Training to Fight with Chinese Martial Arts in the Republican Era Part II

Security forces training While the books used in our survey already discussed in part I were aimed to civilians a few had either the police or the army as target audience. One of the first comprehensive curriculums created in the early XXth Century was Ma Liang’s Zhonghua Xing Wushu (New Martial Arts of China) published […]

Defining Chinese Martial Arts in the Republican Era

By William A. & Mei C. During the Republican period (1912 to 1949) the proponents of the National Essence Movement  sought not only to promote native martial practices but also its technical and theoretical study by applying modern western methodologies. Chinese martial arts have been described in different ways over the centuries, however it would […]

Qi Jiguang’s Influence on Asian Martial Arts

By William A. General Qi Jiguang (1528 – 1588) was born in a hereditary military family in 1528 at Dengzhou, Shandong province. Qi received education in both the Classics and military skills from a tender age and assumed his father’s rank in 1544. He took the military examinations receiving the Juren degree in 1549, but […]

Japanese Martial Arts in Russia, The creation of Sambo and Sino-Russian Cooperation at Whampoa

By William A. Note: Updated on 8/12/2017 When Japan was forced to open its borders to foreigners beginning the Meiji Restoration, it also helped spread Japanese culture overseas in the form of movements like Japonism (from the French Japonisme) or the interest for Japanese objects from around 1872 onwards. This movement influenced European arts and […]

Ma Liang – Chinese Martial Arts Modernizer, Warlord and Traitor

By William A. M.Eng., with translations by Mei C. B.A. The China of the early XXth century experienced major political and social changes thanks to a combination of local and foreign forces creating the right environment from which many reformers arose. In the realm of Chinese martial arts, Ma Liang (馬良) also know as Ma […]

Perceptions of the “Sick” Men of East Asia in Spanish-speaking Countries

By William A. A Chinese martial arts master has died, the students make preparations for his funeral in anticipation of those people seeking to pay their respects. During a moment of silence following a speech by one senior member of the Chinese school, a group of Japanese martial artists make their entrance and arrogantly offered […]