Martial arts in China

There are two main myths surrounding the origin of Chinese martial arts. The first describes a fifth-century monk named Bodhidharma (Damo 達摩), some say of Indian origin and some say of Persian origin, who introduced Zen (chan 禪) to the Shaolin monks. According to the legend, having observed that their bodies were weak from unceasing studying and meditation, he introduces some physical exercises to make them stronger. Three of the Chinese martial arts’ milestone exercises are attributed to him: the yijin jing, muscle changing classic, the xisui jing, marrow cleansing classic, and the eighteen lohan exercises, which are considered to be one of the foundations to the development of Chinese boxing.

The second myth describes Zhang Sanfeng (張三豐 960-1279 or 1279-1389 BC), a mythological Daoist hermit who developed the taijiquan after observing a fight between a crane and a snake. Some stories accredit him with the development of neijia (內 家 internal martial arts) in general. He was associated with the Daoist monastery in Wudang and is believed to have become immortal.

Another legend claims that the Yellow Emperor, (2698-2398 BC) was the one who introduced martial arts to China. He wrote essays on medicine, astrology and the martial arts and even developed a form of martial arts called jiaodi.

There is evidence of martial arts called shoubo 手 搏 that was practiced through the Shang dynasty (1766–1066 BC)

According to Chinese martial historian Stanley Henning (1981), the first relation to martial arts in Chinese literature is found in The Rights of Zhou 周 禮, one of three ancient ritual texts listed among the classics of Confucianism and completed in second century BC The text lists six arts that should be

mastered by “an educated or morally superior man”. Among them archery and charioteering that are “clearly martial” (Henning, 1981, p. 174)

The Classic of Rights 禮記, another of the ancient ritual texts, written in the Warring State Period, mentions a wrestling style called jiaoli 角力, which later became a competitive sport.

The famous Tang dynasty poet, Libo, dedicated a poem to a skilfully performed sword dance. In Henning’s opinion, “this perfection of form in this dance-like manoeuvres has been an outstanding characteristics of the Chinese martial arts through the ages, and is the essence of wushu as practices in China today” He mentions the Han history bibliographies, completed around 90 A.D., that list archery, boxing and fencing as military skills. The bibliographies also state the above-mentioned shoubu. (Ibis) Daoist texts such as Laozi’s Daodejing⁸ and Zhuangzi⁹ mention martial arts’

principles, psychology and practice. Sun Zi’s (Sun Tzu) book The Art of War¹⁰ contains ideas that are employed in the Chinese martial arts.

A practice called taoyin 導 引, similar in principles to qigong, preceded taijiquan and was practiced by Daoists as early as 500 BC

Around 220 BC, the noted physician, Huatuo, composed the ‘Five Animals Play’ - a serious of exercises based on the movement of the tiger, deer, monkey, bear, and crane.

In Han dynasty times (206 BC - 9 AD) the Chinese empire governed areas from Turkestan to Korea. In Henning’s opinion, Chinese martial arts that spread throughout those countries were possibly the ancestors of Korean taekwondo.

The official examination system for recruiting military personal formed in Tang dynasty (618-907) included proficiency in martial arts skill. Henning describes that during the Song dynasty (960-1279) the army sought out skilled martial artists as instructors, some famous figures who received such instruction were Song dynasty patriot Yuefei and Ming dynasty’s general Qi Jiguang, who’s records provide a sound description of a martial arts training program for soldiers recruited among the peasantry. (Ibis)

8 Daodejing, or Tao Te Ching 道德經, is a classical Daoist text written in the six century by Laozi 老子. Together with Zhuangzi considered being the most influential Daoist theoretician.

9 Zhuangzi ^莊子 is a Chinese philosopher from fourth century BC.

10 Written during the six-century BC, considered to be a brilliant work on military tactics and strategies.

Henning reports that Qi Jiguang also developed a thirty-two movement practice form. All the form’s movements and half of the movements’ names can be found in later taijiquan Chen and Yang style forms practiced today. (p. 175) Although there are evidence that Shaolin monks participated in battles as early as Tang dynasty times, the first evidence of them receiving a formal martial arts training is from the Ming dynasty. Historian Meir Shahar (2001) reports of at least forty late Ming dynasty sources that prove Shaolin monks had been practicing the martial arts at the time; according to him those sources “reveal that martial practice had become such an integral element of Shaolin monastic life that the monks created new Buddhist lore to justify it.”

