Coolest college course ever

[ghostexorcist]

I just happened upon the syllabus for a course on east Asian martial arts history at Cornell University. Why don't they have neat stuff like this at my college?

http://www.arts.cornell.edu/history/...20Hinrichs.pdf

[GeneChing]

We covered it in Graduate Kung Fu: Stanford University Offers Division Course in Chinese Martial Arts in our 2004 July/August. I was assisting Professor Meir Shahar who was visiting faculty for a year there.

[ghostexorcist]

I've corresponded with Prof. Shahar many times over the years. It would be awesome to take such a class with him. I think similar classes would be very popular in colleges around the country.

[IronFist]

Holy cow that sounds like a cool class

[Scott R. Brown]

I've corresponded with Prof. Shahar many times over the years. It would be awesome to take such a class with him. I think similar classes would be very popular in colleges around the country.

Or you could just read his book.

[ghostexorcist]

Or you could just read his book.

I have; many times in fact. But that doesn't mean that he couldn't share some of his most current research in a class.

[TaichiMantis]

Heh, I'm in Ithaca NY right now...home of Cornell

[David Jamieson]

Or you could just read his book.

Seeing as the book is at least 1/4 citations. I think the course would offer access to a lot more than what is in that book by Dr. Shahar.

It is a good book though. Very enlightening and useful to anyone interested in Shaolin monastery and it's 3 treasures particularly the martial arts.

[pazman]

Noticed a very important concept:

"invented tradition"

Finally, an academic martial arts class taught correctly.

[GeneChing]

When you are a visiting scholar, the University that you are visiting often requires that you teach a graduate level class. It was true Shaolin yuanfen that brought Dr. Shahar to Stanford and I was delighted to get to know him and his research on a face-to-face basis, but he was only visiting for that one year. The class basically went behind-the-scenes on his research, so while his book was the spine of that class, it was more about the peripheral work he did to develop that book. And in all honestly, I'm still milking the notes I took in that class.

What was most significant about that class was that it was graduate level and at Stanford. That being said, I'm hearing of more collegiate course on martial arts lately, which is very encouraging. I hope you take that course, ghostexorcist. Let us know how it goes.

[Spiked]

I just happened upon the syllabus for a course on east Asian martial arts history at Cornell University. Why don't they have neat stuff like this at my college?

http://www.arts.cornell.edu/history/...20Hinrichs.pdf

The problem with the premise of this class is that the old methods of training were either not written down or destroyed by the Communists. Nobody knows how the ancient warriors trained so the course would be all speculation.

[David Jamieson]

The problem with the premise of this class is that the old methods of training were either not written down or destroyed by the Communists. Nobody knows how the ancient warriors trained so the course would be all speculation.

Not true. There are in fact several extant manuals moving forward from early 16th century up and into the Qing Period.

The old methods were written down, illustrated etc and the CR didn't destroy everything. it damaged a lot, but, it didn't rub out history. There are sections of the forbidden city that have not been opened for study yet for instance that contain reams of knowledge from the past. Untouched for 100 years!

I think that many of us here in the west who have studied the southern kung fu styles have had our points of view somewhat tainted by the animosity that nationalists and communists have and had for each other. I have heard the story and even parroted it myself in regards to the CR and what it destroyed etc, It is only in the last decade or so that I've realized that this is not actually how things were and that what we were told came form a long line of whispers and political rivalry.

[lkfmdc]

Not true. There are in fact several extant manuals moving forward from early 16th century up and into the Qing Period.

I was going to tell him this, but, well, you know

Qi Jiguang's 紀效新書 and 練兵實紀 can still be read intact

[GeneChing]

Qi Jiguang's 紀效新書 and 練兵實紀 can still be read intact

Check out Peter Lorge's discussion Qi Jiguang in a modern context on our ezine: What MMA Has to Teach Us about Chinese Martial Arts. Then check out Peter Lorge's work: Chinese Martial Arts: From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century by Peter Lorge.

There's also an old thread here: Qi Jiguang's chapter on boxing in English.

Just like the eyes lead the fists, a little searching before posting is always prudent here.

[Spiked]

Not true. There are in fact several extant manuals moving forward from early 16th century up and into the Qing Period.

The old methods were written down, illustrated etc and the CR didn't destroy everything. it damaged a lot, but, it didn't rub out history. There are sections of the forbidden city that have not been opened for study yet for instance that contain reams of knowledge from the past. Untouched for 100 years!

I think that many of us here in the west who have studied the southern kung fu styles have had our points of view somewhat tainted by the animosity that nationalists and communists have and had for each other. I have heard the story and even parroted it myself in regards to the CR and what it destroyed etc, It is only in the last decade or so that I've realized that this is not actually how things were and that what we were told came form a long line of whispers and political rivalry.

Hmmm, this could be interesting. Do you have or know where I can get translated versions? What were their sparring practices like? Did they spend an enormous amount of time training forms and meditating on their possible techniques? Thanks, David.