Chinese Martial Arts: From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century by Peter Lorge

[William123]

A new book on CMA history:

"In the global world of the twenty-first century, martial arts are practiced 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. Individuals who were adept in using weapons were highly regarded, not simply as warriors but also as tacticians and performers. 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."

http://www.amazon.com/Chinese-Martia...der_B006H3TR62

Cheers,

William

[GeneChing]

It's by Peter Lorge, a history scholar from Vanderbilt. Published by Cambridge.

[sanjuro_ronin]

authentic history of Chinese martial arts.

Always worry when I read those words...

[David Jamieson]

well, every book is simply perspective as written by the author(s).

Good thing there is more than one book or else we would have a very narrow perspective of what martial arts are...or anything else for that matter.

[ginosifu]

Martial Arts history is always subject to suspicion. Mostly because there is no real proof. I believe that many histories were written by survivors of certain eras. Who is to say if those survivors are telling the truth or not? Also governments step in and alter the truth / history to make them look good.

Also we need to look at exaggeration, many story tellers of history exaggerate or stretch the truth a bit, which alters the real facts of the history. Compound that over 100's of years and now you have guys flying thru the air and fireballs coming out of their fingertips.

My Sifu told me: Since we can not prove anything, you must have faith in your teacher's explanation of your systems history. That's the best we can do.

ginosifu

[sanjuro_ronin]

Martial Arts history is always subject to suspicion. Mostly because there is no real proof. I believe that many histories were written by survivors of certain eras. Who is to say if those survivors are telling the truth or not? Also governments step in and alter the truth / history to make them look good.

Also we need to look at exaggeration, many story tellers of history exaggerate or stretch the truth a bit, which alters the real facts of the history. Compound that over 100's of years and now you have guys flying thru the air and fireballs coming out of their fingertips.

My Sifu told me: Since we can not prove anything, you must have faith in your teacher's explanation of your systems history. That's the best we can do.

ginosifu

Its funny because a few of my teachers were more of the:
Anecdotes are just that, no way of knowing what was true, false or exagerrated, so it is best for YOU to focus on what YOU can do.

[Drake]

Always worry when I read those words...

I winced, lol.

[ginosifu]

Its funny because a few of my teachers were more of the:
Anecdotes are just that, no way of knowing what was true, false or exagerrated, so it is best for YOU to focus on what YOU can do.

Nothing wrong with that !

ginosifu

[MightyB]

This is my favorite type of MA book. Looking forward to it.

[Jimbo]

The thing that raised a question mark for me was "an intriguing account of the very first female martial artist." Nobody knows who, when or where the first female MAist or fighter was.

[ghostexorcist]

William123 is going all over the net mentioning the book. He just posted something about it on a Chinese history forum I frequent. I came here to start a thread on the subject, but he beat me to it.

I've been corresponding with Prof. Lorge over the years concerning his expertise in Song Dynasty history. Naturally, I asked him plenty of questions about Yue Fei. He told me that he was writing a book on martial arts sometime ago, but I totally forgot about it. I'm looking forward to reading it.

The thing that raised a question mark for me was "an intriguing account of the very first female martial artist." Nobody knows who, when or where the first female MAist or fighter was.

He is most likely referring to the Lady of Yue. Stan Henning wrote a really neat article about her a few years ago.

[ShaolinDan]

Hmm. If the author is a Yue Fei expert (if there's even enough info to be an expert) then as an eagle claw practitioner I'll have to check this out.

[William123]

William123 is going all over the net mentioning the book. He just posted something about it on a Chinese history forum I frequent. I came here to start a thread on the subject, but he beat me to it.

You bettcha! Better hurry before I finish posting in all the Forums!

Prof. Lorge does not refer to the Maiden of Yue, but Fu Hao, a woman who is mentioned in Shang oracle bones as leading armies into battle. See the free preview in Amazon.

Cheers,

William

[wenshu]

From the intro.

http://goo.gl/aC8sz

Chinese martial arts has a written history and is part of the society in which it developed.
One of the greatest myths about Chinese martial arts is that it has no written record. Many people assume or assert that the only source of knowledge about its origins and development is the tradition orally transmitted from martial arts teachers. Adding to the misunderstanding of the past, this imagined oral tradition seldom places martial arts in the broader context of Chinese history or, when it does, uses a simplistic, static and inaccurate description of that past. In fact, the amount of available written material on martial arts history in Chinese History is enormous. As a first step in confronting such a vast body of information, this book will describe the origins and development of the Chinese martial arts across Chinese history. I will argue that these arts are the developed physical practices of armed and unarmed combat, which must be understood primarily as military skills, not methods of self-cultivation or religious activity.

That said although the martial arts stemmed from military requirements and related activities like hunting, these skills took on added meaning as markers of status and of certain mental or spiritual qualities. Warfare and hunting were important in the identity of early Chinese aristocrats, for example and their class was closely associated with chariot-borne archery. Aristocrats not only fought with certain weapons but they also fought uner specific rules of combat the reinforced their shared sense of class.

***

The modern understanding of martial arts as only unarmed fighting skills for self-defense, abstracted movements for self-cultivation, or the wielding of archaic weapons for aesthetics or improved helath is a modern perspective inconsistent with most earlier practice. By contrast, the performance of martial arts for entertainment and even ritual is fundamental and original to their practice. Nevertheless, the modern understanding of Chinese martial arts is not wrong because it differs from its earlier place in Chinese society; it is simply an example of how things change. And indeed it is hard to fix martial arts into a single meaning in the modern era since Chinese society is itself currently in flux

Bought and bought.

[rovere]

It looks like an interesting book but the illustration of the axe head he refers to as 'ge' in the sample chapter is actually a 'yue'. The ge is quite different in shape but both are found archaeologically in the Shang dynasty. The yue is quite rare in the Zhou dynasty but the ge continues up through the Warring States period.

(The oracle bone character of the ge makes up part of the character we know as wu; martial.)