So I feel like stirring the pot today and in the spirit of Shaolin - let us discuss how the Jing Wu affected and created our perception of the post modern TCMA movement. First, some reading assignments: http://chinesemartialstudies.com/201...-martial-arts/
http://chinesemartialstudies.com/201...ed-without-it/We know that certain brands did spread quickly in the late 19th and early 20th century. Taiji Quan and Bagua are classic examples of this, but so are White Crane and Hung Gar in the south. Jingwu, the “Pure Martial” movement out of Shanghai, modeled in some ways on the YMCA, was the first really successful “national brand.” It managed to establish itself throughout all of the major cities of eastern and southern China, and much of the South East Asian diaspora as well.
Jingwu (which was actually run by a group of intelligent you businessmen) carefully observed and learned from the experience of previous groups. Rather than relying passively on newspaper stories and martial arts novels they actively cultivated new ways of using the press and advertising in magazines in an attempt to spread their message of national salvation. The Nationalist Government studied these efforts in detail and appropriated them in the creation of their own martial brand, the highly politicized “Central Guoshu Institute.”
Discuss.The popularity of traditional forms of hand combat reached a low point after the Boxer Uprising and many middle class urban intellectuals actively questioned whether the Chinese martial arts should even continue to exist. They seemed too factional, too backwards and too unscientific to be part of the modern society that the May 4th reformers imagined. Many students of physical education were more than happy to toss hand combat on the scrapheap of history and replace it with something truly modern and scientific, like Prussian military drills, or American ballgames.
Gratefully that did not happen. In fact, just when the predictions of Kung Fu’s imminent demise reached their loudest crescendo a new actor appeared on the scene in the form of the Jingwu (Pure Martial) association. Jingwu had a new and unique approach to teaching the martial arts. They began by collecting forms and synthesizing a number of popular northern styles to create a truly unified and modern boxing curriculum. They then developed instructional techniques based on large classes and the use of line exercises that would allow a single instructor to teach many students rapidly.
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Originally Posted by David Jamieson
