state useful in combat. Dance as a whole is a challenging subject for historical
study because, unlike weapon skills, it leaves almost nothing in the way of
artifacts to prove its existence. The earliest textual descriptions of dance are
from the Warring States period, though several of these sources claim that
they have reproduced or transmitted documents from earlier times. Dance
itself impinged upon two other extremely important interrelated areas, music
and rites, which were of particular interest to the followers of Confucius.
The ceremonial importance of dance as a whole distinguished it from
other semi-martial activities like football and hunting. It nevertheless was
similar to these other group pursuits in requiring individual and unit coor-
dination of movements and in being heavily constrained by formal rules and
social functions in addition to its martial value. Of equal importance to the
history of martial arts, dances, martial or otherwise, were public displays.
The performative aspect of Chinese martial arts is thus tied very directly to
martial dances and is a very early characteristic of martial arts in China. This
is distinct from martial contests in which participants directly fought each
other with a variety of martial skills. Martial dances were the earliest dis-
plays of martial skills that did not serve a competitive purpose, but rather an
aesthetic and spiritual one. This aesthetic and spiritual function involved
both the performer or performers and the audience.
A Han dynasty dictionary would directly connect martiality,wu(武),
with dance,wu(舞):“Martiality means‘to dance’; the movements of an
assault are like the drumming out of a dance.”^17 This definition postdates
the period currently under discussion, but it shows how a possibly specious
definition could arise from a homophonous relationship between words
and the more reasonable connection between music and dance, and music
and war. A later account of the Battle of Muye asserts that the Zhou army
performed a war dance the night before combat that terrified the Shang
forces. The dance itself was recapitulated at the Zhou court, along with a
formalized recreation of the victory itself. This was part of the musical
tradition of the Zhou.^18 Given the central position of the Battle of Muye in
the founding of the Zhou dynasty, it is not surprising that the Zhou court
would regularly revisit the event in performance.
Music and dance were extensively used in military preparations because
drums and gongs were one of the only effective ways to communicate with
large numbers of men during a battle. Men wearing helmets and engaged
infighting would be unlikely to hear verbal commands, no matter how
loudly projected, from any distance. The sound of drums carried much
farther and served to directly connect the commander to his men. As army
size grew it became increasingly difficult to coordinate bodies of men
26 Stone Age through the Spring and Autumn Period