Nice review, thanks.
I had this knife now for 2 and a half month (blame BLF ;) ) and like it very much. In my sample the blade locks firmly without any play and holds the edge clearly better than the SanRenMu 8Cr13MoV steel (which is OTOH easier to sharpen)
I believe the steel is really 9Cr18MoV. It is the chinese version of 440C (not identical but quite similar) and often used in better quality knives from China marked with "440C".