WHAT HAPPENED TO REAL GONG-FU?
By Yang Shuangxing
The first time I met Sifu Robert Allen Pittman, we become good friends and his dogged interest in answering these questions motivated me to do some digging into the misty and confusing past of Chinese martial arts. I have found some answers, which include societal and cultural elements, as well as political reasons.
Most of the deviations (from the authentic, traditional ways) occurred prior to the advents of WWII in China, which began in 1937. According to Sifu Wang Xianghai (renowned founder of Yiquan , November 26, 1885 - July 12, 1963) in an interview conducted shortly before the war, “In the Warring States Period (475-221 BC) there appeared forms of competition, where competitors were fighting with horns attached to their heads. Martial arts were gradually changing and developing. During the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) there were various schools. During Yuan (1279-1368), Ming (1368-1644) and at beginning of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911/12) martial arts were flourishing. There were many practitioners. Because different people had different levels of skill and knowledge, different schools were established and each of them maintained that they had the truth.”
However, the government was concerned about their popularity. According to Wang, “The emperors feared that the martial arts would be used against the government, therefore they wanted to destroy them for good and so that they could never recover. Therefore they started to influence the people to think highly of the civil arts and look down upon everything martial. On one hand they advocated flying immortal swordsmen as we see in modern wushu and martial arts movies even today, with “flying” sword thrusts) and taught the mystical on purpose, on the other hand they praised the boxing forms and fixed techniques in order to lead the martial arts astray. The middle road and the great Tao could not be asked about, and they used opera and storybooks to serve as their tools of propaganda. Furthermore, they made the people who practiced martial arts to be despised by the scholar-bureaucrats, so the situation went from bad to even worse. All kinds of ugly performances emerged, what a great pity and tragedy!”
Even so, many famous martial arts practitioners developed highly effective forms. And then, according to Sifu Wang, “During reign of Kangxi (reigned from 1661-1722) and Yongzheng (reigned 1722-35), who were emperors of Qing Dynasty, guns were not popular yet. The rulers were afraid of the power of people practicing martial arts, so they tried to destroy it. Civil education was propagated and martial arts were looked down upon. At the same time writers who wrote fantastic stories about sword masters flying in the air were favored, and the result was that it influenced the imagination of most people who came to believe that martial arts were something magic and mysterious.”
There were very, very few martial arts teachers who made a living by teaching their arts. Only those who had been hired by the Imperial Court to teach troops or who had been retaine by very wealthy businessmen to teach their progeny could make a living through teaching. Yang Luchan, the founder of Yang Taijiquan, was one such instructor hired by the Court...this would certainly indicate that his Taijiquan was very effective in combat. Most martial arts practitioners, if they wanted to eke out a living with their skill, would do so by hiring on as convoy escorts or bodyguards. Others, less skilled, turned to providing demonstrations in the streets (kind of a form of begging).
After the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, the history of the Republic of China began. When the Qing Dynasty faded into oblivion in 1912, the formation of the Republic of China as a constitutional republic put an end to 4,000 years of Imperial rule. The Republic, led by Sun Yat-sen experienced many trials and tribulations after its founding, which included being dominated by elements as disparate as warlord generals and foreign powers (who had been involved in the infamous Boxer Rebellion). In 1928, the Republic was nominally unified under the Kuomintang (KMT)—Chinese Nationalist Party—after the Northern Expedition, and was in the early stages of industrialization and modernization when it was caught in the conflicts among the Kuomintang government, the Communist Party of China, (founded 1921), which was converted into a nationalist party; local warlords, and the empire of Japan.
It was a time of great confusion and civil unrest; of demonstrations and even violent protests. Many citizens demanded societal/cultural change; for instance, they demonstrated against the inequality of women. They wanted to modernize. Following the Boxer Rebellion, many people had no use for “old-fashioned” ideas and institutions. Martial arts were seen as being basically worthless in a modern, upbeat world.
I believe that many gong-fu teachers sought to make their respective styles more appealing so as to attract students. Some movements were made more “eye-appealing” and numerous training routines, which were uncomfortable or even downright painful, or boring, were dropped. Moreover, many of them were primarily interested in gaining “face” and making money...above and beyond maintaining the arts that had been passed down to them. To this end, they taught very few students the true art; most learned only the outer shell. That made these instructors seem very special as “keepers of secrets.” At the same time, they often basked in the rumors and storybook legends of high-level martial arts masters possessing near-superhuman powers and alluded to possessing such powers themselves.
