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.