Jianshu & Qiangshu, Men

Jianshu and qiangshu combines two events, both based on the Changquan style of wushu. The jianshu event uses the jian, a double-edged straight sword, while the qiangshu event uses a flexible spear, with red horse hair attached to the head. At the World Championships, both events are held separately, but these were combined for the Olympic exhibition.

The reigning World Champions in the two events were Gogi Nebulana (Indonesia, jianshu) and Hei Zhi Hong (Hong Kong, qiangshu), but another Hong Kong athlete, Liu Yang had placed second in both events in 2007, and could thus be considered the favorite for this competition. Malaysian Lim Yew Fai had won bronze in the same events, and was thus deemed the primary challenger for Liu. This turned out to be an accurate description of the event\: Liu won both events with a score of 9.70, while Lim followed closely behind with 9.66 on both occasions.