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Author: Michael DeMarco
Publisher: Via Media Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 226
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Book Description
Since ancient times, some observant people have made the revered Book of Change (Yijing) their lifelong study. Change is the fundamental principle found in every aspect of our lives. Change is the Way of the universe. Confucian and Daoist texts are filled with anecdotal and philosophic discourse related to this theme. There is little wonder why we find the concept of change in the diverse Chinese martial traditions. This anthology presents articles from the Journal of Asian Martial Arts that are related to the theme of change. This does not mean that the authors are writing solely about philosophic ideas such as yin-yang, taiji, five phases (wuxing), or the eight hexagrams (bagua). From the content of these articles you will see how the views, needs, purposes and understandings of Chinese martial arts have changed over the centuries. By expounding on these themes, each author demonstrates how the actual practice of martial arts has changed in tandem with these fluctuating views. Supported by in depth research, interviews, and field experience, the nine articles included here offer us a view of Chinese martial arts from many angles. Of course effectiveness is one of the criteria for skills that are valued as being truely martial. To improve the effectiveness, some leading practitioners gained insights from nature, particularly from the animal kingdom. Also, in both ancient and modern times, Chinese practitioners borrowed from other styles. The concept of “mixed martial arts” is nothing new.There have been spinoffs to the warrior arts. Even centuries ago the martial arts were utilized in entertaining “flowery’ performances, as in Peking opera. The variety of martial movements were certainly conducive for good health so there is a long tradition of incorporating these in exercises practices solely for health and longevity. In the early twentieth century, martial arts became a political tool for boosting the spirit of country, vitalizing the “sick man of Asia.” Perhaps the most notable change in Chinese martial arts can be seen in the modern sportification of it. Motivated by rank, trophies, and money, the combative elements have been forsaken in favor of competition and show. Orignally practical, techniques have been transformed into pure acrobatics. This special anthology provides an encompassing overview of the development and variety of Chinese martial arts. You will come to appreciate the ancient roots and the forces that have influenced how and why these arts are practiced today.
Author: Michael DeMarco
Publisher: Via Media Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Get Book Here
Book Description
Since ancient times, some observant people have made the revered Book of Change (Yijing) their lifelong study. Change is the fundamental principle found in every aspect of our lives. Change is the Way of the universe. Confucian and Daoist texts are filled with anecdotal and philosophic discourse related to this theme. There is little wonder why we find the concept of change in the diverse Chinese martial traditions. This anthology presents articles from the Journal of Asian Martial Arts that are related to the theme of change. This does not mean that the authors are writing solely about philosophic ideas such as yin-yang, taiji, five phases (wuxing), or the eight hexagrams (bagua). From the content of these articles you will see how the views, needs, purposes and understandings of Chinese martial arts have changed over the centuries. By expounding on these themes, each author demonstrates how the actual practice of martial arts has changed in tandem with these fluctuating views. Supported by in depth research, interviews, and field experience, the nine articles included here offer us a view of Chinese martial arts from many angles. Of course effectiveness is one of the criteria for skills that are valued as being truely martial. To improve the effectiveness, some leading practitioners gained insights from nature, particularly from the animal kingdom. Also, in both ancient and modern times, Chinese practitioners borrowed from other styles. The concept of “mixed martial arts” is nothing new.There have been spinoffs to the warrior arts. Even centuries ago the martial arts were utilized in entertaining “flowery’ performances, as in Peking opera. The variety of martial movements were certainly conducive for good health so there is a long tradition of incorporating these in exercises practices solely for health and longevity. In the early twentieth century, martial arts became a political tool for boosting the spirit of country, vitalizing the “sick man of Asia.” Perhaps the most notable change in Chinese martial arts can be seen in the modern sportification of it. Motivated by rank, trophies, and money, the combative elements have been forsaken in favor of competition and show. Orignally practical, techniques have been transformed into pure acrobatics. This special anthology provides an encompassing overview of the development and variety of Chinese martial arts. You will come to appreciate the ancient roots and the forces that have influenced how and why these arts are practiced today.
Author: Robert W. Smith
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
ISBN: 9781556430855
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 164
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Book Description
Distilling the martial art known in the West as kung fu, Robert Smith presents Chinese boxing (ch’uan shu) as an art “that combines the hardness of a wall and the softness of a butterfly’s wings.” His lively, pragmatic account conveys the discipline and insights acquired in ten years of study and travel in Asia. Smith describes his work with t’ai chi master Cheng Man-ch’ing, and connects ch’uan shu with the softer aspects and inner power of that popular practice. Fifty black and white photos illustrate this informative and personal account of the Chinese boxing tradition.
