Tag: china

#95 Shaolin

Did Western movies and TV lead to the creation of the Shaolin Warrior monks? Did the modern Shaolin fake something that had already been reinvented anyway? Did the Qing Dynasty really destroy the Shaolin temple, or did they instead create it? What influence did three subsequent phases of communism have on Shaolin? Was there a Southern Shaolin Temple, and what about the modern stuff at Wudang Mountain? These questions and more answered in our new episode on the infamous temple and its monks.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/9404101/95-shaolin

Categories: China Martial Arts

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#78 Xing Yi (part 14) The Confucians Strike Back

Yuan Dynasty Painting | Public Domain / WikiCommons

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.

Categories: Mongols Xing Yi

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#71 Xing Yi (part 13) The Water Chestnut Mirror

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.

A modern reconstruction of a mural depicting the Yuan zaju stage c. 1324. The original was found in the Guangsheng Temple of Shanxi province.

Categories: China Martial Arts Mongols Xing Yi

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#70 Xing Yi (part 12) Rocks and Bamboo

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

Gong Kai (1222-1307?), Emaciated Horse, in [Yuan shidai no huihua]. Tokyo (Nara?): Yamato Bunkakan, 1998. pl. 1, p. 26. Collection of the [Daban shili meishuguan]. ink on paper, 29.9 x 56.9 cm.

Categories: China Martial Arts Mongols Xing Yi

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#54 The Tai Chi Myth (part 4) The Fall and Rise of Yang Luchan

Hubert Vos – Seed, John, Hubert Vos, Court Painter of Empres Dowager Cixi, Arts of Asia, Jan/Feb 2015

In this episode we look at the events surrounding Yang Luchan’s expulsion from the imperial service in 1861 in the context of the rise to power of Empress Dowager Cixi. We also examine how the involvement of the western powers in Chinese affairs directly led to the Self Strenghtening Movement and the establishment of the first public martial arts schools in North China.

https://www.spreaker.com/user/9404101/54-the-tai-chi-myth-part-4-the-fall-and-

Categories: China Martial Arts

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The myth of Tai Chi Chuan

Did Tai Chi exist before 1850? In this episode we begin a new series of episodes on this subject by setting the scene and historical background to the mythmaking around the origins of Tai Chi that occurred starting from the middle of the Nineteenth Century in response to social turmoil and unrest exemplified by the Taiping Rebellion and Opium Wars.

The 98th Regiment of Foot at the attack on Chin-Kiang-Foo (Zhenjiang), 21 July 1842, effecting the defeat of the Manchu government. Watercolour by military illustrator Richard Simkin (1840–1926).

Categories: Britain China Christianity Martial Arts

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#37 XingYi Part 9

Four_Generals_of_Song
General Zhang Jun (left). From The “Four Generals of Zhongxing” painted by Liu Songnian during the Southern Song Dynasty.

In this episode we discuss the role of General Zhang Jun in the survival of Yue Fei’s tradition, as well as in the survival of members of Yue Fei’s extended family. We also discuss how Zhang Jun managed to protect himself from the purges carried out by Qin Hui.

 

Categories: China Xing Yi

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