Hampshire

Selborne Village Hall

Mon 19:00 - 20:30

Wing Chun Class

THE TRUTH ABOUT THE CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS

Traditional Chinese martial arts have been practiced continually in mainland China for at least 3,000 years

I began training in the martial arts at the age of ten in 1977. Over the last 46 years, I have seen many changes and developments in the martial arts world. These changes have accelerated recently, so that now, like a rifle that is off its aim by an inch, it misses its target by a mile.

Chinese Martial Arts Are Not Wushu

Wushu was created by the communist party of China in 1949. They set up committees to create routines based on the principles of gymnastics and dancing that had stylistic qualities that appeared to be similar to Chinese Martial Arts. The routines were awarded points according to how closely they conformed to gymnastic and stylistic performance criteria dictated by the communist party. In wushu, judges award points for good choreography and smooth continuous movement. Points are deducted if a tassel or other decoration falls of the costume or if a button is undone during a performance.

Yes, the practitioners of wushu are strong and flexible, but they are not practicing traditional Chinese Martial Arts. Their way of moving is the same as that used by gymnasts and dancers. This is not the same as the way of moving and the practical skills that real martial artists train to develop.

Traditional Chinese Martial Arts have moves designed to seriously harm, knock out or kill the opponent. Modern wushu has moves designed to score points awarded by a panel of judges. In old traditional Chinese martial arts, there are no uniforms. The moves are practical applications such as punch the face, kick the groin and break the arm. The movement is explosive and short. No points are awarded, and no one else judges you. Either you know it and it works, or you don’t and it doesn’t.

A relevant personal story: When I was in China in 2005 at the Emei Mountain Martial Arts School, the head of the school, Mr Shen, demonstrated many traditional Emei Mountain Martial Arts Forms and Skills such as Five Animals, Seven Stars and Iron Shirt. Mr Shen was quite old. Unfortunately, the communist party had placed a very young wushu teacher in his school. This wushu teacher taught modern wushu routines. When Mr Shen passes away, the wushu teacher will take over the school. Then when new students arrive at the school which is famous for its ancient Emei Mountain Martial Arts, they will instead be taught modern wushu. Many of them may not understand that they are being taught wushu routines. They might mistakenly believe they are learning traditional martial arts. I have heard that this situation is very common across the whole of mainland China. There may come a point when all the old masters have died, and mainland China only has people doing wushu.

Chinese Martial Arts Are Not Chi Kung

Chi Kung is an ancient Chinese exercise system to promote good health. It uses still standing postures, some moving sequences, special breathing methods and meditations.

Many martial arts systems have incorporated chi kung into their training. Of course, it is good to be healthy so that illness and disease do not defeat you whilst you are training to defeat human opponents. However, there is an unfortunate consequence to this situation. Many people have become confused and think that principles that are very important in chi kung training are also very important in traditional martial arts.

In chi kung, to enable blood and chi to flow without any unnecessary restriction around the body, it is very important to have the correct posture and to release any unnecessary tension in the body.

Yes, these ideas are also important in Chinese Martial Arts, but they are quite low down on the list of priorities. Much more important is knowing how to strike the opponent with massive explosive force to his most vulnerable anatomical weak points. How to have fast correct footwork to enable you to not be where the attacker is aiming and to be able to position yourself so you can get him, but he cannot get you. Having the correct timing for one’s counter-strikes and knowing the correct angles of attack are also immensely important. Much further down on the list of priorities is correct posture and the release of any unnecessary tension.

But unfortunately, there are now many Martial Arts schools elevating these two chi kung ideas to the point that they believe them to be the priority. It has even become so confused that some people believe that healing chi can be used to defeat an aggressive opponent.

Yes, it is good to have a lot of healing chi flowing around one’s body. But this is a chi kung idea for promoting good health. To defeat an aggressive opponent, you have to punch them in the face.

Chinese Martial Arts Are Not Magical Thinking

If we study the history, archaeology and anthropology of China, we have a very good perspective from which to view the Chinese martial arts. In ancient China, martial arts were a practical trade, practiced at a particular time in Chinese history. The results of our reality-based research will produce the truth about the Chinese Martial Arts.

If we study Chinese poetry, philosophy, folk tales, myth, legends, romantic novels and kung fu movies, and try and apply this world view to Chinese martial arts, we will end up with an entertaining and amazing set of ideas. All very interesting and thought-provoking but imaginary and ultimately unrealistic. Something that I call magical thinking.

Unfortunately, there are many instructors who are viewing the martial arts from the perspective of magical thinking and teach their students unrealistic training methods and applications. Consequently, if the student has to defend themselves when their life is under threat, they find out what they have been shown does not work. They have no way of defending themselves against real violence, and they get injured or killed.

A person who has been practicing martial arts from the perspective of magical thinking will always lose when in a conflict with a person who actually knows how to fight. Then it is said that Chinese martial arts do not work. This unfairly taints the Chinese martial arts that are based on reality and not magical thinking.

An example of magical thinking can be seen in the Chinese martial art of Pa Kua Chang (Baguazhang). This style has eight main hand shapes, eight animal style forms and a combination form with eight sections. The system is structured around the number eight. This is partly because it is referencing a book of divination called the I Ching (Book of Changes) which is also based around the number eight. This book is important in Chinese history, philosophy and culture.

However, people who use magical thinking take this symbolic reference and try and give it a literal interpretation. They think that somehow the symbols and archaic references in the book will provide an explanation for the use of the martial arts movements. Or that only through studying the book can one get to the higher levels of the martial arts. This is magical thinking. It is not true. The I Ching is a book about divination, it is not a martial arts manuscript.

