as we shall see inChapter 10 , Chinese and Japanese soldiers fought hand-
to-hand battles with swords in the middle decades of the twentieth century.
The notion, often promoted in Chinese martial artsfilms, that guns were
foreign or unknown to the Chinese before the arrival of the West, is
baseless nonsense. The Chinese martial arts haveflourished as effective
fighting skills in the presence of guns for over seven centuries.
There were some changes in the martial arts during the Song Dynasty.
The importance of archery remained paramount, but its practice meant
very different things to the new literati elite. The staff also gained in
importance during the Song, though the spear and the sword were the
main weapons for closefighting. Perhaps most important for our modern
understanding of the martial arts, the use of martial arts for entertainment
grew during the Song, leading some to argue that the previously purely
functional skills were made moreflowery to please audiences. Military
exams were also promoted, leading to the same sorts of questions about
physical versus mental skills. Use of such exams was one of several
attempts to improve the Song Dynasty’s military strength.
Another policy for strengthening the military, thebaojiasystem, tried to
reverse the split between soldiers and farmers and bring back the soldier-
farmer of thefubingsystem and before. The idea was to militarize the
farmers through training in the martial arts and to create a vast pool of
armed men. This would have offset the advantage of highly militarized
steppe people and produced overwhelming power when multiplied by the
Chinese population. It was a complete failure, but it did promote martial
arts skills throughout the rural population.
Archery
Hua Yue wrote,“There are thirty-six military weapons and the bow is
called the head. There are eighteen martial arts (wuyi) and archery is the
first.”^5 As we have seen and will continue to see, until perhaps the nine-
teenth century, archery was the most fundamental battlefield and martial
skill; however, the emphasis in archery did change during the Song. There
were two main areas of change: an increased emphasis on crossbow
archery, and the almost total absence of archery practice among the
ruling class. Both of these changes were driven by cultural, political,
and social factors rather than questions of effectiveness. And, at least in
the case of the ruling class, a vaguely martial substitute was found that
provided some connection to past archery practice among Confucian
gentlemen.
Archery 121