CMA culture talk by Ma Ming Da

[SPJ]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8T4vq0hlyg

Chinese MA has 2 characteristics

1. long history of evolution, yuan yuan liu chang 源远流长

2. both deep and wide in scope, bo da jing shen 博大精深.

[SPJ]

when did wushu start first?

according to written records, we may say it started around the spring autumn and warring states period.

for example, sword or Jian. there were already professional swordsmen at the time.

Si Ma Qian 司马迁 wrote that his ancestors used to teach and pass along the swordsmenship or sword fighting skills and methods as a profession or make a living.

at the same time, civilian circles also developed early forms or empty hand fighting or bo ji. it is called shou bo.

Chinese history and culture were formed by exchange and integration of multiple races/ethnics.

CMA culture was formed the same way from integration and incorporation of many ideas from many people.

That is why CMA became structurally complicated or sophisticated.

there are many disciplines and schools or men pai or liu pai.

[SPJ]

one good example

Shaolin temple

1. It is the starting court/temple of chan sect of Buddhism. Buddhism is from India.

2. Shaolin wu yi also has many outside sources and influences, Shaolin fist was most noted especially during Ming dynasty.

--

[SPJ]

When human or people started to be social or living together as a group/society.

We would have to fight with hands and feet among people for one reason or another.

in stone age, we used sharp stone pieces to hunt and fight.

fighting among groups/tribes, promoted the devolopment of further fighting techniques.

for the longest time, we called CMA wu yi.

only till the late qing dynasty and early republican years, we started to call CMA wu shu.

--

[SPJ]

in ming guo 16th year, we called CMA kuo shu.

when PRC established in 1949, we called CMA wu shu again.

however, in overseas, people called CMA kung fu.

there are many cultural backgrounds behind all these terms.

so why did we call CMA wu shu?

b/c they were used primarily in the army.

[SPJ]

there are 4 primary functions of wu shu;

1. the fighting ability of attack and defense.

2. keep you healthy and fit.

3. practice, drill and observation.

4. a way to develop one's characters. such as patience, diligence, perserverance, dedication,--

in different periods of history, one may be more important then the other.

however, for the longest time, it is used to fight wars.

thus, the governments cornered wu shu and reserved only for soldiers and civilian practice was not allowed.

however, no matter what, there were always practices from the cilivian circles.

but they were not developed to fight a war.

thus providing more room for the development of wu shu.

for example, sword fighting or jian shu was in decline since han dynasty.

Dao was used more and a lot more then jian in fighting a war.

the best time of jian was in bronze time.

--

[JonathanArthur]

A series has been aired in China over the past two weeks charting the history and development of CMA. Starting with the development of bare-hand fighting and weapon technology it then goes on to cover various major groups of martial arts. It is narrated by Ma Xianda.

http://www.tudou.com/home/user_programs.php?userID=6140226

[Formosa Neijia]

there are 4 primary functions of wu shu;

1. the fighting ability of attack and defense.

2. keep you healthy and fit.

3. practice, drill and observation.

4. a way to develop one's characters. such as patience, deligence, perserverance, dedication,--

in different periods of history, one may be more important then the other.

however, for the longest time, it is used to fight wars.

thus, the governments cornered wu shu and reserved only for soldiers and civilian practice was not allowed.

however, no matter what, there were always practices from the cilivian cirles.

but they were not developed to fight a war.

thus providing more room for the development of wu shu.

for example, sword fighting or jian shu was in decline since han dynasty.

Dao was used more and a lot more then jian in fighting a war.

the best time of jian was in bronze time.

Notice how only the first function is recognized as legitimate today because most people are misinformed. The arts always had these functions. They were not solely about fighting all the time.

Kan Ge-wu's book on wushu histroy also makes this so very clear. Here we have the two top wushu historians alive today telling like it really is. Will people listen?

Dave C.

[Bob]

Dave's point is well taken and like he said, often overlooked. I also think that conditioning included breath work for just about every major Northern system.

Thanks SPJ for translating this.!

[mixjourneyman]

I don't think that anyone would argue that doing martial arts seriously doesn't develop any of the things he mentioned.
Its a cool article.

[beegs]

very cool, thanls for translating

[SPJ]

A series has been aired in China over the past two weeks charting the history and development of CMA. Starting with the development of bare-hand fighting and weapon technology it then goes on to cover various major groups of martial arts. It is narrated by Ma Xianda.

http://www.tudou.com/home/user_programs.php?userID=6140226

Yes, there are 2 good programs that air good CMA documentaries.

1. Bai Jia Lun Tan or discussion and talk from hundreds of families.

talk show.

2. Tan Suo Fa Xian or exploration and discovery.

just like discovery channel in the US.