Chinese Martial Arts. From Antiquity to the Twenty-First Century

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a long sword. No weapon had an absolute advantage over another, of
course, but each had a set of strengths and weaknesses that interacted
dynamically with the opposing weapon’s strengths and weaknesses. The
deciding factor in any contest was the overall situation and the martial arts
skill of thefighters.


Conclusion


The Qin and Han dynasties faced new problems with respect to the place
of martial arts in Chinese society. Both were inheritors of Warring States
period military systems that had wholly militarized both commoners and
elites in the service of massive wars of conquest. The Qin unification did
not immediately transform Chinese society into a peaceful, nonmartial
state. Indeed, the repeated uprisings, wars, and conflicts of the following
centuries would show that all efforts by the government to restrict access
to martial arts training and weapons was never more than partially effec-
tive. Many elites would continue to maintain a harsh warrior ethos that
sometimes belied their cultivated, literate personae. A proper aristocratic
education included both literacy and martial arts.
Commoners also maintained considerable familiarity with the martial
arts. Farmers were expected to render military service and practice the
necessary skills for thefirst two centuries of the Han dynasty. It was only
after the dynasty was reconstituted following the Wang Mang interregnum
that military service for Han subjects was done away with. This was a
change in politics and society, and the relationship of the ordinary subject
to military service, but its actual effects are hard to gauge. There was
certainly no lack of martial arts skills or even tactical military training in
the second centurycewhen thefirst religiously inspired uprising irrupted.
The rebellion of the Yellow Turbans in 184 was tinged with Daoist
ideas that spread throughout Han society. It presented a serious military
threat to the dynasty for some time, defeating the imperial army repeat-
edly, before being put down in 185 .Itflared up again and again over the
next few years, and wasfinally crushed in 205. The process offighting the
Yellow Turbans empowered a number of generals, setting up the closing
act of the Han dynasty in 220 , and opening act of the Three Kingdoms
period ( 220 – 280 ) that immediately followed it. China once again entered a
period of widespread warfare that divided the Han empire.


72 The Qin and Han Dynasties

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