China Popular Itineraries |
|
|
|
|
Wushu in the Dynasties of the Sui and the Tang and the Five Dynasties Period |
Wushu gained its remarkable development in the dynasties of the Sui and the Tang and Five Dynasties periods. In particular, notable promotion was made because of the implementation of imperial examination of martial arts in Tang Dynasty. The imperial examination was held to test the candidates in such aspects as "arrow shooting, spear skills on horse, hand wrestling, weight lifting, and body building" ( Si Maguang: Zi Zhi TongJian). Talented per-sonnel of martial arts were selected through the examination and, consequent-ly, Wushu had become a common practice since the Tang Dynasty.
The development of Wushu in the dynasties of the Sui and the Tang and the Five Dynasties period can De summarized as follows:
(1) Considerable progress was made in the skills of spear.
In Sui Dynasty, spear became the major weapon for infantry and cavalry, which sped up the progress of spear skills and was used in all the national army till the Tang Dynasty.
(2) Sword was losing its pragmatic use and, instead, a series of sword performance was composed, which gained popularity and vitality for its func-tion in sports and arts. Li Bai and Du Fu, the most famous poets in the Tang Dynasty, both learned playing sword when they were young. Li Bai's poetry, Zhang Xu's cursive handwriting in Chinese calligraphy, and the sword skills by Fei Wen, the distinguished fencer, were called the "three feats" in the Tang Dynasty.
(3) Mo saber became widely used.
Mo saber, a kind of long saber, became one of the major weapons in the Tang Dynasty. It was used by the brave fighters in the battles to give full play to their strength.
(4) Bow and arrow and archery techniques advanced greatly.
The bow and arrow were the major shooting weapons in the dynasties of the Sui and the Tang and the Five Dynasties period. Tai Ping Guang Ji records a super archer called Junmo. Other works of archery found in the records of the Tang Dynasty were Archery Scripture by Wang Ju, Archery Notes by Zhang Shouzhong and On Bow and Arrow by Ren Quan.
Three features of Wushu in this period of time are:
(1) National examinations of Wushu enhanced the popularity of Wushu. Brave warriors as well as professional Wushu teachers appeared.
(2) "Iron replacing bronze" indicated the turning period of the advance-ment of weapons. Saber took the place of sword in battles but the latter re-mained in series of performance even accompanied by music. Besides, spear was developed rapidly.
(3) Sporting characters of Wushu were emphasized. Judo, wrestling and grappling were further regulated. Athletic competition of sword, saber and spear was held widely. |
|
