Originally Posted by
pannonian
He felt that Chinese swords had stagnated by Ming due to internalisation, unlike the constant wars in Europe that drove innovation, causing Chinese jian to become a status symbol rather than a practical weapon. The dao continued to develop, as the side weapon of the fighting man. Wars with foreign countries caused Chinese swords to start developing again in late Ming.
The second video has some British accounts of fights with Chinese swordsmen. As of necessity the British win the fights (otherwise they wouldn't be alive to write the accounts), but in at least one of the accounts the Briton credits his victory to his superior (longer) sword than the Chinese jian (which he calls a shortsword), since the Chinese swordsman was superior in skill.