Author: John Lagerwey
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
ISBN: 9888028049
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 248
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Book Description
Over the last 40 years, our vision of Chinese culture and history has been transformed by the discovery of the role of religion in Chinese state-making and in local society. The Daoist religion, in particular, long despised as "superstitious," has recovered its place as "the native higher religion." But while the Chinese state tried from the fifth century on to construct an orthodoxy based on Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism, local society everywhere carved out for itself its own geomantically defined space and organized itself around local festivals in honor of gods of its own choosing-gods who were often invented and then represented by illiterate mediums. Looking at China from the point of view of elite or popular culture therefore produces very different results.--John Lagerwey has done extensive fieldwork on local society and its festivals. This book represents a first attempt to use this new research to integrate top-down and bottom-up views of Chinese society, culture, and history. It should be of interest to a wide range of China specialists, students of religion and popular culture, as well as participants in the ongoing interdisciplinary dialogue between historians and anthropologists.--John Lagerwey is professor of Daoist history at the ?cole Pratique des Hautes ?tudes and of Chinese studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is author of Taoist Ritual in Chinese Society and History and editor of the 30-volume "Traditional Hakka Society Series" as well as the recently published four-volume set Early Chinese Religion.-----
Author: Daniel Miles Amos
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1786615444
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 230
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Book Description
This imaginative and innovative study by Daniel Miles Amos, begun in 1976 and completed in 2020, examines sociocultural changes in the practices of Chinese martial artists in two closely related and interconnected southern Chinese cities, Hong Kong and Guangzhou. The initial chapters of the book compare how sociocultural changes from World War II to the mid-1980s affected the practices of Chinese martial artists in the British Crown Colony of Hong Kong and neighboring Guangzhou in mainland China. An analysis is made of how the practices of Chinese martial artists have been influenced by revolutionary sociocultural changes in both cities. In Guangzhou, the victory of the Chinese Communist Party lead to the disappearance in the early 1950s of secret societies and kungfu brotherhoods. Kungfu brotherhoods reappeared during the Cultural Revolution, and subsequently were transformed again after the death of Mao Zedong, and China’s opening to capitalism. In Hong Kong, dramatic sociocultural changes were set off by the introduction of manufacturing production lines by international corporations in the mid-1950s, and the proliferation of foreign franchises and products. Economic globalization in Hong Kong has led to dramatic increases both in the territory’s Gross Domestic Product and in cultural homogenization, with corresponding declines in many local traditions and folk cultures, including Chinese martial arts. The final chapters of the book focus on changes in the practices of Chinese martial arts in Hong Kong from the years 1987 to 2020, a period which includes the last decade of British colonial administration, as well as the first quarter of a century of rule by the Chinese government.
Author: David A. Palmer
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231511704
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 380
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Book Description
Qigong a regimen of body, breath, and mental training exercises was one of the most widespread cultural and religious movements of late-twentieth-century urban China. The practice was promoted by senior Communist Party leaders as a uniquely Chinese healing tradition and as a harbinger of a new scientific revolution, yet the movement's mass popularity and the almost religious devotion of its followers led to its ruthless suppression. In this absorbing and revealing book, David A. Palmer relies on a combination of historical, anthropological, and sociological perspectives to describe the spread of the qigong craze and its reflection of key trends that have shaped China since 1949, including the search for a national identity and an emphasis on the absolute authority of science. Qigong offered the promise of an all-powerful technology of the body rooted in the mysteries of Chinese culture. However, after 1995 the scientific underpinnings of qigong came under attack, its leaders were denounced as charlatans, and its networks of followers, notably Falungong, were suppressed as "evil cults." According to Palmer, the success of the movement proves that a hugely important religious dimension not only survived under the CCP but was actively fostered, if not created, by high-ranking party members. Tracing the complex relationships among the masters, officials, scientists, practitioners, and ideologues involved in qigong, Palmer opens a fascinating window on the transformation of Chinese tradition as it evolved along with the Chinese state. As he brilliantly demonstrates, the rise and collapse of the qigong movement is key to understanding the politics and culture of post-Mao society.
