Wushu, as a cultural content, has existed in China for at least five thousand years. However, up to now, there are still different opinions on the proper name and orientation of Wushu culture in academic circles, and the caliber cannot be unified.
What is martial arts?
Who can give it a concise, practical and indisputable definition?
What is martial arts?
Who can tell how much it contains?
Who can tell us how it came into being? Where did it come from? Where did you go again?
Now, let me tell you my opinion:
Wushu is the inheritance and continuation of the skill of people competing by force in primitive society.
Strength comes from the possession and use of weapons. For human beings, there are two primitive weapons, one is each person's limbs, and the other is a tool that can be held in the hand.
The composition of weapons determines the manifestation of Wushu-the competition between people with physical strength is called apprentice fighting, and the competition between people with instrumental strength is called duel.
Obviously, martial arts is the knowledge of fighting and fighting.
If morality wants to compete with people by force, it must first cultivate and possess weapons for a long time, and then strengthen the performance of weapons and optimize the use of weapons. Having excellent weapons is called creativity, and the proper function of exerting power in the best way is called operational power. So in a word, Wushu is an academic competition between people, and Wushu is a knowledge of creativity and operation.
It is the essence of Wushu that people exert force on people.
Any kind of tool, any kind of destructive power, if it is to be classified as martial arts, then "people" is the most basic premise.
Blacksmiths and masons have developed strong arm strength in their work, and few people can withstand its powerful blow. Football players have developed strong leg strength in playing football, and few people can stand its lightning kicking. There was a baseball player in the former Soviet Union who was besieged by wolves on a snowy day. He made a clash with a wooden stick and smashed the heads of a dozen hungry wolves one by one-wolves are much more difficult to fight than people! If you hit people with his skill, I'm afraid few people can get away with it. ...
When these people are attacked by others, their performance will never be worse than that of martial arts experts. But from a purely academic point of view, their behavior is not martial arts. Why? Because of their superhuman strength and lethality, they were not used to deal with others.
The crossbow is a sharp weapon in ancient wars. But the hunter's crossbow is not a weapon, because it is their labor tool. The shooting method of hunters is not called martial arts, because it is their labor skill in hunting production.
Knives, axes and iron forks are conventional weapons in ancient battlefields.
But the woodcutter's method of cutting wood is not called martial arts, because it is their productive labor skill. The knives and axes in their hands are not weapons, because they are their labor tools.
Similarly, the harpoon in the fisherman's hand is the same.
In other words, whether the tool is a labor tool or a murder weapon depends on the identity and purpose of the operator. When they work in the hands of workers, they are labor tools. When they are in the hands of soldiers or soldiers, they are weapons to destroy the enemy and protect themselves.
Understand this. It is not difficult to distinguish between labor tools and killing weapons, labor skills and martial arts, productivity and force.
Man's transformation from "reptile" to homo erectus is the result of adapting to labor, so the philosopher said, "Labor created man." That's true, but if you want to engage in slightly more complicated labor, you need to use labor tools. Therefore, from the perspective of "labor makes man", natural limbs and primitive tools are labor tools, not killing weapons.
However, with the intensification of conflicts and contradictions between people, natural and primitive labor tools are inevitably used to compete with others. With the development of society and the reproduction of human beings, this kind of competition is becoming more and more frequent, and the result is becoming more and more important, which gradually leads to the weakening of the production function of labor tools and the strengthening of the performance of hurting people, and the target of labor tools is fixed to the same kind of people from different things. In this way, labor tools become weapons, and the special skills of competition between people become martial arts. Thus, Wushu, an academic competition between people, was officially born.
This is the origin of Wushu.
Wushu is destined to evolve due to academic competition since its birth. Therefore, since ancient times, human efforts to strengthen weapons, optimize and deepen martial arts have never stopped. This military upgrading movement includes physical weapons and man-made weapons (cold soldiers), and their advantages complement each other in the academic field.
Let's take a look at the evolutionary history of cold soldiers first.
Stone with bare hands, stone hammer and axe instead of stone, copper axe instead of stone axe, iron axe and steel axe instead of copper axe.
Sharp stones and bones are armed with bare hands, bone knives and stone knives replace sharp stones and bones, copper knives replace bone knives and stone knives, copper swords replace copper knives, iron swords replace copper swords, and steel knives take iron swords.
Flying stones extend the movement distance of holding stones, and throwing ropes greatly improves the distance and strength of throwing stones. The appearance of the trebuchet raised the power of slungshot to an unprecedented level, and also produced the original artillery.
The wooden javelin extended the working distance of holding the ancient spear, and the bow and arrow interpreted the role of javelin to the extreme. The appearance of crossbow greatly improved the mechanization of bow and arrow, and the appearance of bed crossbow made bow and arrow reach the maximum lethality.
