contests of skill. Explicitly military demonstrations complete with weap-
ons and music were critical ceremonial events in the Zhou court. Martial
dances instantiated political legitimacy by reminding the audience and
participants of the battlefield victories that had created the dynasty.
Martial dances were also connected to military drill and the coordination
of large units of soldiers. When large numbers of men were trained
together in weapon skills as part of their military training, they became
part of a regular martial dance that allowed their individual martial arts
skills to be inspected. The repetition of these skills in a particular pattern, a
formal, ceremonial dance, also reiterated a particular teaching or political
lineage. In China, martial arts cannot be separated from the formal per-
formance of those skills as an intentional display outside of combat.
Violence and Society
Before this chapter is concluded, some mention should be made of the
place of violence in the political and social order of Western Zhou and
Spring and Autumn period China. This discussion can help to explain the
changes that took place during the Warring States period covered in the
next chapter. Martial arts are not a politically or socially neutral set of
skills. Unlike certain purely technical skills–like making pottery, for
example–the performance of violence has profound implications for
societal organization and political authority. Licit and illicit violence are
culturally defined through a number of institutions, both formal and
informal. As I have discussed above, martial skills and the performance
of violence defined certain classes in Chinese society. Mark Edward
Lewis’s classic study,Sanctioned Violence in Early China, describes the
evolution of a number of linked violent practices connected to changes in
political authority and social organization.
The context of violence is fundamental to understanding its signifi-
cance. During the Western Zhou and the Spring and Autumn period,
aristocrats defined themselves by the performance of particular kinds of
violence. Hunting, warfare, and violent inter-clan feuding were not just
struggles for power but were assertions of identity. An aristocrat was
someone who regularly used violence in defense of honor, or to prove his
martial skills, or for any number of other reasons. The identity of the entire
group of aristocrats was based upon the individual use of violence, and
thus, martial arts. The political value of a given violent event was usually
less important to the majority of participants than their own inclusion and
Violence and Society 29