Japanese swords, known as katana, have the rare distinction among arms and weapons of being regarded as objects of fine art. However, few are aware of the wider historic and cultural context in which the Japanese sword tradition came into being, which owed in no small part to early influences and exchanges with China and Korea. In addition, fundamental aspects in samurai philosophy, such as notions of the "warrior as servant", "swordsmanship as a vehicle for moral training", as well as the idea of the sword as a symbol for virtue, all derived from China. Hing Chao, an expert and leading researcher in Chinese martial studies, will discuss how Chinese cultural concepts shaped Japan's warrior tradition, both from a technical point of view in terms of sword-making and swordsmanship, as well as from philosophic and ideological perspectives. The talk will showcase a number of handcrafted swords, which were made using ancient sword-making methods.