A history of wushu

[NightOwl]

Hey, wrote this for my history class last year...thought you might find it interesting:

Wushu, the Chinese word most commonly translated as ‘martial art’ is today practiced by millions as the officially recognized sport of China. From soccer moms and their grade-schoolers to hordes of practitioners in parks

performing synchronized movements in front of Chinese TV cameras, all claim to be part of an ancient oriental tradition spanning back thousands of years. And yet, a look into the past belays a curious truth: wushu is a modern creation. In fact, it is less than 100 years old, and the catalyst for its flourishing can be attributed to none other than the Chinese Communist Party. Somewhat paradoxically, the same government that created the phenomenon of contemporary wushu is also responsible for the near extinction of fighting systems in China, the very thing that it now claims to propitiate. Thus this is a look at how a tradition was persecuted, forgotten, and in the end used by the People’s Republic of China for its own agenda.

The history of Wushu prior to the late 19th century is not straightforward, but almost cyclical in its waning into more or less acrobatics and exercise during times of peace, and being transformed back into combat during times of unrest. The original martial arts derived from farming tools and hunting tactics. As time went on, teniques were collected and organized to form different fighting styles that varied by region, and by the end of the Han dynasty, martial arts had become a highly developed practice with clearly defined systems and lineages (Wilson, 317). However, martial arts never were part of the mainstream, but rather there were four main areas where wushu developed and was practiced on a regular basis. The first was where martial arts got their start: among the population as a whole. ‘Folk styles,’ useful for the often lawless regions of China outside of the cities, were where the original practitioners of wushu were to be found, as opposed to in the halls of the elite and the intellectual (Tsang,25) (Fairbank, 230). The second area was in the military, present both in drills involving close and long range weaponry and unarmed combat. Martial artists were valued on and off the battlefield, and during the Tang dynasty they were even encouraged to take official posts in the military to lend their expertise. Again however, it is important to remember that they were not among the majority (Tsang, 32).

The third stronghold of wushu was in religious circles; and while the majority of Taoist and Buddhist monks were not practitioners of martial arts, the famous exception was the Buddhist monks of the Shaolin temple in the Henan province(Dyer-Bennet, 1199). The Mecca of martial arts during its time, it attracted some of the most well known artists of the era, a tradition thought to have been started by Abbot Fu Yu (1203-1275) who was known to invite wushu experts to the monastery to train the monks living there (Davis, 378). The brightly garbed monks became so famous for their martial prowess, that at times they were used as a militia unit, a position that allowed them to amass a great amount of wealth from the government (Wilson, 452)

The final section of Chinese society that had a history of martial arts was the many secret societies. Secret societies could be made up of many different social groups: the local populace banding together for protection, religious sects, and most often, groups of thugs. Usually bearing colorful names such as ‘The Yellow Turbans’, or ‘The White Cloud Society’, these organizations often played a role in (or likewise formed because of) social unrest (Latourette, 576-78). Many times martial arts could be seen present in these orders as they always tended to have a hint of violence. Members of the famous White Lotus cult during the Qing dynasty were known to practice wushu, and the infamous ‘Boxers United in Righteousness’ or ‘Boxers’ were well known for their exhibitions of Chinese boxing and theatrics in order to attract disaffected peasants to crusade against the ‘barbarians’(Gewu, 67) (Chesneaux, 52).

Thus it is within the context of these ‘four pillars’ that wushu entered the modern age. The first of the pillars to crack was in the military. After a humiliating defeat at the hands of the West in 1901 during the Boxer Rebellion, the Qing court issued an order to halt the military examination system, causing wushu to essentially retreat out of the military realm and into the countryside (Gewu, 77). However it is important to remember that the rampant imperialism that dominated China at the turn of the century had a great deal to do with a disparity in military technology. While the majority of Chinese were still fighting at the time with ‘cold’ weaponry, the Western powers were equipped with guns and a modernized navy that could easily defeat the Manchu army. And even though most soldiers were little more than grunts, even an accomplished swordsman or unarmed fighter (despite what the Boxers would have had their followers believe) was no match for a bullet. Thus the rise of the West and modern weaponry forced martial arts in the military realm to the side as new tactics were needed for the modern battlefield (Dyer-Bennet, 1199).

Despite the fall of traditional modern arts in the military in the face of modern weaponry, wushu managed to survive in the countryside. Through the rest of the early 1900’s up to the dawn of WWII, wushu became more organized and accepted as a public sport, as multiple wushu competitions and tournaments were held (Gewu, 80-93). However, after the invasion of China by Japan and subsequent Communist rebellion against the Nationalists, the remaining three pillars would soon face their own near-extinction.

