combat. In Yuan period plays, some characters represent themselves as
skilled with spear and staff, and having studied boxing and wrestling.
At least with respect to the martial arts, the terms used for“study”(學)
or“practice”(習), among others, are used interchangeably in both the
historical records and infiction. This makes it impossible to determine
based on the verb used whether the martial art referred to is concerned
with armed or unarmed combat. A Yuan edict of 23 January 1322 states:
“Han people are prohibited from holding [or having] weapons, going out
to hunt and practicing martial arts禁漢人執兵器出獵及習武藝.”^14 The
eighteen martial arts, as we have seen, do not include unarmedfighting
skills, presenting us with the possibility that“martial arts”may only refer
to armedfighting skills. In other texts, boxing and wrestling are listed in
addition to skill with staff or spear. Thus, while the government was well
aware that unarmed martial arts skills were strongly connected to armed
martial arts skills, it was really only concerned about armedfighting and
the ownership of weapons. Unarmed martial artists, no matter how skilled,
were not a threat to the regime.
A number of men and women were noted for wrestling and boxing skills.
Particular skill in boxing or wrestling was sometimes noted for men other-
wise known for their performance on the battlefield. Following the usual
description of them as being good at horse archery, it seemed noteworthy to
point out that the person in question was also a skilled boxer and wrestler.
Sometimes a martial artist is described as skilled at one of these skills, but
several accounts group boxing and wrestling together. This is the equivalent
of stating that the person is highly skilled in unarmed combat. Obviously,
not everyone was so skilled or it would not require mention, but it is not
clear how skilled in unarmed combat most warriors were. Were soldiers,
Mongol, Chinese, or others, trained in unarmed combat? In this period we
do not know for certain. There were traveling Chinese martial arts teachers
who gave instruction in unarmed combat (boxing and wrestling), and in
staff and spear.
Formal martial arts training in wrestling and boxing was available
outside the military. Within the standing military, soldiers were formally
trained to use weapons. Mongol soldiers were not, to our knowledge,
instructed in weapon use as part of military training. They were expected
to come to the battlefield armed with weapons they knew how to use, and
riding on horses capable of bearing them in battle. Some group training
was done so that units of cavalry could act in a coordinated fashion.
Outside of the military on campaign, wrestling, but not boxing, was pop-
ular in the steppe. Boxing in particular then may have been more distinctly
150 The Yuan Dynasty