White Crane battle array

Tainan, the first settlement build in Taiwan and capital of the island for centuries still holds honorable title as the "cultural capital".

People in Tainan area worked on their lands and were devoted to farming and fishing thus they established a profound connection with this land and the ocean. In order to provide everything necessary for stable life, like good weather, enough rain, protection against typhoons and pirates, a culture full of customs, worshiping gods, pilgrimages, religious and magical rituals developed over time and it is still deeply rooted in this area. The pace of modernization perhaps did not go too fast in Tainan, or perhaps the effect of mass rural life did not fully destroy the relationship between man and land, in any case Tainan is perhaps the last oasis of true, untouched by progress, traditional south Chinese traditional culture and way of life.

Perhaps the best representation diverse cultural life in Tainan area are thriving temple. From the beginning to the end of the year, from spring to fall, there are different types of temple festivals. There wasn’t a day in a year without drums bang, firecrackers burst out, procession with statues of gods. Tainan can be called the temple city because temples are literary everywhere, Almost every street has at least one temple and that is not exaggeration. Very temple holds a procession with music, dancing, kung fu performance once a year celebrating a birthday of a god  to which it is dedicated.  Of course there are many other festivals, performances and public rituals, as much as temple processions.

Tainan also has rich martial arts culture. Being a frontier area for centuries, Taiwan was “Wild West” of Chinese empire, in many ways much more dangerous and in need for fighting skills than any other place in Asia at the time. Basically, outside the walls of Tainan fortress there was no laws besides the law of the strongest. In order to survive villages organized and train their own militias to repel the pirates, head hunters and other bandits. Over time Ching dynasty established better control of the island but people still continued to practice martial arts, after centuries of constant struggle martial arts became not only part of everyday life but also a part of religious rituals, celebrations and culture in general.

One unique religious martial performance which can be found only in Tainan’s Chiku district is White Crane array.  

One group of man who followed Koshiga arrived in Tainan in 1661. Escaping government persecution they brought their families and all valuable things. Among those treasures were old statues of the deities they worshiped which had and still have tremendous impact on life and beliefs of local people. Settlers along with their precious relics changed places several times in 2 centuries to finally settle down in Shulin, Chiku district and build a temple in 1852. Temple was in later years rebuild several times and today’s final shape got in the middle of the 1980’s. 

White Crane array  was founded in 1928 , The villager Huang Dabin, who served as the village chief, worked on organization of the martial arts performance to protect the religious procession . At that time, the Taoist rituals were performed before the main ceremony to ask the Jade Emperor for signs and guidance . The village chief got the message in a dream that the two deities "White Crane" and "White Crane Boy", should the procession and protect the main deity. This is how the only White Crane battle array in Taiwan was born.  

The White Crane Array is evolved from another battle array specific for south of Taiwan, the Sung Chiang battle array.  

sung chiang battle array

At the beginning , White Crane array was held every three years and that was the reason that this tradition almost disappeared .Government took steps to preserve this unique tradition and today many young people joined the White Crane group and performances were held yearly with future plans to make a tourist attraction of it and trained artisans will perform at least the parts of the array daily ad offer martial arts classes.

In essence the White Crane Array is a version of Sung Chiang battle but unlike other traditional Sung Chuang arrays, the performance of the “White Crane"  and the ‘White Crane boy”  precedes the main performance . White Crane Array includes the boy, the white crane, the 36 martial team members, and the  gongs and drums players , total of 41 people.

The protagonist of the squad is a white crane-shaped hooded prop. The main body is made of thin bamboo frame and is worn by one person. Both hands hold wings.           

and many people take turns to perform. a white crane boy who guides the white crane (this is decorated by a mask with a head), which is the leader of the white crane array, shuttles between them and jumps with the white crane  .

The white crane is made of bamboo skeleton and covered with white cloth. When it is performed, it is worn by one person, and both hands hold their wings. The walking and jumping  mimics the various postures of the white crane The white crane boy also, wearing a mask, sometimes leading the way, and sometimes dancing with the white crane. The performance of the White Cranes is always in the accompanied with gongs and drums. The soul of the array is the drummer. The crane dance and formation of martial performance changes by various drums beats.

After the procession with statute of the god is finished,  White Crane and White Crane Boy t begin to circle and then enter martial arts performances that includes individual and group weapons exercises, empty hand forms and fighting choreographies. 

This is just one of many unique and beautiful things that can be found in Taiwan and just one of many reasons why learning Kung Fu here is so special and basically necessary in order for a practitioner to fully understand traditional Chinese culture unchanged by politics and foreign influences. 

