The Process of transmitting Martial Arts to the South and their Localization
As
the ancient martial arts left few traces in the written record, what we
know is limited and the remaining content of ancient martial arts still
extant in the South has been explained in the previous issues of Hong
Kong Wu Lin. For a detailed exposition, please consult the essay "The
Evolution of Ancient Martial Arts"
The
emergence and flourishing of Cantonese martial arts actually mainly
took place during the Qing period. Many people who study Cantonese
martial arts, focus their attention upon actual schools, techniques or
people. But due to a lack of historical records, most of the information
passed down is of a rather late period, most coming from the end of the
Qing and the beginning of the Republican period, with a major emphasis
on the Republican period. Using the oral transmission to re-imagine the
development of the Cantonese marital arts during the Qing period is
unreliable. Thus when studying formation of Cantonese martial arts from
the Qing to the Republican period, we have to begin with a study of
society, understand the actual circumstances and investigate the
relationship between marital arts and society and popular culture. The
social phenomena which bear a relationship with the development of
martial arts which merits our attention are : (1) The militarization and
armed conflict in arising from the increasing population in Guangdong;
(2) The internal migration resulting from the unrest and turbulence in
the middle of the Qing period, leading to the transmission of martial
arts from north to south; (3) The self strengthening movement of the
twentieth century that led to a "Guoshu Fever", resulting the further
spread of marital arts amongst the general populace.
The Population Explosion in Guangdong and development of a Militarized Society
Qing-era
Guangdong and Fujian saw a historically unprecedented increase in
population. Certain Qing policies such as the maritime embargo, caused
the livelihood of the coastal population to be caught between a rock and
a hard place, but it did to a certain extent place a limit on the
growth of population. However when we reached the Golden Age of
Qianlong, the lessening on taxes on the general populace led to a jump
in the rate of growth of the population, and at the end of Qianlong's
reign, the population of Fujian and Guangdong had far exceeded that of
the most prosperous times during the Ming period. This population
increase let what had been a sparsely populated area to experience an
invisible pressure, forcing the marginalized masses from lowest rungs
of society to leave their agrarian society, to search for a new pastures
to make a livelihood. Having left their homes on the farms and their
family networks, and in order to protect their rights and resist the
depredations of the prominent families and landowners, these migrants
formed many Brotherhoods, and through oaths of fealty created many
"clans" unrelated by blood which gradually evolved into a large
"underground society".
The
history of Cantonese martial arts make reference often to "Overthrowing
the Qing and restoring the Ming", to a large extent this was a slogan
used by the secret societies to justify their existence and promote
themselves. As to for the Southern Chinese Brotherhoods, secret
societies and "underground society" researchers both in and outside of
China have done a great deal of research, and interested readers should
consult "Brotherhoods and Secret Societies in Early and Mid-Ming China:
The Formation of a Tradition" (Ownby 1996) and "Rebellion and
its Enemies in Late Imperial China,: Militarization and Social
Structure, 1796-1864" (Kuhn 1980). What is worth noticing, is that the
militarization and arming of Cantonese society and the flashpoint, was
originally the conflict of family groups over land, and the formation of
these non-traditional associations was a result of the worsening of
the ratio between land and resources and the population. However later
on, with the spread and development of these non-traditional
associations, they transformed into vehicles for illegal appropriation,
often taking part or even inciting local armed conflict, or even
inciting mass rioting and insurrection, leading Southern China to become
a large disaster area in the late Qing. With our current state
of research we are unable to ascertain the role of the martial arts
schools or certain marital arts teachers roles in this situation, but
one thing is certain, the militarization of Southern China a close
connection with the development of martial arts, and the contemporary
weapons - such as the double knife (butterfly knife), cudgel staff - and
their related techniques also have direct correlation with this
phenomenon.
The
problem of the Qing population was one affecting the whole country,
apart from the Shandi Hui and Big Knife Association of southern Fujian
and Guangdong, the social unrest caused by these
non-traditional organizations, affected the each part of China, the Yi
He Brotherhood - "Quan Fei" spread to Shandong, Henan, Hebei, and Anhui,
and the Taiping Kingdom laid siege to Jinling, and spread its military
strength to Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Anhui, Jiangsu, Henan,
Shanxi, Zhili, Shandong, Fujian, Zhejiang, Guizhou, Sichuan,
Yunnan, Jiaxi and Gansu provinces. This cross provincial movement rested
upon a wave of population migration, and was a trend causing the
horizontal transmission of culture. The transmission of northern boxing
south, taking root in a foreign land was born out of this megatrend, of
which the most prominent was the Tai Ping Kingdom.
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