Chinese Martial Arts Topics

• fall of the qing dynasty
• martial arts associations
• demonstration teams
• soft elements
• chinese civil war
• japanese invasion
• distinctive differences
• jing wu
• national pride
• national examinations
• huo yuanjia
• chinese communities
• philosophical basis
• chinese society
• martial artists
• transition period
• wing chun
• yin and yang
• alon

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Chinese Martial Arts, Chinese Martial Arts

Those examples shows the ideas associated with Chinese martial arts changed with the evolving Chinese society and over time acquired a philosophical basis.

In the transition period between the fall of the Qing Dynasty as well as the turmoils of the Japanese invasion and the Chinese Civil War, Chinese martial arts became more accessible to the general public as many martial artists were encouraged to openly teach their art. At that time, some considered martial arts as a means to promote national pride and build a strong nation. As a result, many training manuals () were published, a training academy was created, 2 National examinations were organized as well as demonstration teams travelled overseas and numerous martial arts associations were formed throughout China and in various overseas Chinese communities. The Central Guoshu Academy (Zhongyang Guoshuguan, /) established by the National Government in 1928 and the Jing Wu Athletic Association (/) founded by Huo Yuanjia in 1910 are examples of organizations that promoted a systematic approach for training in Chinese martial arts.

Examples of the northern styles include changquan and xingyiquan. Examples of the southern styles include Bak Mei and Wing Chun. Chinese martial arts can also be divided according to religion, imitative-styles (), and more. There are distinctive differences in the training between different groups of the Chinese martial arts regardless of the type of classification. However, few experienced martial artists make a clear distinction between internal and external styles, or subscribe to the idea of northern systems being predominantly kick-based and southern systems relying more heavily on upper-body techniques. Most styles contain both hard and soft elements, regardless of their internal nomenclature. Analyzing the difference in accordance with yin and yang principles, philosophers would assert that the absence of either one would render the practitioner's skills unbalanced or deficient, as yin and yang alone are each only half of a whole. If such differences did once exist, they have since been blurred.

Stance training can be practiced statically, the goal of which is to maintain the structure of the stance through a set time period, or dynamically, in which case a series of movements is performed repeatedly. The horse riding stance (/ q m b/m b) and the bow stance are examples of stances found in many styles of Chinese martial arts.

Forms gradually build up a practitioner's flexibility, internal and external strength, speed and stamina, and teach balance and coordination. Many styles contain forms using a wide range of weapons of various length and type, utilizing one or two hands. There are also styles which focus on a certain type of weapon. Forms are meant to be both practical, usable, and applicable as well as promoting flow, meditation, flexibility, balance and coordination. Teachers are often heard to say "train your form as if you were sparring and spar as if it were a form." There are two general types of forms in Chinese martial arts. Most common are "solo forms" which are performed by a single student. There are also "sparring" forms, which are choreographed fighting sets performed by two or more people. Sparring forms were designed both to acquaint beginning fighters with basic measures and concepts of combat, and to serve as performance pieces for the school. Sparring forms which utilize weapons are especially useful for teaching students the extension, range and technique required to manage a weapon.

In the neo-traditionalist view, martial arts training should eventually lead to and be proven by actual combat as well as being governed by a moral philosophy; neo-traditionalists often believe sparring to test techniques is either irrelevant because of their disbelief in the validity of a regulated test setting, or because the system's techniques are supposedly too dangerous to use outside of a real combat situation. In contrast, the sport-competition and traditionalist view suggests that all of the techniques in Chinese martial arts should be repeatedly time-tested through sparring to insure their effectiveness.

Source: Wikipedia > Chinese Martial Arts