(Shahar, 2001, p. 364)

Shaolin monks’ reputation spread all over and in the middle if the sixteen-century many military experts travelled to Shaolin temple to study their techniques. The above-mentioned sources described in details both the empty hand and staff fighting techniques, the latter being what made the monastery famous. According to Shahar, the earliest manual of Shaolin martial arts was dedicated to staff fighting and was compiled around 1610.

The Shaolin staff methods received many praises from military experts, among them the above-mentioned Qi Jiguang. (pp. 365, 373)

According to Henning, in Qing dynasty time, the resentment toward the Manchu ruler induced the creation of secret societies and encouraged the development of myth surrounding the origins of the arts. In Ming patriot Huang Zongxi’s¹¹ epitaph to Wang Zhengnan, an acclaimed martial arts teacher, he refers to the Buddhist Shaolin monastery based martial arts as

“external”, in contrast to Wang’s “internal” school that “uses Taoist yielding concepts to defeat an opponent as opposed to the aggressive techniques of the external school.” Henning explains that Huang used the comparison as analogy for external influences, i.e. Manchu, verses original internal systems, i.e. the Chinese. In any case, it is the first reference of dividing Chinese martial arts to external and internal. (Henning, 1981, p. 175)

11 Huang Zongxi 黃宗羲 1610-1695, was the name of a Chinese political theorist, philosopher, and soldier during the latter part of the Ming dynasty into the early part the Qing.

In the middle of the nineteen-century China suffered from civil conflicts, foreign forces assaults and natural disasters that instigated the raising of private militia and protection agencies. Martial artists found work as bodyguards and escorts to transported goods. Secret societies and religious sects such as The Eight-Trigrams, Hangmen society, the Harmonious Fists (Boxers), Small Knives, Big Knives and more flourished among the peasantry.

According to Henning, their training incorporated Daoist and Buddhist religious practice with martial arts techniques, inducing the development of new martial arts styles. Henning claims that many of the common myths regarding the martial arts origins developed or gathered strength at that time, when many of those styles claimed to trace their origins to either Shaolin monastery, Zhang Sanfeng or Song dynasty patriot, Yuefei. (p. 176)

Shahar mentions that Henan province, in which Shaolin temple is located, was a “hotbed of martial arts”. Taijiquan developed in nearby Chenjiagou around the seventeen-century; baguazhang originated there in the eighteen-century; xingyiquan, which originated in Shanxi, was practiced in Henan, and bajiquan originated either in Henan or the neighbouring Hebei. (Shahar, 2001, p. 388) In the beginning of the twentieth-century, warlords hired martial artists to train their private armies in hand-to-hand combat and cold weapon use.

In 1928, the Central Martial Arts Academy was formed in Nanjing, as an effort to develop martial spirit in the people. Henning describes, “an attempt was made to popularise the martial arts in national wide physical educational program and to use them in military and police training”. One of the manuals for military training that was published at that time was based on xingyiquan techniques.

In the 1930s historian Tang Hao and his contemporary Xu Jedong began the first serious research of martial arts, trying to refute the common myth and establish historical facts concerning their origins.

With the founding of the People Republic of China, martial arts, now called wushu (武樹), came under the guidance of the People’s Physical Culture and Sport Commission. The communists identified the popularity of the arts and their value as a physical exercise and training discipline. Between 1953 and 1965, standardized sets of changquan (長拳long boxing), and weapons sets were developed, standard rules for competitions were arranged and a standard short taijiquan form was created. However, during the Cultural

Revolution some aspects of martial arts training, as many other traditional practices, were seen as ‘feudal’ and prohibited, turning martial arts to a mix of sport and exercise (p. 177). Nowadays, the practice of Chinese martial arts is divided between two schools; some systems follow the traditional approach, which put emphasize on fighting skills, whereas the others practice wushu, emphasizing the sport and performance aspects of the arts.