The changes that were made affected the northern styles much more than those of the south...probably because communication in those days was very difficult and the people in the south weren't always necessarily aware of what was going on in the better-known northern areas (such as those around Beijing and even Shanghai). In any case, the southern forms were rather homely when compared to those of the northern disciplines; no high or jumping kicks, no spinning, no “long fist” postures. Southern forms weren't nearly as eye-appealing as those of the north.
Sifu Wang mentioned that as early as the mid-19th century, Shaolinquan (and many of its offshoots) had lost its essence and become sterile and ineffective. At about the same time, newer forms were developed (these became known as the “internal schools”). Sifu Wang recalled, “In my childhood I met Mr. Cheng Tinghua (a practitioner of Baguazhang), and I remember he seemed to be like a divine dragon roaming in the sky, changing infinitely, it is hardly possible for the modern person to reach such skill and strength. I wish that the people practicing ‘Bagua’ would concentrate on the double and single ‘chuanzhang’ (“turning palms”, the original name of baguazhang), paying special attention to intuitively perceiving every movement, doing their best to take a more advanced course of training, and earnestly enter into the theory, putting it all into practice for a long time. Then they could get close to approaching its essence.”
As for Taijiquan, he said, “As masters of the original ‘Taijiquan’, I should recommend the Yang brothers Shaohou and Chengfu. They are also old friends of mine, thus I know that this boxing really has some knowledge of mechanics, but out of one hundred persons not even one gains its essence, and even if one can gain it, it is still one-sided, because the basic skills of intuitive perception already died out a long time ago, thus their lower bodies have no real strength to speak of, and even if one can gain it, it is still one-sided, because the basic skills of intuitive perception already died out a long time ago, thus their lower bodies have no real strength to speak of. Originally this boxing consisted of three fists, also called the "old three cuts", Mr. Wang Zongyue changed it into thirteen postures", and it was later changed into as much as one hundred and forty or fifty postures, this is the major reason for the distortion.
So Taijiquan was already in decline back in the 1930's. Of Xingyiquan, he stated, “One should know that the original ‘Xingyi’ completely lacked the training method of the twelve forms, but the whole body was meant to express the essence of all these twelve forms. It did not have the theory of the mutual promotion and restraint of the five elements, there were just the five elements representing five kinds of forces. It did not have any fixed techniques, boxing routines or forms of movements, either.”
During WWII, there was little development or further changes made to Chinese martial arts. It was difficult enough simply to survive. Immediately after the war, Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-shek again locked horns. In the end, Mao's forces took over mainland China and Chiang established the Republic of China on Taiwan. The communist regime was born on the mainland in 1949. And the practice of martial arts was forbidden...
Prior to the end of the horrific Cultural Revolution on the mainland (it lasted from 1965 to about 1975), the government sponsored work on what eventually became known as “contemporary wushu.” Until the end of the revolution, practice of traditional martial arts was strictly outlawed and anyone caught teaching or practicing them would suffer a terrible fate. Wushu, which combined martial arts with gymnastics and Chinese opera (bear in mind that Chinese opera had, for centuries, utilized martial arts movements) was intended for demonstration only – not actual combat – to appease the masses. It has a very distinct military bearing to it, which is something that is not normally seen in the traditional forms.
To learn fighting, students were relegated to practicing “sanda”, which was/is a form of kickboxing. Regardless of what style one practiced, sparring was taught via sanda, so everyone looked the same and used the same kickboxing-style techniques (rather than utilizing the techniques of one's own particular style). The traditional arts were rendered sterile.
Fortunately, many instructors had fled to Taiwan and Hong Kong, where they continued to teach. Their students would eventually make their way to the West and a few Westerners would travel to study under them directly. This helped preserve some of the essence of the traditional arts, although they had been in a decline for a long time.
Is it possible to determine just what the original versions of various styles of gong-fu were like originally? In some cases, yes...and in many others, no. People such as sifu Pittman have been very fortunate in meeting and learning from some of the “old school” instructors who trained back in the 20's and 30's, and they can show us what the original versions were. But for most styles, this isn't possible; the older teachers passed away without ever meeting a foreigner who had an interest in learning such things.
Master Wang Xianghai, through his interviews, provided us with some valuable information. He decried the contemporary styles of his day emphasizing the practice of flowery forms over and above the practice of effective combative techniques with a partner via 1-step routines and even sparring, one way or another. He acknowledged that while forms contain a wealth of information that is extremely useful, practical applications should be practiced regularly and not always in a pre-rehearsed manner. Let's preserve what we have and pass it on, unchanged, to the next generation.
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