Another example of magical thinking are the stories that say that the founder of a certain martial arts style watched a creature and then miraculously created a martial arts style from that observation. Sometimes, it is a snake, sometimes a bird or another type of animal or insect. Sometimes, a fight is observed. A bird fighting a snake or a mantis fighting. Another variation on this idea is that they did not see the animals fight but had a dream of animals fighting. Then they were able to create a complete martial arts system! This type of story is the result of magical thinking, not reality. The reality is that martial arts were created by generations of people fighting with other people and recording what worked.

Chinese Martial Arts Were Not Created By One Person

Some students believe that their style of martial arts was created by one person:

Wing Chun was created Ng Mui

Xing Yi was created by Yue Fei
Eagle Claw was created by Yue Fei
Wu Tang was created by Chang San Fen
Tai Chi was created by Chang San Fen
Shaolin was created by Bodhidharma

This is not true. Martial arts were created over generations by vast numbers of people who added to and refined the training methods and principles. They also often combined a collection of earlier styles together.

So, where did the idea of one person creating a whole style originate?

Maybe they thought, if they claimed a prestigious lineage going back to an esteemed historical character then their style would be more impressive, and they could get more students.

WE HAVE DISCUSSED WHAT MARTIAL ARTS ARE NOT.
NOW LET’S HAVE A LOOK AT WHAT THEY REALLY ARE:

Chinese Martial Arts Are a Professional Trade Skill

To get closer to the truth, we must look to history to see the real origin of the Chinese martial arts.

In ancient China, learning martial arts was a trade, like carpentry or pottery. People with martial arts skills would guard merchants and their goods as the caravans of camels and horses traversed the silk roads across Eurasia. Martial artists where professionals with a trade skill and would be paid for their services.

In ancient times, when a caravan was attacked, the bandits would be armed with spears, swords, daggers, bows and arrows. The martial arts bodyguards defending the caravan would also be armed in a similar fashion. In close quarter fighting, if weapons were lost, then skill in unarmed combat was also essential.

Bandits would try and kill everyone in the caravan so that there would be no witnesses to the theft. In addition, the martial artists who had been hired to protect the caravan would be expected to kill all the bandits not only to protect the merchants and their goods but to avoid the possibility of the bandits regrouping and re-attacking at a later date. So, these types of encounters were a fight to the death. This was not a romantic occupation. It was about practical martial arts skill.

Another component of the true historical origins of the Chinese martial arts was training in the army.

There were three main types of trained fighters:

  • The ruling warrior class elite who had gained power to rule through war and cultivated their skills to maintain power.
  • Conscripts into the army who had no choice.
  • Local militia who could be called upon by the ruling elite to suppress local rebellion or banditry.

All three groups would receive realistic practical martial arts training. When all these varied groups who had received military martial arts training returned to their villages and towns, they would pass on their martial arts practical skills to their family and clan.

So, the origin of Chinese martial arts is that they are a professional practical trade skill used by soldiers, bodyguards and local militia.

In the same way that ancient China had written manuscripts for the practice of other practical trades like agriculture and medicine, it also had written manuscripts explaining how to practice and apply martial arts.

Kick to deceive Then strike with fist With a single blow take the opponent’s life Deliver repeated kicks Beat the opponent He is stunned and terrified Aim for the crotch Kick to his knee Then deliver a red fist at close range Show no mercy to your opponent
Manuscript of General Qi Chi Kuang

(1528 -1587)

Attack the opponent’s points Strike with sudden impact Seven Star posture strike privates and throat Monkey offers cup strike the face Penetration punch to strike crotch Hurricane kick is followed by single whip Single whip strike the throat Wage war with first one hand then the other When you attack head on, pound the opponent’s head Stamp on their sternum
Manuscript of Chang Nai Chou

(1728-1783)

Attack where he is not prepared Strike the enemy like rapid thunder use hand to strike, on short distance use elbow on long distance kick, on short distance use knee If one wants to get upper hand in fighting defeat enemy like smashing a weed Strike their throat and strike their groin
Manuscript of Chen Chang Hsing

(1771-1853)

Be like a speeding horse destroying all in its path
Applications for fingers are seek and stab the acupuncture points,
applications for fist is to punch
Use elbow strike without mercy
Leave your opponent no room to escape
The hand like a swift sword slicing across the throat
send the opponent straight to hell

Yang Family Tai Chi Manuscripts

If you want to hurt the opponent
You can hurt them
One palm strike
Opponent spit blood

 

 

Pa Kua Chang Classics

In these manuscripts, there is never any mention of uprooting or unbalancing the opponent. Or of pushing or pulling to cause the opponent to be pushed away or be made to fall over.

These practical trade training manuals do not say that you can make the opponent be flung away a great distance by using your energy. Instead, the texts are full of endless references to striking the opponent with one’s knees and elbows and punching and kicking them with one’s fists and feet.

The idea of a ‘non-violent’ martial art in which you can defeat the opponent without hurting them is a modern invention. An attempt to re-interpret the Chinese Martial Arts through the perspective of magical thinking, not reality.

I am NOT advocating illegal or unnecessary conflict. I am making a point about authenticity and truth.

To train the Chinese Martial Arts with integrity means to be honest about what they are.

You would not teach the movements of western boxing and say that the moves are to push the opponent so that they fall over. The true application of western boxing is to punch the opponent in the face. The same honesty and truthfulness should be applied to the Chinese Martial Arts.

Paul has written many Chinese Martial and Healing Arts Books.