After WWII, China was reeling from years of savage oppression and warfare. It was during the war that the Chinese Communist Party had garnered support for its cause by using the opportunity to spread the gospel of Marx to the countryside as a whole. Due to this surge in popular support by the peasantry at large, in October of 1941 the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai Shek were forced to flee to Taiwan and hand over control of the CCP. Outside of the British controlled Hong Kong, China was now a swath of red.

Shortly after the Communist takeover in 1953, the newly created Physical Culture and Sports Commission of the People’s Republic of China established a sub-committee entitled by the equally as long name of ‘The Research Commission of Chinese Physical Culture’. As far as the committee was concerned with martial arts, it had an interest in organizing and developing wushu in order to bring it into mainstream popularity （Gewu, 95-96). The main goal was to develop from the various styles and methods of wushu a performance art and national sport that would one day receive recognition from the international community as a uniquely Chinese activity (Davis, 376). In 1956 the PCSC officially declared martial arts as a competitive sport, and promptly included it in the curriculum of schools and other areas of physical competition, and in the years following thereafter, official rules were applied for wushu tournaments which included heavy emphasis on forms and routines for the 1st national games held in Beijing in September of 1959. The following year the National Wushu Games where held in Zhengzhou, and increased elevation of jumps and aesthetics for scoring was stressed over actual martial ability, thus marking a trend towards acrobatics rather than combat (Gewu, 97-98). Nevertheless, wushu as it traditionally existed was not under direct threat. However, with the dawn of the Cultural Revolution that would change.

If there ever was a historical event of mass ignorance and rejection of knowledge, it was the Chinese Cultural Revolution which consumed the region from 1966-1976. The catalyst for the nation-wide anarchy was the call from Mao Zedong to the youths of China to ‘Purge China of the Four Olds’. This included but was not limited to ‘anti-revolutionaries’ (many of whom were loyal members of the Communist Party), ‘Capitalist-roaders,’ and any traces of ‘bourgeois’ influence. The resulting carnage saw the complete destruction of the educational system and a lapse into mob rule. Traditional cultural activities of all varieties were persecuted as ‘bourgeois’, from festivals and traditional Peking Opera, to anyone with a specialized occupation, which included martial art specialists (Fairbank, 726). The practice of martial arts was strictly forbidden, and anyone caught doing so faced harsh repercussions. Even in the countryside, practice ceased and many documents and historical records related to the subject were destroyed (Davis, 376). Thus faced with persecution, many were forced to call of martial arts entirely and only the few who could afford it left the country. The oppressiveness of the PRC had long been a driving force for emigration, and many former mainland Chinese saw the British colony of Hong Kong as a gateway to economic prosperity. It was here and elsewhere abroad that the remaining few who knew martial arts practiced without much fear of repercussion, and from an initial 1945 population of about 600,000 before Communism to a headcount of over 2.5 million in 1955, Hong Kong (along with locales such as Taiwan and America) ushered in a massive tide of humanity and in the process rescued Chinese martial arts from extinction. Ironically it was also in Hong Kong where the obscure tradition of wushu took off to become internationally famous, catching the attention of even the once hostile Chinese Communist government (Tsang, 167).

While Mainland China was awash in unrest of the Cultural Revolution and subsequent cooling down period and economic rebuilding under Den Xiaoping, in the 1970’s and 1980’s martial artists who had fled to Hong Kong and the subsequent new generation of trainees found an ingenious way to capitalize on their talents: the kung fu film (Davis, 379). The Hong Kong public ate up movies filled with displays of questionable wire-work and acrobatics mixed with martial arts, and eventually stars of the genre such as Bruce Lee and Jackie Chan managed to break out to a world-wide audience. Interest in martial arts skyrocketed throughout the world, and a once cold PRC suddenly became eager to capitalize on the phenomenon.

