There is a passage in the Biography of Mao Zedong published by the Central Literature Publishing House: "It is very interesting to say. The first article published by Mao Zedong, a revolutionary, politician and thinker who attracted worldwide attention, was a sports newspaper." This sports paper is Sports Research. The main reason why I was able to write this sports paper with equal emphasis on theory and practice was that Mao Zedong was addicted to sports at that time, specifically martial arts.
According to the existing literature analysis, Mao Zedong's formal martial arts should start from his military career. According to the Chronicle of Mao Zedong, four or five days after the outbreak of the Revolution of 1911, Mao Zedong, who was less than 18 years old, decided to join the army and join the left team of the first battalion of the 50 th National Committee of the Uprising New Army stationed in Changsha.
According to the article "Mao Zedong's First Military Life", after the start of military training, Mao Zedong set strict demands on himself and studied hard. In just over a month, he mastered basic military knowledge and basic combat skills. Seeing his burly figure and skillful and accurate movements, officers and men often let him do demonstration movements, or let him lead other soldiers to "open a small kitchen" to help them improve their military skills.
Whether Mao Zedong has received systematic martial arts training in the army for more than half a year is rarely documented, but his love for martial arts can be judged from his later behavior. According to the Chronicle of Mao Zedong: "During the summer vacation of 19 16, I learned from Yang Changji's conversation that in Tangchong, Gao Qiao, which is more than 40 miles away from Bancang, a sports enthusiast and advocate who studied in Japan, Liu (Liu Zhixun's father), made a special visit. Zan Liu has great achievements in sports research and practice, and many places are worth emulating. "
Liu is a martial arts master who shoots leopards with his bare hands. He studied under Wang Runsheng, the champion of Bagua Boxing, and served as a martial arts coach at the Japanese Army NCO University. On a hot day, I ran back and forth for nearly a hundred miles and asked Liu about sports-martial arts to be exact. Visible, Mao Zedong was "apprentice".
On May 4th, 20 13, Hunan Daily published an article "Weird Liu", describing this visit as "Mao Zedong not only asked questions about sports and martial arts, but also discussed state affairs, literature and history with Liu".
The next day, after leaving, Liu was full of praise and said to Liu Zhixun many times: "Not much better than ordinary people. It is of great benefit to associate with him and follow his example. " Liu Zhixun told his father what he usually knew about "strange things" in Mao Zedong, such as taking a cold bath and sleeping on the street. He also said, "Now, like him, I take a cold bath every morning, sleep on the balcony at night and do boxing practice ..." It is confirmed that Mao Zedong practices boxing every night.
Liu Qiren, published in the third issue of Literature and History Collection of Hunan Literature and History Research Institute 20 16, also recorded the martial arts gains of this trip: "Just above the villa, Liu also taught several tricks of Wang Quan (also known as Bagua Quan)".
The article "Liu Yu" compiled by the Liu Clan Association in Jingchu recorded this trip in more detail: Liu, as a master of martial arts, as a participant and witness of the establishment of the League, his rich life experience and unique life perception opened the eyes of young people. In particular, it briefly introduces the deeds of Sun Tang, a German, and the Kingdom of Ghana, a Japanese, and emphasizes that both of them became great masters by strengthening their strength with weakness. These deeds opened Mao Zedong's eyes and were deeply shocked.
However, all these documents prove that asking Liu for martial arts has both words and examples, which has an important influence on the juvenile society. I have always respected Liu. In a letter to him in May, he said, "If you see Mr. Wang, please give my regards. If Mr. Wu Ting has any difficulties for you, please let me know. " This shows that Mao Zedong, who is busy, cares and respects Liu Martial Arts School.
The Chronicle of Mao Zedong also clearly recorded the situation of young Mao Zedong practicing boxing: "Mao Zedong attached great importance to physical exercise during the First Normal School in Hunan, and carried out various sports activities such as cold bath, sunbathing, wind bath, rain bath, swimming, mountaineering, camping, long-distance running, gymnastics, boxing and so on according to the changes of seasons." Although boxing ranks last in sports, it can be practiced in small places without equipment. Because almost every action of boxing needs explosive force, and a set of boxing often needs to be finished in one breath, which is the most exercise of people's will and physical fitness, so boxing should be a sport that Mao Zedong often does.
In fact, until his later years, Mao Zedong would practice boxing in his spare time. In a precious video, in a quadrangle, Mao Zedong made a set of martial arts moves along a straight line: starting with a left and right punch, then a side punch and a "white crane brightening its wings" action, then a left and right kick, and finally a difficult "whirlwind leg", and the whole body spun off the ground. Especially the last flying leg, you can't kick it without a certain martial arts foundation.
Luo Xuezan, a classmate of Mao Zedong First Normal University, also recorded in his diary that their sports included martial arts: Cai Hesen "took two cold baths a day and even walked in the rain when there was a storm and thunderstorm". Chen Chang "struggled day and night with empty fists and rubbing weapons". Mao Zedong is the leader of these warriors! This passage confirms that Chen Chang practiced boxing and equipment; Although there are no details about whether Mao Zedong practiced martial arts, there is evidence that Mao Zedong practiced sticks and fencing.
Huang Hui, the editor of the TV series "Just Classmates and Teenagers", sighed after collecting a lot of information: "Who can imagine that Mao Zedong studied martial arts when he was in the First Normal School? He has studied cudgel, western boxing, western fencing and so on. Boxing and fencing were taught to him by foreign teachers in their school at that time. "
From the martial arts training in the army, to visiting the martial arts master Liu, and then to the martial arts courses offered by the school, the process of juvenile martial arts can be restored. Physical Education can be said to be a summary of Mao Zedong's practical experience in Wushu. Especially at the end of the article, he created six tapestries, one of which is a unique skill, which is difficult to write without practical experience in martial arts. Therefore, the study of sports is not only the result of young Mao Zedong's accumulated experience in martial arts, but also the witness of his addiction to martial arts.
"Sports Research" not only shows the knowledge vision of "five books in one's belly", but also has the spirit of "three feet waist of a strong man", because it is a martial arts research paper written by China martial arts culture to a certain extent.
Judging from the thought of the article "Research on Sports", Mao Zedong, a young man, respected the thought of Yan Yuan and Li Yong in the early Qing Dynasty that "literature is based on martial arts", agreed with the idea of "transforming its spirit and violently punishing its physique", and put "civilization is based on physique" in the first place, emphasizing that "sports really take the first place for us"; He also used historical examples such as "Yan Zi's short life, Jia Sheng's early death, and Lu's injury or abandonment" to demonstrate that many ancient talents were short-lived and sickly because of lack of physical exercise, hoping to remind the world that "once they don't exist, they will die because of it". He worshipped the ancient saints who "hold the classics left, hold the sword right and levy pressure all their lives".
Demonstrate with martial arts spirit, then demonstrate with martial arts examples, and finally popularize the theory with martial arts movements, which to a great extent reflects that physical education is martial arts. It was named "Sports Research" because young Mao Zedong shouldered the heavy responsibility of saving the country and the people. The purpose of his own martial arts practice is to keep fit, not to be a martial arts master. The purpose of the article is to advocate national fitness; The word "sports" was just introduced into China by students studying in Japan in the early Qing Dynasty, and it is also quite popular. Its meaning also includes martial arts, and the training difficulty coefficient of many sports is lower than that of martial arts, so it is easier to popularize. (Excerpted from the 4th issue of "Hundred Years Tide" in 2022)