Chinese Village Learns Kung Fu to Protect From Wild Animals

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Chinese Village Learns Kung Fu to Protect From Wild Animals

Postby marvin8 on Wed Nov 29, 2017 10:07 pm

ABC News
Published on Sep 3, 2016

Some residents of the Chinese village of Gonghe say they learned Kung Fu to protect themselves from wild animals:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nT88ioH2_S4
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Re: Chinese Village Learns Kung Fu to Protect From Wild Animals

Postby Trick on Wed Nov 29, 2017 11:24 pm

Haha, well I can't see the vid, but the headline suggest something "silly"...... For tens of thousands of years man have had ways to protect themselves from wild animals, and now in the end of the year 2017 Kung Fu is the way to do it, funny and scary. If it does not work in the ring/cage or on the mat, it might work out in the wild
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Re: Chinese Village Learns Kung Fu to Protect From Wild Animals

Postby marvin8 on Wed Nov 29, 2017 11:51 pm

Trick wrote:Haha, well I can't see the vid, but the headline suggest something "silly"...... For tens of thousands of years man have had ways to protect themselves from wild animals, and now in the end of the year 2017 Kung Fu is the way to do it, funny and scary. If it does not work in the ring/cage or on the mat, it might work out in the wild

This was on the ABC news. You can try this link. A test website showed not blocked in China:
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/video/chinese-village-learned-kung-fu-protection-wild-animals-41840455
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Re: Chinese Village Learns Kung Fu to Protect From Wild Animals

Postby TeaSerpent on Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:23 am

In the past they trained in / used martial arts as part of their village field watching society to deal with a group of tigers who were preying on their livestock.
quasi militia type field or crop watching groups like this were historically very common across China as a way to deal with threats to village livelihood such as predators attacking livestock or animals or neighboring groups raiding crops.
Last edited by TeaSerpent on Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:23 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Chinese Village Learns Kung Fu to Protect From Wild Animals

Postby TeaSerpent on Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:24 am

Liu Jia Quan "Six Family Boxing" is practiced by members of the Dong* ethnic group living in Ganxi Stronghold, located in Duma township, Tianzhou County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture in Guizhou province.
According to local traditions martial arts have been practiced by the people of Ganxi Zhai* since the settling of the village in the reign of emperor Hongwu founder of the Ming dynasty.
The style gets it's name from the six main clans of Ganxi Zhai, each of which was said to have developed their own martial specialty.
According to tradition in the early years of the village the people were very poor with only a small amount of livestock and were rarely able to eat meat. The few pigs they had were saved for holidays to be used as sacrifices.
At one point their pigs began to rapidly disappear from their pen at night. The local people got together and organized an armed watch over the pigs.
That night several men spread out into the area around the pig pen to look for the culprit. As they stood watch they suddenly heard loud terrified squeals coming from the pig pen. The squeals of the pigs and yells of the men woke the rest of the villager who all came running carrying spears, pitchforks, and polearms. The men followed the noise and cornered a very large old one eyed tiger holding a freshly killed pig in it's mouth*. In their anger over the slaughter of their pigs the villagers all rushed on the tiger with their spears, forks, and polearms. The tiger attacked back swatting aside the weapons and throwing men to the ground. Coming to their senses the villagers scattered and ran.
The next morning they checked the pen to find that all but the old mother hog had been killed.
Of the men who had surrounded the tiger, many had broken bones, been knocked unconscious or had deep gashes from the tigers claws. But miraculously no one had been killed.
The heads of the village called a meeting, it was decided that each family should take their best young fighters and spend the next year perfecting their skills. When the year was up they would all meet as a village and share their best skills in order to better be able to deal with future threats.
This was the birth of Ganxi's Six Family Boxing system.
A few years later the night watchmen spotted four tigers approaching the pig pen and sounded the alarm. Ten men rushed out with spears and forks and swiftly killed one of the tigers while the other 3 tigers fled. That night the people of the village celebrated, drinking wine and feasting on tiger meat.
The next morning every person from the village took a piece of the tiger's skin and nailed it to one of the trees surrounding the village to warn away other predators.
After this the village successfully faced predators and bandits many times, often capturing bandits to hand over to the authorities.
Because of the reputation they gained facing bandits and predators, their martial arts became famous throughout the Dong and Miao strongholds of Qiandongnan and many people came to Ganxi Stronghold to learn the Six Family martial arts in order to defend their own villages.
The six clans of Ganxi Zhai are the Lu, Tao, Chen, Yang, Yuan, and Song. They specialized in Dragon, Tiger, Snake, Leopard, Eagle, and Monkey methods respectively.
The old saying in the village on the skills of the six clans goes:
"The Lu clan's Dragon boxing is strong and ferocious, it's fists crush boulders.
The Tao clan's Tiger pounce is sudden and swift, it's palms splinter bamboo.
The Chen clan's alert Snake flicks it's tongue, it's finger thrust pierces bricks.
The Yang clan's Leopard rushes like a thunder clap, it's leg sweep snaps tree trunks.
The Yuan clan's Eagle soars in the skies, it's claws reduce stumps to splinters.
The Song clan's body is flexible and agile, it climbs trees like a Monkey."
As with most traditional martial arts a wide variety of weapons are practiced in Ganxi village. In addition to the standard weapons seen in most Chinese martial arts the villagers are known for their skills with Tie Chi "Iron Rulers", Yue Ya Tang "Crescent Moon Polearm" (a weapon having two blades in a wide fork formation this weapon is closely associated with the Dong people who use a shorter than average version), and especially for their Hong Men Staff system.

*The Dong or Kam people speak a language from the Rau branch of northern Tai languages. Having no written language their mythology is passed down by story keepers in a collection of epic songs detailing their lineage, history and mythology. During the Ming and Qing the Dong people took part in several uprisings.
*(Ganxi Zhai is literally translated as "Sweet Creek Stronghold"
The term Zhai meaning "Stockade" or "Stronghold" is a commonly used term for local ethnic minority villages in the more remote mountain areas of western China, which were often built with defense in mind.)
*most tigers who habitually prey on humans or livestock are old, sick, or injured tigers who have become too slow to hunt effectively.
Last edited by TeaSerpent on Sat Dec 02, 2017 4:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Chinese Village Learns Kung Fu to Protect From Wild Animals

Postby yeniseri on Sat Dec 02, 2017 12:26 pm

It seems to be more of a way to enhance the village art, promote "kung fu" and become entrenched in the greater national pastime. Many "minorities" in China have tended to use the national rhetoric to promote a certain aspect of thier culture so they borrow these themes to do this.

Does sound silly but it opens up the dialogue that there are unrepresented groups who live in China whose cultural roots are being destroyed by the nationalistic bends of patriotism, or better said, what passes as mainland nationalism. Even the more numbers represented Hui become marginalized when they spout their roots as opposed to Chinese symbolism of it.
When fascism comes to US America, It will be wrapped in the US flag and waving a cross. An astute patriot
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