Xinxu, records the same incident in more detail:“Wan got angry, so he
struck Duke Min in the jaw, teeth fell from his mouth, his neck was broken
and he died.”^19 In both cases the term translated here as“struck,”bo,is
defined in the commentary to another story of unarmedfighting in 659 in
theGuliang Commentaryas“shoubo手搏.”^20 In that story the defeated
boxer returned to kill his opponent with a knife. TheZuozhuansimilarly
records a boxing match in 632 between Chu Zi and Meng, the Marquis of
Jin:“Meng, Marquis of Jin and Chu Zi boxed.”^21
The common thread in all of these descriptions of unarmed striking
combat, and several more stories could be added, is the effectiveness of a
skilledfighter. There was also nothing extraordinary about a contest
between two boxers beyond the particular results of bouts recounted in
the texts. These were not wrestling or grappling contests, or duels with
weapons. Moreover, it is clear that a trainedfighter could deliver devastat-
ing, and sometimes lethal, strikes, indicating a high level of training in a
mature and sophisticated martial art. Wrestling bouts were seldom as
dangerous. The empty-handed striking arts were well developed at a very
early time in China, and they had practical uses. What we do not know is
the relationship between these skills and martial dances; there is no indi-
cation of how boxers trained.
Knights-Errant and Assassins
The subordination of martial arts to political control gave rise to a new sort
of martial artist, the knight-errant or assassin. Any martial artist not acting
in the service of the state was by definition an outlaw. Bandits had, of
course, always existed; no society has yet been able completely to eradicate
the scourge of thugs using force to steal, rape, or murder. What changed in
the Warring States period was that a martially capable man could act
contrary to the political order, using his skill as a means of self-definition,
rather than class or group definition. That is, by continuing to be loyal to a
dead superior or assassinating a politicalfigure for someone else, the
knight or assassin proves his own qualities as a human being. The contest
is between the political order and the moral, ethical, or cultural order, with
the lone martial artist asserting a calling above political order.
Sima Qian (fl. ca. 135 – 86 bce) created the biographical category of
“Assassin-Retainer”in theShiji,orRecords of the Grand Historian.^22 This
category was not retained in other histories, and it may speak to Sima
Qian’s concerns about overbearing political authority. Sima concluded his
chapter:“Of thesefive men, from Cao Mei to Jing Ke, some succeeded in
Knights-Errant and Assassins 47