After thousands of years of unremitting efforts by craftsmen, the braking technology of cold weapons has reached a nearly perfect peak. When it is difficult for us to copy the sword with the same quality as the ancient cold weapons by using high-tech means and modern technology, we can only express awe and conviction.
After briefly reviewing the evolutionary history of cold weapons, let's take a look at the development history of physical weapons.
As a weapon against people, the history of the human body is undoubtedly longer than that of cold weapons. We can imagine that physical weapons have been with human beings for a long time before human beings learn to use labor tools. Just like a cow hitting a horse, kicking an eagle and catching a wolf, punching and kicking, bumping your head and grinding your teeth are undoubtedly the innate instinct of human beings. And this primitive instinct is the wooden water source of human martial arts.
In order to survive-perhaps to get the right of spouse to continue living, perhaps to have territorial sovereignty, perhaps to get the means of production and food ... primitive humans have to rely on physical weapons given by God to compete with others. In the military competition between people, the rational use and effective attack of physical weapons are easier to win. As intelligent animals, primitive humans gradually discovered this. When people realize this, and consciously accumulate and learn this kind of fighting skills, the science of martial arts officially came into being!
We don't know how long the martial arts era with physical weapons as the mainstream can last. We can imagine that in the martial arts era, physical strength and physical fitness are often the main reasons for winning or losing, and people with good talent and strong physique are more likely to win. We can imagine that when the weak can't bear to be bullied by the strong, he subconsciously picks up some tool to resist, for example, picking up a sharp stone or a corner. As a result, an incredible situation happened, and the weak actually defeated the strong! When people realize that weapons can make up for the lack of physical strength and physical fitness and become a magic weapon to win, the martial arts system of cold weapons will soon be established!
When primitive cold weapon martial arts followed physical martial arts, fishing and hunting technology, farming technology and primitive martial arts became the three major civilizations of human society. These three university questions have been accompanied by human beings from ancient times to the present, and until today, these three knowledge are still important contents of human life.
When Wushu entered the era of cold soldiers, cold soldiers became the mainstream of Wushu, while physical Wushu was gradually marginalized and lost its war function. On the battlefield, in the slightly important competition, in the personal provocation and revenge, the cold soldier has since become an absolutely important role. This phenomenon continues from primitive society to firearms era, and then to today's high-tech era.
During the Warring States period, "archery", that is, archery, was one of the six compulsory arts of the upper class, that is, the aristocratic class. Qi Ren Long Ji Attack is about Qi Ren's swordsmanship. Xin Lingjun stole this symbol with a copper hammer to save Zhao. When Sean ambushed Qin Shihuang, the assassin used a big iron cone. Jing Ke stabbed Qin with a poisonous dagger; Gao Jianli stabbed Qin with a piano filled with lead. There were no famous assassins and killers who didn't use sharp weapons in ancient times. Nie Zheng, Zhuan Xu and Li Li all used well-made weapons.
Legend has it that Nie Yinniang used a dagger with sharp claws, Sinuhong used a dagger to shock people's hearts, and thirteen Shaolin stick monks saved the Tang King with sticks. The man of the hour described in the famous case-solving novels "Shi Gong An" and "Bao Gong An", whether a swordsman or a thief, whether an official bodyguard or a yamen policeman, are all cold soldiers.
In ancient China, Wushu was called eighteen martial arts. In the different lists of eighteen martial arts, crossbows, spears and knives are among the best, while white warfare, that is, hand warfare, that is, body art, is at the last without exception.
Facts fully show that in the cold war era, body art has always been a marginal martial art and has never become the mainstream of martial arts.
However, judging from the present situation of China Wulin in the past 100 years, boxing, which represents physical martial arts, has become the leading role in martial arts. If a person can't even play two sets of boxing, he is not qualified to be a martial artist at all. If the martial arts people are not famous for their fists and feet, they will be looked down upon by everyone and think that they have no kung fu.
When did boxing become the mainstream of martial arts? Why is this happening? To understand this problem, we have to start with the role transformation of limb martial arts and cold weapon martial arts.
As we have said before, physical martial arts came into being before cold soldier martial arts. When Lengbing Wushu, the nemesis of competitive Wushu, appeared, competitive Wushu was pushed to the edge of the stage. The reason why the physical martial arts scenery is no longer is that the cold soldiers came from behind and occupied almost the whole market.
The decline of competitive Wushu is caused by the development of cold soldier Wushu, so the prosperity of competitive Wushu can only be based on the shrinkage of cold soldier market. Without this premise, physical martial arts can only live in the shadow of cold soldiers.
