stress involved?

Thank you

WWII
GeneChing
10-05-2004, 07:50 PM
It used to be a very difficult journey. I haven't been there myself, but my boss went years ago and said it took hours of driving up sketchy mountain roads. It might be different now, though. China is changing so rapidly.
brothernumber9
10-06-2004, 06:58 PM
was it the case that there used to be different grades of their gim based on the label that would imply quality and rarity of production ? for example there were silver label, gold, and I think either red or bronze? I could be wrong, I just remember my sifu had a bunch in the back of the store that he didn't want to sell, and I thought he mentioned that other than the tang, that the label would tell you of the manufacturing. right or wrong?
GeneChing
10-06-2004, 07:24 PM
Actually there are several independant competing forges surrounding Dragon Well. In addition, there are several fake forges - forged forges if you will. These are makers that are not from Dragon Well but place the Dragon Well label on their product.

That being said, there is a huge range in quality of products bearing the Dragon Well label. In China, you can't trust labels. You have to look directly at the product. There are some great pieces coming from authentic Dragon Well forges and there is some cheap crap. Likewise for the Dragon Well fakes, some are good, although most are bad.
norther practitioner
10-06-2004, 10:51 PM
Same with Hanwei right?
GeneChing
10-06-2004, 11:56 PM
Hanwei is a singular forge, based in Dalien, PRC, under the direction of Paul Chen from Taiwan. I have yet to see any Hanwei knockoffs, but it wouldn't surprise me if they exist.