China was opening up, and they needed something to put them on the map. With visions of Olympic glory floating in their heads, the PCSC in 1979 started up an effort to revive wushu (although private schools were still not allowed at the time), and in 1984 a study titled, ‘The Report on the Meeting for the Discovery of the National Wushu Heritage’ was filed. However, due to the cultural damage of 30 years of communism, the data collected was lacking. With countless documents lost and wushu masters reluctant to contribute, the effort was for all practical purposes a failure. Throughout the mid-1980’s masters living abroad were encouraged to return to the Mainland, and in the 1990’s actual officials were sent abroad to try and find those who had left to practice outside of China. Contributions however, still remained few and far between, and the result was a mixed collection of forms highlighted by exaggerated movements placed under the title of ‘Wushu’ (Davis, 376) (Gewu, 104). Meanwhile, as China began to try and reclaim its historical heritage, a curriculum was introduced in 1982 at the Shaolin monastery to try and revive the once great pillar of Chinese martial arts. However, the style being taught featured only bits and fragments of traditional forms supplemented with the aerobics of the now titled ‘Contemporary’ or ‘Modern’ wushu. From the 1990’s onto today, the CCP still officially sponsors these Shaolin Monks to travel abroad as a cultural public relations move, sending them to everywhere from New York to Portland Oregon for displays of ‘The Ancient Art of Kung fu’.(Davis, 376-378).

As of the present, the bid to revive martial arts has not yet come to fruition, and while the CCP did manage to get the 2008 Olympics secured for Beijing, wushu was not accepted by the Olympic committee as an official event. Nevertheless, a grand show of the ‘ancient tradition’ of martial arts will no doubt be shown during and after the opening ceremony. As China presents itself as the land from which all civilization flows, and tourism becomes as viable industry, more and more ‘ancient traditions’ from other aspects of Chinese culture will no doubt be unearthed as China’s history is more and more being seen as a way to promote China in the eyes of the world. But things stand the same: The folly of the Cultural Revolution led to cultural and historical losses that may never be regained. And if current trends continue, a once rich cultural heritage will soon be reduced to cultural propaganda as the last of the pillars fall.

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Sources:

Chesneaux, Jean. Peasant Revolts in China 1840-1949

Trans. C.A. Curwen. London: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 1973.

Davis, Edward L, ed. Encyclopedia of Contemporary Chinese Culture

New York, NY: Routledge, 2005

Dyer-Bennet, Townes, and Alan Trevithick. Encyclopedia of World Sport: From Ancient Times to the Present. Santa Barbra California: David Levinson and Karen Christenson, 1996

Fairbank, John King, and Merle Goldman. China: A New History

Massachusetts: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1998

Fairbank, John K. and Roderick Macfarquhar, ed. The Cambridge History of China

Vol 15. The People’s Republic Part 2: Revolutions within the Chinese Revolution

1966-1982. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

Gewu, Kang. The Spring and Autumn of Chinese Martial Arts -5000 Years-

Santa Cruz, CA: Plum Publishing, 1995

Latourette, Kenneth Scott. The Chinese: Their History and Culture

New York: MacMaillian Company, 1934, 1946, 1964.

Tsang, Steve. A Modern History of Hong Kong

London: I.B Tauris & Co Ltd, 2004

Wilson, Alexis, ed. et al. Encyclopedia of China: The Essential Reference to China, Its History and Culture. New York, NY: Dorothy Perkins and Roundtable Press Inc. 1999

[bushido_man96]

That is a very interesting article, NightOwl. Thanks for sharing it.

[James Bullock]

Very well done NightOwl...

I enjoyed it very much...thank you for taking the time to share it.

[masterintraining]

quick question: i was just finshing watching jet Li's fearless and i was wandering why wasnt the original huo yuanja sports fedration( wushu school) effected by these laws of the government? It staits that the school continued to flourish even after his death to today, was it haulted temporarly while all of these events where happening.

P.S. around 1905-1910 was wushu still more forms and traditional kungfu like today, or was it already more about flashy acrobatics instead of martial and self-defence abillity.

[NightOwl]

quick question: i was just finshing watching jet Li's fearless and i was wandering why wasnt the original huo yuanja sports fedration( wushu school) effected by these laws of the government? It staits that the school continued to flourish even after his death to today, was it haulted temporarly while all of these events where happening.

P.S. around 1905-1910 was wushu still more forms and traditional kungfu like today, or was it already more about flashy acrobatics instead of martial and self-defence abillity.

Well according to the all knowing wikipedia, the school was shut down during the cultural revolution and didn't reopen until 1976.

[masterintraining]

thanks but was it still flashy acrobatic like todays wushu, or actual kungfu forms and effective for fighting, like other schools of Kungfu ( wing-chun, mantis, etc.)

[WudangDragon]

In that period the forms would probably have been the "actual" and effective forms of which you speak. Contemporary Wushu (the acrobatics and flashy movements) was not prevailent by this point, at least to my knowledge. . . .