In the middle to late part of the Yuan Dynasty the former Confucian ruling class came back with a vengeance and started a downward spiral that would ultimately lead to the fall of the dynasty. In this episode we examine how and why this happened, which will set the context for the important events at the end of the dynasty in the next episode.
This episode explores the connection between the martial arts of the great Song generals’ tradition and Chinese theatre, which was emerged during the height of the Yuan Dynasty.
We pick up our series on Xing Yi with a new dynasty, the Yuan, examining the social changes that Mongol rule brought to China and their implications for the martial arts through the lens of the artwork of the period.
https://www.spreaker.com/user/9404101/70-xing-yi-part-12-rocks-and-bamboo
This time we look at Yiquan, a derivative of Xing Yi, putting it in the context of the Miasma of the late Nineteenth and early Twentieth centuries. Podcast link:
https://www.spreaker.com/user/9404101/66-yiquan
Here’s a link to an interview in which he criticises other arts, like Xing Yi: https://www.internalartsinternational.com/free/essence-boxing-science-interview-mr-wang-xiang-zhai-part-1/
We turn our attention to the Fall of the Song, and examine the posthumous influence of the military legacy of the three great generals, Yue, Han and Zhang, on drawing out the final demise of the Dynasty.
https://www.spreaker.com/user/9404101/48-xing-yi-part-11-the-fall-of-the-song
In this episode we discuss the article “Make Xing Yi Wild Again” from Graham Barlow’s Tai Chi Notebook, touching on subjects like rewilding, degrowth and shamanic practice.
Here’s part 8 of the series, which looks at armour in the Song Dynasty, but also talks about XingYi fighting tactics in relation to armour and how the armour influences the way the art works – stepping, continuous movement, minimal movement, twisting the fist in Tzuann, etc…
There are two versions of part 8, the first is for public consumption, available here:
Listen to “#30 Xing Yi (part 8) – short version” on Spreaker.https://www.spreaker.com/user/9404101/30-xing-yi-part-8-short-version
We got into some controversial topics at the end of the episode, so the full version is reserved for our Heretics/Woven Energy Patreons ($5 and up):
https://www.patreon.com/wovenenergy/posts
Here’s some nice Song Dynasty-style armour a Google search turned up
Like Damon says, you could show that to a ‘normal’ person and tell them it’s Samurai armour and they would probably believe you 🙂
As a background to our upcoming discussion of late Song Dynasty armour and weapons, in this episode we give a brief overview of a few animal strategies applied on the battlefield at strategic and tactical levels, as well as in individual combat.
Link https://www.spreaker.com/user/9404101/29-xing-yi-part-7
Listen to “#29 Xing Yi (part 7)” on Spreaker.
Our sister podcast, Woven Energy, has just released a new episode that I think Heretics listeners would enjoy because it has lots of fascinating insights into religions and spirit dance. In this episode you’ll learn about: