The Origin and Development of Wushu
(1) The origin of Wushu
Wushu originated from the productive labor of our ancient ancestors. In the case of extremely low productivity in primitive society, human beings mainly made a living by hunting and other primitive production activities, and learned to hit wild animals with their bare hands or with wooden sticks, stones and other instruments. Most of these methods are based on instinctive, spontaneous and random body movements. People can't consciously regard fighting as a special sport, but these fighting techniques are one of the sources of martial arts.
Mankind entered the late Paleolithic period, and the production tools such as making stone tools developed greatly. In the Neolithic age, people have widely used bows and arrows to hunt. Due to the continuous innovation of production and hunting tools, people have initially accumulated the experience of chopping, chopping, hitting and stabbing. At this time, with the initiative of creating sharp weapons, the initiative of using tools and methods, and the consciousness of using fighting techniques as symbols, Wushu entered the bud. But its skills still belong to the category of production activities in essence.
During the clan commune period, tribal wars promoted the formation and development of combat skills. People summed up the successful fighting methods in the war, repeated imitation exercises, and passed them on to the next generation. These technical methods began to become an important part of military training. It is the fighting between people that makes the skills of weapons and the fighting skills needed for war gradually separated from the production technology and gradually developed into a form of martial arts that is both internal and external.
(2) The development of Wushu in past dynasties.
In the primitive production and survival activities, from unarmed combat to armed combat and evolved into modern sports, this development form has appeared in human activities in various regions of the world. Such as fencing and muay Thai. However, the development from the primitive fighting skill to the martial arts form of both internal and external cultivation is bred by the unique cultural soil of the Chinese nation.
Military war is a catalyst to promote the formation and development of Wushu. What were the main forms of military training in Shang and Zhou Dynasties? Hunting? And then what? Wu dance? . The purpose of wild hunting is to train the use of various weapons and the driving skills of horses. It is a comprehensive training of collective energy, technology and tactics. Wushu dance is to train the killing experience in actual combat according to certain procedures. It is the sublimation of ancient Wushu from perceptual knowledge to rational knowledge, the symbol of the evolution from fragmentation to systematization, and the embryonic form of Wushu routines. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were frequent disputes between princes and wars, and the training of soldiers and martial arts received unprecedented attention and development. For example, Qi Henggong holds a contest every spring and autumn? Angle test? Select talents. With the collapse of slavery, the monopoly of slave owners and nobles on martial arts in the army and education was broken. Scholar? Class and? Ranger? The appearance of Wushu marks the beginning of folk culture. At that time, there were many martial arts climaxes among the people, such as Yue Nv, Yuan Gong and Lu Shigong. Yue Nv's exposition on sword recorded in Wu Yue Chun Qiu is profound and incisive, and it is still brilliant today.
Qin and Han Dynasties were in the rising period of feudal society in China. The development of politics, economy and culture has created conditions for Wushu to gradually develop from a simple military skill to a competitive direction, and competitive events such as gladiator, unarmed combat and fencing are very prosperous. Martial arts used in offensive and defensive warfare and routines suitable for performance develop in parallel. There are 6 calligraphy and 38 kendo in the thirteen art books in Han Shu Literature and Art Annals. Many martial arts events were absorbed into the prosperous times at that time? Hundred plays? De-China makes Wushu develop towards performance.
During the Southern and Northern Dynasties, Wushu was gradually combined with health preservation in the process of blending with culture. However, due to the prevalence of metaphysics at that time, people pursued immortality through alchemy, and its negative influence hindered the development of Wushu to some extent.
In the second year of Chang 'an in the Tang Dynasty (AD 702), the martial arts system was implemented. This method of selecting Wushu talents through examination has promoted the development of Wushu. Swordsmanship became an important weapon in the Tang Dynasty, and it gradually broke away from military practicality and developed in the folk. Poets Li Bai and Li Fu both learned fencing when they were young. General Pei Min's swordsmanship is unparalleled in the world, and he is also called the three wonders of the Tang Dynasty with Li Bai's poems and songs and Zhang Xu's cursive script. It can be seen that Wushu, as a cultural form, was quite influential at that time.
During the Song and Yuan Dynasties, folk Wushu activities with folk associations as the main body flourished, such as? English club? 、? Archery club? 、? Sumo club? Wait a minute. ? Club? This form has created favorable conditions for the teaching, dissemination and development of folk Wushu. In the Song Dynasty, cities were developed, and in some special public entertainment places, such as? Washer? 、? Goulan? There are a large number of folk artists who take martial arts as their profession. Their performances include both solo training and duet training, which greatly promotes the development of condom martial arts to performance.
The Ming and Qing Dynasties were a period of great development of Wushu, and an important symbol of its prosperity was the variety of schools, the unprecedented development of different styles of boxing equipment, and the various values of Wushu as military technology, fitness means and performance skills were recognized and utilized by people. Since the Ming Dynasty, represented by Qi Jiguang, Cheng Zongyou and Mao, through the research on the skills, tactics and teaching and training of Wushu since the Song Dynasty, we have summed up relatively systematic basic theories, such as Qi Jiguang's Ji Xiaoxin's Book and He's Chen Liang Law. They all summed up the gradual teaching and training law that boxing is the basis of learning instruments, and clearly put forward the fitness and physical strengthening function of Wushu. In the Qing Dynasty, a large number of literati joined the ranks of practicing martial arts with swords and fists. They consciously used China's classical philosophy theory to guide Wushu practice, enriched Wushu theory, and created many new boxing methods, such as Tai Ji Chuan, Xingyiquan and Baguazhang.
Since modern times, Wushu has become an integral part of modern sports in China because of its fitness, self-defense and other functions. On this basis, we should further absorb the nutrients of traditional culture, enrich the forms of sports, sublimate the technical theory, and develop along the direction of sports without losing the connotation of attack and defense.
During the Republic of China (19 12-1949), many boxing clubs appeared among the people. 19 10 was established in Shanghai? Jason Wu Games? Is a lasting and influential group. 1927, the Kuomintang government established the Central Wushu Museum in Nanjing, and held two national Wushu examinations in Nanjing in 1928 and 1933, and held boxing, long soldiers, short soldiers, Sanshou and wrestling competitions. In addition, some large-scale Wushu performances were organized, such as 1929 Hangzhou Wushu Leisure Conference and 1936 China Wushu Team's performance in Berlin Olympic Games. China is a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society with backward politics, economy, culture and education, which hindered the development of Wushu to some extent. Revitalize Wushu and save the country with martial arts? Under the guidance of Wu Shu Thought, Wushu is still developing.
2. The development of Wushu in New China.
(1) Popularization and improvement of Wushu in China
After the founding of People's Republic of China (PRC), Wushu developed very rapidly.
From 65438 to 0950, the All-China Sports Federation held a symposium on Wushu work to advocate the development of Wushu. 1953, a national sports performance competition with martial arts as the main content was held in Tianjin. 1956, Chinese Wushu Association was established in Beijing. 1957 The former State Sports Commission listed Wushu as a sports competition and organized human resources to organize its publication? Simplify Tai Ji Chuan? And a lot of long fists and equipment routines. These routines have become the basic teaching materials for popularizing Wushu among the masses and schools, and have played a role in promoting the unification of technical norms.
On this basis, the former State Sports Commission formulated 1958 martial arts competition rules, and compiled five competition rules: fist, knife, gun, sword and stick. Some provinces and cities have set up excellent Wushu sports teams one after another, making Wushu enter the ranks of competitive sports. The development of competitions, performances and mass Wushu activities has promoted the improvement of Wushu technical level. Under the unified guidance of the State Sports Commission, local Wushu organizations such as Wushu associations, folk Wushu gymnasiums, counseling stations, and research associations have also been established in various provinces, cities, and grass-roots districts and counties. At this point, Wushu has flourished, covering urban and rural areas, forming a wide network of mass Wushu activities.
65438-0972 After the notice of the State Sports Commission on excavating and sorting out the martial arts heritage was issued, local sports commissions and martial arts associations investigated and studied martial arts to save the martial arts heritage. After several years' efforts, the whole country has identified as many as 129 kinds of boxing with orderly origin, clear boxing theory, unique style and self-contained system, rescued and sorted out many boxing techniques and materials that are on the verge of extinction, and made important contributions to the inheritance and development of Wushu.
19821February The National Wushu Work Conference held in Beijing summed up the experience of Wushu work in the past 30 years, put forward the principles, tasks and measures of Wushu development, pointed out the direction for Wushu work, and played an important role in creating a new situation in Wushu work and promoting Wushu development.
1985 The Wushu Research Institute of the State Sports Commission was established, and then merged with the Wushu Department and the Chinese Wushu Association to form a trinity management system, which unified the management of the national Wushu work and external promotion, reflecting the importance attached by the party and the government to Wushu work.
1985 65438+ 10, the state sports commission promulgated and implemented the technical grade standard for Wushu athletes, and divided them into five grades: Wu Ying, First Class Samurai, Second Class Samurai, Third Class Samurai and Wu Tong. After nearly 10 years of performances and experiments, in 1989, the Wushu Sanshou competition was listed as an official event by the former State Sports Commission, thus changing the single Wushu competition system that only engaged in routine competitions in the past, enriching the contents of Wushu competitions and further promoting the development of mass Wushu activities.
According to incomplete statistics, at present, there are more than 1 10,000 martial arts venues, schools and stations established in various places; Various forms of counseling stations and boxing points are too numerous to mention; The number of people who participate in Wushu activities and take Wushu as the main means of fitness in China is about 60 million. In order to meet the needs of national fitness activities, the long-simmering China Wushu Grade was officially launched nationwide on 1998.