Extended paper on the Yijin Jing history

[ghostexorcist]

I expanded a short paper I wrote a while ago on the history of the Yijin Jing. The first section shows how the purported author published it during a time of great political and economic turmoil when China was threatened by internal rebellion and external invasion. The second shows how the exercise came to be associated with martial heroes in later Chinese popular culture because the manual alludes to noted fictional and historical strongmen. And the third shows how the Classic influenced patriotic martial artists struggling against the foreign rulers of the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911) to attribute their boxing styles to Yue Fei and/or pay homage to him in their writings. Comments are welcome...

http://historum.com/blogs/ghostexorc...g-classic.html

[bawang]

r u actually trying to publish this

[ghostexorcist]

r u actually trying to publish this

I might in the future.

[Tainan Mantis]

Thanks for sharing your historical work. It appears to be deeply thought out.

The manual goes on to name other feats of strength, such as ...
... and a ceremonial caldron weighing 1,000 catties (1,300 lbs). ...
... a reference to the Warlord Xiang Yu (项羽, 232–202 BCE) who is recorded to have lifted such a caldron in his youth.[28] The Purple Elixir Daoist did not need to mention these fictional and historical figures by name because they were deeply ingrained in the Chinese cultural memory....



[28] Peter Allan Lorge, Chinese Martial Arts: From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century (New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2012), 61.

So, I have also found a reference to the story of lifting the cauldron. But, I have not been able to find the original source.
Do you have that handy?

This is illustration is circa 1795.

[Tainan Mantis]

My rough translation of the event. But still looking for the ultimate source. I have read that it is in 史記， but have not found it there.

霸王舉鼎

秦末，農民起義風起雲涌，24歲的項羽和叔父項梁在江南起兵。
At the end of the Qin (221-207 b.c.) a peasant uprising flared up like clouds blowing in the wind.
Xiang Yu, at 24 years of age, worked with his uncle Xiang Liang to raise an army at Jiang-Nan.

為了擴大力量，項梁派項羽去聯絡桓楚一起反秦。
Xiang Liang needed to expand his strength so he dispatched Xiang Yu on a mission to persuade Huan Chu to join up their mutual forces and rebel against the Qin together.

桓楚趾高氣揚地說：“你能敵萬人，我們就服你，院中有一大鼎，足千斤，你能舉得起嗎？”
But, Huan Chu was swollen with arrogance. He said, "Only if you can overcome the strength of 10,000 men, will we obey you.
In the courtyard is a great cauldron of 1000 catties. Can you raise it?"

項羽先讓桓楚手下4名健壯的大漢一起舉鼎，然而大鼎卻像生了根似的絲毫未動。
Huan Chu chose four of his strongest men to lift it. Though they all worked together yet the group couldn't move it an inch.
It was as if the cauldron had rooted into the ground.

然後，他自己撩起衣襟，大步走到鼎前，握住鼎足，運起力氣大喝一聲“起”！
Xiang-Yu took great strides up to the cauldron and hooked his sleeves up. He reached under the cauldron and grabbed the legs.
He shouted, "Rise!" and exerted his great strength.

生根似的大鼎被高高舉起，而且三起三落。於是，桓楚滿口答應，合兵從羽起義。
Those legs, as if grown down into the earth.
He raised them high up into the air but up three and down three times 三起三落.
Huan Chu removed all reservations to follow him. This is how Xiang Yu took the army in revolt against the Qin

[Tainan Mantis]

The story of lifting the cauldron was already well known during the mid Ming as can be seen in the play 漢公卿衣錦還鄉 Minister Han Returns Home. Where the play opens with Xiang Yu's recitation:

[Xiang-yu and soldier enter]
[Xiangyu Speaks]
執銳披堅領大兵
挑兵布陣任非輕
身懷舉鼎拔山力
獨占東吳數百城

With my keen bladed weapon I donned armor and led the army.
Deploying soldiers is no light task.
With a mountain uprooting strength I embraced the cauldron and lifted.
Alone I occupied the hundred cities of Dongwu.

[ghostexorcist]

Wow, I was unaware of those references. Xiang Yu's feat is indeed a common martial trope. I don't have access to a Chinese version of the Shiji, but I know there is a brief reference to the event in the English version. It doesn't appear to mention an exact weight, though.

https://books.google.com/books?id=wD...uldron&f=false

It's possible the number could have been the invention of a Ming author. This book suggests Xiang Yu's feet was embellished in several novels.

https://books.google.com/books?id=A0...uldron&f=false

[Tainan Mantis]

Thanks, i found it. Sadly Records of the Historian only goes so far to say "He had the strength to lift a cauldron-力能扛鼎," leaving the source of the story still a mystery.

Xiang Yu's record is here. Several of the passages (though not the one in question) have been translated into English.

項羽本紀 - Annals of Xiang Yu

[Tainan Mantis]

From your article:

Marnix Wells comments that the earliest reference to the Tendon-Changing Classic appears in Chinese fiction.[29] The exercise is alluded to in the novel Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (聊斋志异, 1766), a collection of supernatural stories. The brief tale “Steel Shirt” opens with the following lines: “Sha Huizi was a master of the powerful form of kung fu known as Steel Shirt. He could hack through the neck of an ox with the flat of his hand. He could thrust his hand directly into the animal’s belly.”

