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1920s CMA, Mount Miaofeng & the 5 tiger stick society

PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 4:54 am
by GrahamB
Really good article on the relationship between martial arts, religion and cultural practices at Kung Fu Tea that's worth your time reading:

https://chinesemartialstudies.com/2017/ ... tial-arts/

Some great quotes in there:

It may seem paradoxical, but the most important books out there for anyone attempting to understand the Chinese martial arts usually have very little to say about these fighting systems. The martial arts have many functions, and personal or village defense is certainly one of them. But on a more fundamental level these things are a type of social technology that allow individuals or groups to achieve their aims, more broadly defined. We will never understand how this technology functions if we remove it from its (always moving) cultural context and attempt to fix these techniques under ahistorical glass. As my friend’s teacher reminded me, dinner must come before dessert. Context comes before understanding.


Also, check out this picture of "Modern incense societies lower their flags at Miaofeng Shan, 2014. Source: NY Times."

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Just as an aside: That seems like a more credible source of the "Needle at Sea Bottom" posture than any martial application I've ever seen...


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A still image of the Five Tiger Stick Society performing on Miaofeng Shan. Source: http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/gamble/

Editing highlight clip:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ip85rG7wC-8

Full film (15 minutes):



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFtpjR6uYnI

Re: 1920s CMA, Mount Miaofeng & the 5 tiger stick society

PostPosted: Tue Jan 16, 2018 4:59 am
by GrahamB
Found this on Youtube: 2016 Miaofengshan Temple Fair Banner Worship and Performance



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnmYw3XTaWI

Whenever people argue that Chinese temple fairs don't have anything to do with religion, I tell them to come to Miaofengshan and to watch closely. Here tyou see the 众友同心中幡聖會 Zhongyou Tongxin Zhongfan Shenghui offering incense to Our Lady of the Azure Clouds (Bixia Yuanjun) and then performs inside the temple at Miaofengshan. About eighty of these pilgrimage associations exist in Beijing, mainly drawn from pious working-class devotees. The pilgrimage is a key thread in my book, The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao. More on the book here:
http://www.ian-johnson.com/books/the-...