However, the body martial arts has finally revived, and its comeback is precisely the decline of the cold soldier market.
What's going on here?
The thing is this: In the Yuan Dynasty, the powerful ethnic minorities in the north destroyed the Song Dynasty by relying on the Jin Ge iron horse, ruled the whole of China, and began the powerful rule of the minority over the majority. Those who win the country by cold soldiers know the power of cold soldiers and what it means to them once the adherents of the Song Dynasty, who have an absolute advantage in the national population, rise up. In order to consolidate their political power and life safety, the rulers of the Yuan Dynasty issued a ban to prohibit the Han people from possessing any weapons of destruction, and offenders would be extinct.
In this way, the Han people only have their own bodies at their disposal. In this case, Han people who are not willing to be slaughtered can only turn their bodies into weapons of resistance as a last resort. As a result, body art became the only choice of the Han people and soon became a national sport of the Han people.
Being deprived of the right to hold a cold soldier and forced to rely heavily on physical martial arts is really a last resort. But people's flesh and blood can't compare with steel blades at all, and it is difficult to protect themselves from cold soldiers with their bodies! The Han people only have their own limbs, so in order to enhance the strength of limbs and the lethality of limbs weapons, people have to make great efforts in self-strengthening and perfection-demand produces invention, so various martial arts techniques have emerged. Martial arts, the Book of Changes, and seventy-two martial arts, which are classics of the Bible, all originated in this period.
The titles of Book of Changes ·Xi· Mu Jing and Seventy-two Arts are both Shaolin Temple, which proves that the boxing era of Wushu began in the Yuan Dynasty. Why do you say that? As we all know, Shaolin Temple has been a monk soldier since the Tang Dynasty. Since he was after the war, he must be practicing his war skills. Because boxing is "the art of not fighting", Shaolin monks and soldiers must have practiced cold martial arts that year!
Body-building entered Shaolin, which began with Zen master Xueting in Yuan Dynasty. In the Yuan Dynasty, people were officially forbidden to hold weapons, and Shaolin Temple, which is famous for its cold soldiers, had to be beaten. As a generation of abbot granted by the court, he had to consider the ban of the court and was unwilling to give up the tradition of Shaolin Temple. In a dilemma, Master Xueting showed his great wisdom to the world-he invited the world master of physical martial arts to Shaolin Temple, which gave Shaolin Kung Fu two sides.
After Bai Yunfeng, a Shanxi expert, Li Sou, a Henan expert and other folk martial artists settled in Shaolin, many folk experts turned to Shaolin one after another, forming a situation of "gathering Shaolin with no effort". The martial arts of these folk masters with unique skills have been verified, screened and optimized by Shaolin Temple, and finally formed literature, pictures and texts, which are the secrets of martial arts that Wu regards as priceless, namely "Shaolin Pit Washing Classic" and "Shaolin Seventy-two Arts".
At the same time, various versions of Wushu routines and their winning tricks also gathered in Shaolin Temple, where they flowed to the whole country through mutual exchanges. After the turnover of Shaolin Temple, the routine became a routine, and it was crowned with the name of Shaolin-the number of martial arts events baptized by Shaolin exceeded people's imagination, and the martial arts in the name of Shaolin spread all over the corner, so there was a famous saying that "Shaolin was the best in the world". According to the saying that "Shaolin is the best martial arts in the world" in history, the martial arts gathered in Shaolin Temple did spread in all directions later, and Chinese martial arts were even more diverse, which could not be compared with Shaolin Yijinjing and Shaolin's seventy-two martial arts. Therefore, "Shaolin is the best martial art in the world" is not the white glory of Shaolin Temple, but actually the feeling of the world.
Body art became the mainstream of folk martial arts in Yuan Dynasty, which was accompanied by the loss of the actual combat martial arts level of cold soldiers. In the Ming Dynasty, Shaolin monks, who were famous for their stick skills in history, had to learn the actual stick skills, and Qi Jiguang, a famous soldier of the first generation, had to learn Japanese knife skills to enhance the combat effectiveness of the troops. Through the loud voice and personal practice of people of insight, cold ice martial arts has gradually been valued and restored. The representative works of cold soldiers, such as Sword Sutra, Art of War, Zhang Fa, Single-knife Method Selection and Long-gun Method Selection, are all products of this period.
Any culture and cultural phenomenon is a reflection of the corresponding politics and economy, and Wushu, as a national culture, is no exception. In order to consolidate political power and vested interests, the ruling class of Ming Dynasty made a big splash in the name of religion and carried out feudal superstitious activities, and the theory of enlightenment prevailed for a time. This kind of official climate makes even fighters have to show off according to the five elements of the stars (see Ji Xiao Shuxin), and folk martial arts can't help but be influenced by it. Therefore, magic power and magic fist have become discordant words in traditional martial arts, or an alternative. The wind blew harder and harder, and later, it almost reached the point of no boxing or no boxing.