Here is the original novel quote in question

《第六卷》

《鐵布衫法》

1 沙回子，得鐵布衫大力法。駢其指，力斫之，可斷牛項；橫搠之，可洞牛腹。曾在仇公子彭三家，懸木於空，遣兩 健僕極力撐去，猛反之；沙裸腹受木，砰然一聲，木去遠矣。又出其勢，即石上，以木椎力擊之，無少損；但畏刀 耳。

I don't think this is really a reference to Tendon Changing Classic, definitely doesn't sound Buddhist (Muslim maybe). But, they are feats of strength that are not quotes from the classic.

[mickey]

Greetings,

Just conceptually, the Muscle Tendon Change=Revolutiom.

Given the levels of illiteracy, who would the target audience be? Given that, I would completely understand it if the varying book treatments on the subject were because the information was a part of a secret oral tradition for generations. The exercise of two hands push down a mountain, conceptually, was incredibly racy. If two hands can push down a mountain, what can ten thousand hands do? Hung Gar, in their own way, offers a similar vibe and meaning with the double kiu sao in the beginning of one of their hand forms.

mickey

[mickey]

More....

[3] Marnix Wells has shown that famous 18th-century vernacular fiction alluded to the Tendon-Changing Classic and associated its practice with strong men and martial artists with invincible bodies. This shows that the exercise was so widely practiced at the time that readers could recognize it without having to mention the manual by name.

There is no real evidence to the above statement that Yijin Jing was widely practiced beyond the declaration.

Also, to simply imply that Gan Fengchi was a practitioner of Yijin Jing is weak. You are simply saying that there is NO DOCUMENT that directly connects him to the practice. The sad thing is that research papers often disregard oral traditions. I think an exception should be made, even if it is to offer a detailed recording of such oral traditions in the form of annotation.


mickey

[ghostexorcist]

From your article:

Marnix Wells comments that the earliest reference to the Tendon-Changing Classic appears in Chinese fiction.[29] The exercise is alluded to in the novel Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio (聊斋志异, 1766), a collection of supernatural stories. The brief tale “Steel Shirt” opens with the following lines: “Sha Huizi was a master of the powerful form of kung fu known as Steel Shirt. He could hack through the neck of an ox with the flat of his hand. He could thrust his hand directly into the animal’s belly.”

Here is the original novel quote in question

《第六卷》

《鐵布衫法》

1 沙回子，得鐵布衫大力法。駢其指，力斫之，可斷牛項；橫搠之，可洞牛腹。曾在仇公子彭三家，懸木於空，遣兩 健僕極力撐去，猛反之；沙裸腹受木，砰然一聲，木去遠矣。又出其勢，即石上，以木椎力擊之，無少損；但畏刀 耳。

I don't think this is really a reference to Tendon Changing Classic, definitely doesn't sound Buddhist (Muslim maybe). But, they are feats of strength that are not quotes from the classic.

Sorry for the very slow reply. I've been super busy with my job. Wells notes that Sha was most likely a Muslim. As you know, Chinese Muslims do have a strong martial arts tradition. There are apparently different versions of the Classic, one even mentioning that one can kill a tiger by punching in it's head (I don't have access to this one). But there is indeed a version that mentions the feats above. This PDF mentions the ability to slay cattle.

http://enlight.lib.ntu.edu.tw/FULLTE...G/mag74209.pdf

The ability is even mentioned in an 1895 translation (see pg. 243, bottom of first paragraph):

https://ia800301.us.archive.org/25/i...00dudgrich.pdf

I'll admit that my Chinese is not very good. it's something that I really need to focus on before applying to grad school. I'd like to study in Taiwan for a few years given their use of traditional characters.

More....

[3] Marnix Wells has shown that famous 18th-century vernacular fiction alluded to the Tendon-Changing Classic and associated its practice with strong men and martial artists with invincible bodies. This shows that the exercise was so widely practiced at the time that readers could recognize it without having to mention the manual by name.

There is no real evidence to the above statement that Yijin Jing was widely practiced beyond the declaration.

Also, to simply imply that Gan Fengchi was a practitioner of Yijin Jing is weak. You are simply saying that there is NO DOCUMENT that directly connects him to the practice. The sad thing is that research papers often disregard oral traditions. I think an exception should be made, even if it is to offer a detailed recording of such oral traditions in the form of annotation.


mickey

I think the fact that the Classic was mentioned in noted Chinese stories shows that it was well known at that time. As for Gan Fengchi, I have no official documentary evidence that he practiced the Classic. However, I think the similarities between his skills and those taught in the Classic, and that a character based on him used the Classic, suggests that he may have been a practitioner himself. I'll be sure to search Chinese documents about his life before I decide to officially publish the article. That may not be for years given my lackluster Chinese skills at the moment.

[mickey]

I think the fact that the Classic was mentioned in noted Chinese stories shows that it was well known at that time. As for Gan Fengchi, I have no official documentary evidence that he practiced the Classic. However, I think the similarities between his skills and those taught in the Classic, and that a character based on him used the Classic, suggests that he may have been a practitioner himself. I'll be sure to search Chinese documents about his life before I decide to officially publish the article. That may not be for years given my lackluster Chinese skills at the moment.

Greetings ghostexcorcist,

Widely known is not the same as widely practiced, as you have written.

I suggested the use of annotation for the oral histories as a means to preserving the knowledge, until such documentary evidence becomes available that can support it or otherwise. This way speculation that you have offered is kept to a minimum and traditions are respected. There is no shame or fault in writing "There is no documentary evidence to support this". Otherwise, I appreciate your contributions.

mickey