　

Wing Chun knives- were they had been worn

Butterfly swords or  'butterfly knives as they are called in English  are one of two weapons of Wing Chun. There are several different Chinese names for this weapon which belongs to  “dao” family of weapons. Word “dao” is used to designate one side bladed weapon whose primary function is to cut and slash regardless of length. Different  branches of Wing Chun have different names as well as may other styles like Hung Gar , Choy Lee Fut or White Crane. The design of the weapon, including the crossguard shape, blade profile and blade length, are specific to each style of martial arts, the precise lineage, and individual.

Traditionally, the blade of a butterfly sword is only sharpened along half of its edge – from the middle of the blade to the tip; this can be seen in all vintage specimens from the Qing dynasty. It is widely believed that blade from the midpoint down is left blunt so that it can be used to deliver non-lethal strikes and to block without damaging the sharpened edge. This believe is not true and it will be explained why later. Butterflies swords were generally commissioned for individual martial artists, not mass-produced, so every set of swords was different. Modern age and popularity of Chinese kung fu brought mass production and standardization of the blades.

There are several version of same legend how butterfly swords came to existence and how they became part of Wing Chun. Why legend? Simply because there are no evidence to support this story, it goes against common sense and the art its self showing something completely opposite.

In Wing Chun the origin of butterfly swords is attributed to Shaolin monastery , Southern or Northern depending of the linage. The butterfly swords were designed to meet the training and defense needs of Shaolin monks. In harmony with Buddhist philosophy and teachings, the monks designed the weapon for parrying, disarming, and cutting, not for killing. Consequently, the blade was structured with dull edges on  bottom to be used for interception of an opponent’s weapons. The fable goes, that the monks would keep the knives in their boots and use them to defend themselves. They were allegedly used so monks could incapacitate not kill their attackers and therefore still uphold their moral integrity. Dull blade added thickness for extra support to the structure of the sword. Having a sharpened blade on the butterfly sword was useful for chopping but because of the thin edge of the sword, the blade could easily be damaged or broken when defending against a longer, heavier weapon in combat.

There are several problems with this story. First Southern Shaolin never existed, all claims connected to that place simply are not true. Second, a compressive researches  covering all the weapons used by the Shaolin styles, does not show any use of the Wing Chun style Dao. Third, monks do not wear boots and having pair of big knives in the boots would hurt legs, broke boots and wouldn’t be easiest place to reach weapon in a situation when quick drawing is involved. Fourth, a pair of large knives would not be a good choice for non lethal combat. Big walking stick as it was used for centuries is far better, cheaper , safer, non-lethal self defense option. Having in mind that Northern Shaolin was famous for its pole technique and that was the only weapon practiced there for centuries monks would probably use them for travel. Fifth, short blades , even two of them are the worst possible choice for self defense weapons on open spaces. Simply these weapons have no reach  nor power to do any harm to anyone with full size weapon like a sword, spear , pike , saber … people who wield two short knives would simply be cut in pieces, on the other hand they would fulfill the nonlethal purpose of the weapon.

Who invented double knives and when will remain a mystery. Paired weapons were used in China for centuries and it is impossible to determine when they appeared for the first time. What we know is that paired weapons of different size and shape were popular in 19 century China, especially is urban areas.

How double swords became part of Wing Chun we’ll probably never know. Many theories are in circulation pointing at different martial arts or groups of people as a source of Wing Chun swords. All these theories are trying to pinpoint exact source of the weapon. The fact is, double swords were wide spread weapon at the time, ideal for fighting on the boats (and other confined spaces) and people on the Red Boats could adopt them without having any particular source, that is the most possible scenario.

There is a believe that Wing Chun was initially developed as empty hand system and knives were developed later but that is far from truth. Wing Chun as most of the other kung fu styles was developed from knife fighting, to be correct from double knives fighting. Everything in Wing Chun is made for knife fighting in confined spaces, what is now known as empty hand forms get full sense if knives are used instead of empty hands. For example, second section of the Sil Lim Tao form has large number of explanations and how should be used in empty hand fighting but it is simply a set of movements to release from the rear hold and draw the knives , or beginning of the third form, which is usually explained as a set of elbow strikes but in fact it is a way to release for various front holds and draw the knives. Of course same principles are valid for empty hand fighting.

There is also believe that double knives were worn in the sleeves of traditional Chinese clothes. While this is possible it is not probable for several reasons. First , double words(knives) usually had only one folder. To put both knives in one sleeve would be pretty uncomfortable and noticeable no matter how big sleeves are. Second to put each knife in one sleeve requires special folders and there is no historical evidence that such folders ever existed. Third, loose, large sleeves are not the best choice for quick weapon drawing . And last, traditional clothes with very large sleeves were not everyday clothes, usually people wore clothes with normal sleeves because large long sleeves are pretty uncomfortable for any kind of activity, eating, writing , fighting or anything else.

Wing Chun empty hand forms ( knives form was invented much later, probably in 1930’s or 1940’s) give very clear conclusion that knives were worn on the waist level.