ual change explains martial arts tactics and techniques to cope with situa-
tions described as weak versus strong (empty versus full) and pliant versus
rigid (soft versus hard). The earliest extant published exposition of this the-
ory applied directly to the martial arts is a vignette about a young woman
of Yue in the Spring and Autumn Annals of Wu and Yue (ca. A.D. 100). This
story is found in a chapter titled “Gou Jian’s Plotting.” Gou Jian, king of
the state of Yue (?–465 B.C.), is said to have sought the best military minds,
armorers, and martial artists to serve him. In fact, one of the finest Chinese
bronze swords yet unearthed has actually been identified as Gou Jian’s.
According to the story, the young woman was summoned to appear
before the king of Yue because of her famed swordsmanship. Along the way
she met an old man in the forest. He said his name was Old Yuan, that he
had heard of her skill, and would like to see her in action. When she agreed,
Old Yuan broke a piece of bamboo and the young woman got the short end.
Old Yuan lunged at her three times, but she eluded his thrusts and jabbed
him each time. Suddenly, he jumped up into a tree and was transformed into
a white ape (“ape” in Chinese is pronounced the same as his name, Yuan).
The young woman bade him farewell and resumed her journey.
When the king of Yue interviewed the young woman, he asked her to
reveal the key to her swordsmanship. She replied that deep in the forest
with no one around she had no teacher, but she loved to practice con-
stantly, and it came to her in a flash of insight. The key was subtle but easy,
and its meaning quite profound. It included frontal and flanking aspects,
and yin and yang: Open the frontal, close the flank, yin subsides, and yang
arises. In all hand-to-hand combat, the spirit wells up within, but the ap-
pearance is calm without; one looks like a proper woman, but fights like
an aroused tiger. Pay attention to your physical disposition and move with
your spirit; be distant and vague like the sun, and agile like a bounding rab-
bit. Pursue your opponent like a darting reflection, now bright now gone.
Breathe with movement, and don’t transgress the rules. Whether straight or
crossing, initiating or responding, nothing is detected by the opponent. By
this means, one can confront one hundred, and one hundred can confront
ten thousand. The king was so pleased that he gave the young woman the
title Maiden of Yue and had her teach his commanders and top warriors so
they could, in turn, teach the rest of the troops.
These few principles expounded in the story of the Maiden of Yue
comprise the core of Chinese martial arts thought regardless of style. For
example, the phrase “the spirit wells up within, but the appearance is calm
without” is even found in Chang Naizhou’s eighteenth-century boxing
manual and one of Wu Yuxiang’s nineteenth-century taijiquan (tai chi
ch’uan) commentaries. This phrase describes the psychological aspect of
the martial arts, which is inseparable from the physical. An unflappable,746 Written Texts: China