As a result, Chinese and foreign immortals appeared one after another and became the grandfathers of various martial arts; Therefore, in addition to the Yijin Sutra and the seventy-two changes, there are some magical "magic" spells, such as water charm, inviting the Lord, possessing King Kong, spontaneous magic and so on.
A person practicing magic, a person's martial arts is not magic, but it is better than magic. Why? Because it is said that their kung fu has been practiced without thinking, knowing, unpredictable and incredible, and it has become superb!
Where are these people still people? Aren't they fairies? !
Shengong, Shenquan and Wu Shen reached their peak in the late Qing Dynasty, and the whole country was fascinated by them. They never imagined that weapons had entered the age of firearms. So in a corner of the capital, there was a scene in which Shenquan troops attacked foreign soldiers with cold soldiers. As a result, the merciless bullet shattered the divine power of the divine spring.
China's first massive theocracy was overshadowed by Eight-Nation Alliance's invasion and unprecedented land compensation by the Qing government, but China people did not learn from it, nor did they find the truth of "being beaten behind". Facing more and more advanced modern weapons, China people still dream of martial arts.
Wushu rose again in the Republic of China. During the Republic of China, people who advocated martial arts played the banner of a strong country. It seems that as long as Wushu is popularized in China, the nation will be strong and the country will be strong. They don't realize that clean government, political progress and scientific development are the foundation of enriching the people and strengthening the country. They didn't realize that the incompetence of the Qing dynasty was due to its government corruption, political corruption and backward science, not that its subjects didn't know martial arts!
As a result, martial arts movements were launched all over the country, and at that time China seemed to have returned to the era of cold weapons. At a time when the whole country was vigorously building a martial arts power, War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression brought people back to reality-the Japanese invaders had no scruples because China had martial arts, and the people of China finally drove the Japanese robbers out of China with modern warfare instead of magical skills.
In the face of hard facts, China people's martial arts dream seems to wake up, right? It seems that it is time to reposition Wushu and re-recognize its value. No, I didn't! China people's martial arts complex is deeply rooted. Unless there is no chance, it will recur at the first opportunity.
In 1980s, an unprecedented upsurge of martial arts swept across the country. The potential of martial arts venues, the number of participants, the attention of state officials and the huge investment are unprecedented.
For a time, martial arts became the quintessence of the country, the national treasure, the pride of the country, and the spiritual pillar of quite a few people ... For a time, there were many martial arts schools, thousands of teenagers gave up their studies to join martial arts, and thousands of parents sent their children to learn martial arts ... For a time, Luoyang's classical martial arts books were expensive, magic secrets were mass-produced and magic stunts were dazzling.
More than twenty years have passed, and before you know it, Wushu is not so hot and popular. Wushu, which was once in full swing, went downhill in an instant, which can't help but remind people of the old saying, thirty years in Hedong, thirty years in Hexi.
What happened to martial arts?
Martial arts is not so good, martial arts is still martial arts, martial arts is still martial arts. The problem is that people who set foot in martial arts a few years ago have now achieved martial arts achievements, and now they find that their sweat, blood, tears and feelings are only bitter. Their economic income, living conditions and social status are far below expectations.
They found that none of the children of all officials and authorities at home and abroad had a military career, and none of the children of all millionaires and billionaires at home and abroad had a military career.
As a result, people see through the world of mortals.
With the deeper understanding of the world, the total collapse of the martial arts market is an unchangeable fact.
In the next two or three years, the market of Wushu will decline to the lowest point of the valley and remain in a depressed state. Folk Wushu will still return to the people and continue to be a part of people's personal behavior, so it is difficult to become a large-scale social activity.
Few people thought that things would turn out like this. I don't know whether fate is joking with people or martial arts.
I know that martial arts will not die and will not go far. At some point in the future, it will come back!
Having said this for so long, I want to say the following points:
Wushu is the knowledge of competition between people by force.
Wushu originated from the military competition between people.
Body art originated before cold weapons.
Before the invention of firearms, cold soldiers had been the mainstream of martial arts.
Physical Wushu was revived in the Yuan Dynasty, when cold weapons were banned.
Feudal superstition polluted martial arts in Ming Dynasty.
Shenquan reached its peak in the late Qing Dynasty and was finally frustrated.
The Kuomintang government tried to practice martial arts for the whole people.
In the high-tech era, various factors triggered the cross-century martial arts craze in Chinese mainland.
The above is a concise chronicle of China Wushu.