Contemporary literature provides a peek at martial arts activities in
and around the Southern Song capital, Hangzhou (1127–1279). The mili-
tary forces scheduled training exercises every spring and autumn at desig-
nated locations, where, amid the crash of cymbals and beating of drums,
they practiced combat formations and held archery competitions, polo
matches, and numerous other martial arts demonstrations, such as spear
and sword fighting.
Associations were organized among the citizenry by those interested
in wrestling, archery, staff fighting, football, polo, and many nonmartial
activities. Also, outdoor entertainment at certain locations in the city in-
cluded wrestling matches (both men’s and women’s), martial arts demon-
strations, acrobatics, and other physical displays.
Some of these activities (considered secular folk entertainment, not re-
ligious activities) could still be seen at the temple festivals (which were
combination county fairs and swap meets) and other festive occasions well
into the twentieth century.
Japanese swords were popular during the Ming, and both General Qi
Jiguang’s New Book of Effective Discipline (Jixiao Xinshu) (ca. 1561) and
Mr. Cheng’s Three Kinds of Insightful Techniques (Chengshi Xinfa
Sanzhong) (ca. 1621) include illustrated Japanese sword routines to emu-
late. Japanese swords had begun to enter China during the Song period,
when their fine quality was even described in a poem by the famed literary
figure Ouyang Xiu (1007–1072). Records show that Japanese swords and
poled weapons (naginata,weapons similar to the European halberd) were
presented as tribute to a number of Ming-period rulers. Ming military lead-
ers were able to observe firsthand the effectiveness of Japanese weapons
and fighting techniques during the large-scale Japanese pirate activities in
the Chinese coastal provinces during the mid-sixteenth century. The Chi-
nese were suitably impressed, and the experience resulted in Chinese use of
Japanese weapons as well as indigenous production of Japanese-style
swords and the adoption of Japanese sword techniques.
By the Qing period (1644–1911), the Comprehensive Study of Docu-
ments (Wenxian Tongkao) reveals that, among the types of individual
weapons officially produced for military use in 1756, special emphasis was
placed on as many as nineteen varieties of broad swords and sixteen types
of poled weapons categorized as spears—a bewildering mix facing military
martial arts drill instructors.
When the Nationalist government–sponsored Central Martial Arts
Institute was established in Nanjing in 1927, its founders were faced with
the daunting task of attempting to satisfy the sensitivities of numerous
martial arts factions within a single national program. They got off to a
troublesome start by dividing the institute into Shaolin and Wudang
China 69