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.
