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DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS

HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS

This research paper summarizes and analyzes the historical development of martial arts in China. The form and content of martial arts in China has been the product of the confluence and interaction of many religious, philosophical and practical influences dating back to ancient times. The most important influences have been the Chinese classical approach to warfare and military tactics, Daoist thought, Buddhism and various more modern syntheses of martial arts theories, including the teachings of the monks of the Shaolin Monastery during and after the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907) and the Taijiquan classics during the time of the Qing or Manchu Dynasty (1644-1911).

Chinese Military Realities and Classical Theories

The martial arts in practical terms formed the basis for the training of Chinese for combat which in turn was influenced strongly by the nature and realities of warfare as it was practiced in ancient times and recounted by Chinese historians.

Most of those histories related to civil wars between contending power factions, later to the wars which established China's first longlasting unified dynasty, the Han (B.C. 202-A.D. 221), and the wars fought by the Han against barbarians from Central Asia. In the earlier period, the Ch'un Ch'iu era (8th to 5th century B.C.), Kiernan and Fairbanks said warfare was regarded "as the ultimate touchstone of the sovereign's virtue . . . a massive sort of divination in which cosmic forces could approve or disapprove a lord's stewardship of the state" (p. 27). As a consequence, "warfare . . . was . . . code-governed, hierarchical, and mannered" (p. 50).

Over the centuries, the stylized, ritualistic and ceremonial aspects of war were less important than its pragmatic aspects; however, Chinese military thinkers emphasized in classical times the importance of moral factors, solidarity, discipline, knowledge of the enemy, preparation ...

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DEVELOPMENT OF CHINESE MARTIAL ARTS. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 02:31, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1700456.html