Why Kung Fu has a shape we know today ? Part one

During Qing dynasty period teaching martial arts in China was based on  "close door"  system. Martial schools were extremely expensive and most schools was closed for outsiders even if they had enough money. Less than one percent of Chinese population at the time practiced some form of martial arts, mostly military and law enforcement personal as well as bodyguards, caravan security and bounty hunters. After Taiping rebellion and especially after Boxer rebellion martial arts in China significantly declined in number of practitioners and quality of training. The end of Qing dynasty brought enormous social and political changes and true golden age of Kung Fu started with establishment of the republic.

Newly formed Republic of China faced multiple challenges on every level of social, political, economical and all other possible aspects of life. New republic had to make an enormous jump from feudal society into a modern period.  While China fell into a period of chaos and constant infighting known as the Warlord Era (1916–1928) when control of the country was divided among former military cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions, progressive intelligence sought new ways to push the country forward despite the hard political situation.

Memories of western colonial actions and humiliation they brought to Chinese people as well as centuries of Mongolian suppression were still fresh and kung fu was seen as a perfect way for busting national pride and sense of self worth. Through Goushu academy as a government project Jing Wu association as government supported private project on state national level and many local associations kung fu was transformed and changed in so many ways. From purely fighting purposes during Qing dynasty, practice shifted toward health, philosophy, tradition and sometimes even religion. All this was used as a tool of political and mostly social influence.

Suddenly kung fu schools had hundreds and sometimes thousands of students, in some areas participation in kung fu training was mandatory for people who worked in government infrastructure. At this period, for the first time woman started massively to participate in martial training.  

National awakening in China started several decades before the actual establishment of the Republic and we can see significant social, political and cultural changes in the period from the beginning of Taiping rebellion to 1911. These changes couldn’t be stopped but they were suppressed by Qing government. After 1911, newly established republican government put a lot of effort to build new Chinese identity based in nationalism.

This is the period when kung fu finally got the shape it has today. Suddenly, combat effectiveness was the main focus of training. Kung fu schools that belonged to big government owned or funded associations were used more like education (or more precisely re-education) centers than martial arts training facilities.  

At this period most “traditional” kung fu styles had been invented or at least got their final shape in a sense of techniques and forms. Great transformation of old fighting systems occurred at this time. While old styles were actually weapon fighting styles with little to none empty hands techniques, obsolete weapons completely lost any significance in the modern warfare of the 20st century, new forms of the old styles put all the emphasis on hand to hand fighting. Some styles transitioned from old to new way training better than others. Some styles simply kept the old weapon forms  now done without weapons and just tried to find some kind of practical application for those movements and positions in hand to hand combat. Other styles kept the basic foundation and principles of fighting but created new forms, better suited for eppty hand fighting. 

This also a period when kung fu was introduced to Taoist philosophy and practices for the first time. This was sole effort of one man, Sun Lu Tang who had knowledge and skills in both, martial arts and Taoism, and most importantly he had enough political power to push his agenda and connect Chinese martial arts to ancient practices of Taoism. He was at the right place at the right time and his work changed the shape of kung fu completely for the generations to come. Introducing Taoism to kung fu also shaped developmental path of what we today know “internal’ styles. The term “internal” was also Sun Lu Tang’s invention. Today we have styles that completely lost martial aspect and they cannot be separated from Taoism because everything that is done is explained through Taoist theories and the end goal of practice is not fighting but something completely different and unrelated to fighting.

Republican government needed to boost national pride and that need brought new “histories” and also new “legends” and “myths”. Shaolin became what it is today during republican period. Same thing goes with Wudang. Shaolin was never a place of research and development of martial arts and kung fu as we know it today for the first time was practiced in Shaolin in 1990’s. Wudang was introduced to so called internal styles in 1920’s by the delegation of Goushu academy, never before any kind of empty hand fighting was practiced in Wudang. All the “oral” histories about legendary founders of almost every style in China had been invented during this period of time. All these histories basically tell the same story, an old master, who had to fight for justice went through a period of immense hardship and developed almost god like skills. After the master defeated all his enemies he passed the art to the next generation of students who had just a little less power than their teacher. Truth is, government need these stories to push their political and social agenda and to give more credibility to these stories, fictional characters got connected to real and very important places like Wudang and Shaolin, which were not only the most important religious sites but also held a lot of political influence. While Wudang and Shaolin are located on the north of China, southern provinces, Fujian and Guangdong didn’t have any place of such significance. To resolve that problem and give people of the south something they can build a sense of unity and nationality a story about Southern Shaolin was invented. Today more than 90% of all southern kung fu styles trace their origin to Southern Shaolin, a place that never existed.

This is also the time when kung fu “culture” was born. At this period martial arts novels were published in astonishing numbers and they were extremely popular, also first martial arts movies were made at this time. Through this pulp fiction novels, government promoted “traditional” culture and values which became the social foundation of kung fu school and it is still alive today.

Also for the first time, practices that were never part of kung fu were included in curriculums. Parts of traditional medicine like making different kind of remedies and also parts of acupuncture as well as in some rare cases meditation and Taoist magic were included.