THE REAL ORIGINS OF CHINESE WUSHU
Actually Martial arts were widespread throughout Chinese society. Wushu was taught most often by retired soldiers who made a living instructing Wushu in civilian life. In Chinese history there are well established references to both civilian (文 wen) and military (武 wu) ritual “dances.” (Wudao) The military dances combined both ritualistic and practical aspects and were performed with swords (劍), the knife (刀) or sabre and the halberd (戟).
Chinese references to wrestling ( Shuāijiǎo 摔角) predate any reference to what we would call today “striking systems”. Wrestling is a universal human activity and the Chinese engaged in wrestling for both recreation and ritual. The earliest Chinese term for wrestling, horn butting (jǐao dǐ 角抵), refers to a 6,000 year old style of martial practice in which soldiers wore horned headgear with which they attempted to butt, throw and defeat their adversaries .
Ancient Chinese imperial records state that “jiao di” was used in 2,697 BC by the soldiers of a rebel army led by Chiyou against the Yellow Emperor’s army. Jiao di has been described as an originating source of wrestling and latter forms of martial arts in China.
The “Book of Rites” dating from the Zhou dynasty (1046-256 BCE) refers to combat wrestling (jao li 角力). Jiao li” (角力) supplemented throwing techniques with strikes, blocks, joint locks and attacks on pressure points.These exercises were practiced by soldiers who also practiced archery and studied military strategy.
Jiao li eventually became a public sport held for court amusement as well as for recruiting the best fighters. Competitors wrestled each other on a raised platform called a “lei tai” for the potential reward of being hired as a bodyguard to the emperor or a martial arts instructor for the Imperial Military.
Jiao li was taught to soldiers in China over many centuries and its popularity among the military guaranteed its influence on later Chinese martial arts through the end of the Qing dynasty.
TAIJIQUAN WAS NOT ORIGINALLY CALLED AN INTERNAL MARTIAL ART
Even the reputed founder of Chen Taijiquan was a retired Chinese army general named, Chen Wangting (1580–1660). He reputedly devised his style of Taijiquan after his retirement following the fall of the Ming dynasty. At that time Taijiquan was not called an internal martial art. It was just one of the many forms of Chinese Wushu along with Xingyiquan and other methods.
So where did the term internal martial arts originated?
The so called Chinese internal martial arts today called Neijia (內家) lit: inner family. There is an enormous amount of misinformation, myth and confusion about the origins of the so called Chinese Internal martial arts, Neijia with more tall tales being added all the time.
Actually the distinction between internal and external martial arts is quite modern. While it is true that the term internal methods was used before the 17th century in a few instances, it was never really applied to martial arts (Wushu). The modern usage in Chinese martial arts is due to publications about Baguazhang, Xingyiquan and Taijiquan by master Sun, Lu-tang, who from 1915 to 1927 published five books that created the perception of separate Chinese martial arts that he refered to as “internal” martial systems.
Before his publications Chinese martial systems were all classified as just Wushu (武術) Lit: Military or martial technique or art. When it comes to refering to the martial arts of Baguazhang Xingyiquan and Taijiquan as internal methods the word “Internal” was Master, Sun’s invention.
Sun, Lu-tang is also responsible for creating the divisions of Chinese martial styles into Wudang or reputedly Daoist inspired methods said to be internal and Shaolin Buddhist inspired methods said to be external arts . This happened in 1928 at the first martial tournament organized by the “Goushu” martial academy.
Goushu” martial academy was a government institution for development and research of Chinese martial arts during the republican period. During the first tournament , some martial teachers led by Sun, Lu-tang wanted to separate their arts from others so they called their arts “Wudang” styles . Sun, Lu-tang wrote “Neijin (internal force) is developed by using neigong (internal skill) as opposed to waigong (external skill). “
Any martial arts outside of those designated as Neijia were called Waigong or Shaolin styles. It’s historically verifiable that before 1928 this division of Chinese martial arts into Shaolin and Wudang arts didn’t exist . Before this time All Chinese martial arts were just called Wushu (war arts) or Quanfa (fist arts).
It’s also important to realize that so called hard styles which were lumped into the Shaolin external catagory were not Buddhist inspired or created at the famed Shaolin temple and that so called internal arts were not created by Daoists such as the arts of Taijiquan and Xingyiquan which while associated with Daoist concepts were not Daoist in origin. Baguazhang reputedly created by Dong, Haichuan was apparently Daoist inspired, but his martial art was his own creation and he was not a Daoist monk.
As stated above, “One can believe anything one chooses, even if not remotely square with the facts.”
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