Author: G Hurst I
Publisher: Yale University Press
ISBN: 9780300116748
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 260
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Book Description
This unique history of Japanese armed martial arts--the only comprehensive treatment of the subject in English--focuses on traditions of swordsmanship and archery from ancient times to the present. G. Cameron Hurst III provides an overview of martial arts in Japanese history and culture, then closely examines the transformation of these fighting skills into sports. He discusses the influence of the Western athletic tradition on the armed martial arts as well as the ways the martial arts have remained distinctly Japanese. During the Tokugawa era (1600-1867), swordsmanship and archery developed from fighting systems into martial arts, transformed by the powerful social forces of peace, urbanization, literacy, and professionalized instruction in art forms. Hurst investigates the changes that occurred as military skills that were no longer necessary took on new purposes: physical fitness, spiritual composure, character development, and sport. He also considers Western misperceptions of Japanese traditional martial arts and argues that, contrary to common views in the West, Zen Buddhism is associated with the martial arts in only a limited way. The author concludes by exploring the modern organization, teaching, ritual, and philosophy of archery and swordsmanship; relating these martial arts to other art forms and placing them in the broader context of Japanese culture.
Author: Benjamin N. Judkins
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438456956
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 366
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Book Description
This book explores the social history of southern Chinese martial arts and their contemporary importance to local identity and narratives of resistance. Hong Kong's Bruce Lee ushered the Chinese martial arts onto an international stage in the 1970s. Lee's teacher, Ip Man, master of Wing Chun Kung Fu, has recently emerged as a highly visible symbol of southern Chinese identity and pride. Benjamin N. Judkins and Jon Nielson examine the emergence of Wing Chun to reveal how this body of social practices developed and why individuals continue to turn to the martial arts as they navigate the challenges of a rapidly evolving environment. After surveying the development of hand combat traditions in Guangdong Province from roughly the start of the nineteenth century until 1949, the authors turn to Wing Chun, noting its development, the changing social attitudes towards this practice over time, and its ultimate emergence as a global art form.
Author: Peter A. Lorge
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 0521878810
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 281
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Book Description
In the global world of the twenty-first century, martial arts are practised for self-defense and sporting purposes only. However, for thousands of years, they were a central feature of military practice in China and essential for the smooth functioning of society. This book, which opens with an intriguing account of the very first female martial artist, charts the history of combat and fighting techniques in China from the Bronze Age to the present. This broad panorama affords fascinating glimpses into the transformation of martial skills, techniques and weaponry against the background of Chinese history, the rise and fall of empires, their governments and their armies. Quotations from literature and poetry, and the stories of individual warriors, infuse the narrative, offering personal reflections on prowess in the battlefield and techniques of engagement. This is an engaging and readable introduction to the authentic history of Chinese martial arts.
Author: Lu Zhouxiang
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351610031
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 371
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Book Description
Chinese martial arts is considered by many to symbolise the strength of the Chinese and their pride in their history, and has long been regarded as an important element of Chinese culture and national identity. Politics and Identity in Chinese Martial Arts comprehensively examines the development of Chinese martial arts in the context of history and politics, and highlights its role in nation building and identity construction over the past two centuries. This book explores how the development of Chinese martial arts was influenced by the ruling regimes’ political and military policies, as well as the social and economic environment. It also discusses the transformation of Chinese martial arts into its modern form as a competitive sport, a sport for all and a performing art, considering the effect of the rapid transformation of Chinese society in the 20th century and the influence of Western sports. The text concludes by examining the current prominence of Chinese martial arts on a global scale and the bright future of the sport as a unique cultural icon and national symbol of China in an era of globalisation. Politics and Identity in Chinese Martial Arts is important reading for researchers, students and scholars working in the areas of Chinese studies, Chinese history, political science and sports studies. It is also a valuable read for anyone with a special interest in Chinese martial arts.
Author: Brian Kennedy
Publisher: Blue Snake Books
ISBN: 9781583941942
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 352
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Book Description
Secret training manuals, magic swords, and flying kung fu masters—these are staples of Chinese martial arts movies and novels, but only secret manuals have a basis in reality. Chinese martial arts masters of the past did indeed write such works, along with manuals for the general public. This collection introduces Western readers to the rich and diverse tradition of these influential texts, rarely available to the English-speaking reader. Authors Brian Kennedy and Elizabeth Guo, who coauthor a regular column for Classical Fighting Arts magazine, showcase illustrated manuals from the Ming Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty, and the Republican period. Aimed at fans, students, and practitioners, the book explains the principles, techniques, and forms of each system while also placing them in the wider cultural context of Chinese martial arts. Individual chapters cover the history of the manuals, Taiwanese martial arts, the lives and livelihoods of the masters, the Imperial military exams, the significance of the Shaolin Temple, and more. Featuring a wealth of rare photographs of great masters as well as original drawings depicting the intended forms of each discipline, this book offers a multifaceted portrait of Chinese martial arts and their place in Chinese culture.
