130 Fist Fighting and Self-Cultivation
New Treatise of Military Efficiency, the renowned general covered every aspect
of mass warfare, from the selection and training of troops to discipline, com-
mand, tactics, logistics, and weaponry. The book did not regurgitate earlier
military compilations—it was based upon the commander’s hard-won expe-
riences in the battlefield. Completed in late 1561 or early 1562, New Treatise
alludes to campaigns won by Qi only a few months earlier.^42
Qi’s Essentials of the Hand Combat Classic is not only a survey of contemporary
bare-handed techniques, but also the earliest extant manual of a given style.
The general surveyed sixteen sparring methods, all of which, he concluded,
were “guilty of either emphasizing the top to the neglect of the bottom, or the
bottom to the neglect of the top.”^43 To amend the deficiencies of individual
styles, Qi created a synthesis. He chose what he considered the thirty-two best
postures of all styles, explicating each with an illustration and a rhyming for-
mula. His treatise is therefore a handbook of his own standardized hand com-
bat technique.
Hand combat, Qi Jiguang argued, could be used for troops’ training. The
experienced general was well aware that bare-handed methods were useless in
the battlefield. He suggested, however, that they were not without merit in in-
stilling courage. Moreover, bare-handed practice was a good starting point for
armed training: “In general,” Qi writes, “the hand, staff, broadsword, spear,
fork, claw, two-edged sword, two-pronged spear, bow and arrow, hooked sword,
sickle, and shield all proceed from bare-handed techniques to train the body
and hands. Bare-handed techniques are the foundation of the martial arts.”^44
A similar argument is echoed by Qi Jiguang’s contemporar y He Liangchen (fl.
1565), who held that “in practicing the martial arts one should begin with
hand combat and proceed to staff training. When the methods of fist and staff
are understood, the sword, spear and all other techniques would be especially
easy to acquire.”^45
Qi was critical of flowery postures that were aesthetically pleasing but had
no combat implications. Efficiency in battle was more significant than beauty
of performance. Furthermore, in actual confrontation it was necessary to go
beyond the fixed training forms. The general quoted a common martial arts
saying: “Without obvious postures or techniques, you will be effective with one
move; if you do make the mistake of posturing and posing, you will be ineffec-
tive with ten moves.”^46 Douglas Wile has demonstrated that this view was shared
by another sixteenth-century military expert, Tang Shunzhi (1507–1560):
“T he rea son for post ures in t he mar t ia l ar t s,” w r ites Tang, “ is to facilit ate t r ans -
formations.... Forms contain fixed postures, but in actual practice there are
no fixed postures. When applied they become fluid, but still maintain their
structural characteristics.”^47
Even though martial arts historians unanimously praise it, Qi was am-
biguous about his Essentials of the Hand Combat Classic. As the commander of
regular armies, Qi’s main interest lay in weapons instruction for mass troops.
The bare-handed skills of individual artists were not as significant, and might