History of Chinese Martial Arts

In legend, the Chinese martial arts traces their origin to thousands of years ago in China. As the Chinese writing system traces back to the Shang Dynasty (1766 BCE - 1122 BCE), claims of entire books regarding the martial arts being written at earlier times are suspect. The Art of War, written during the 6th century BCE by Sun Tzu, deals directly with military warfare.

There are passages in the Zhuang Zi that pertain to the psychology and practice of martial arts. Zhuang Zi, the author of the same name, is believed to have lived in the 4th century BCE. The Tao Te Ching, often credited to Lao Zi, contains principles that are applicable to martial arts, but the dating of this work is controversial. Archery and charioteering were a part of the "six arts" (Traditional Chinese: 六藝; Simplified Chinese: 六艺; pinyin: liu yi, also including rites, music, calligraphy and mathematics) of the Zhou Dynasty (1122 BCE - 256 BCE), according to the text Zhou Li.

According to legend, the reign of the Yellow Emperor (traditional date of ascension to the throne, 2698 BC) introduced the earliest forms of martial arts in China. The Yellow Emperor is described as a famous military general, who, before becoming China’s leader, wrote a lengthy treatise about martial arts. He allegedly developed the practice of Jiao di or horn-butting and utilized it in war.[1] Jiao di is believed to have evolved during the Zhou Dynasty into a combat wrestling system called Jiao li which is considered by some to be the first Chinese fighting system, including techniques such as strikes, throws, joint manipulation, and pressure point attacks. [1] Jiao li reportedly became a sport during the Qin Dynasty (221 BCE - 207 BCE).[1] There exists written references to Jiao li in the Han dynasty (140 BCE to 88 BCE).[citation needed] Currently, Jiao li is known as Shuai jiao, its modern form. Taoist monks are claimed to have been practicing physical exercises that resemble Tai Chi Chuan at least as early as the 500 BCE era. In 39-92 CE, "Six Chapters of Hand Fighting", were included in the Han Shu (history of the Former Han Dynasty) written by Pan Ku. Also, the noted physician, Hua T'uo, composed the "Five Animals Play" - tiger, deer, monkey, bear, and bird, around 220 CE.

As stated earlier, the Kung Fu that is practiced today developed over the centuries and many of the later additions to Kung Fu, such as the Shaolin Kung Fu style, later animal forms, and the drunken style were incorporated from various martial arts forms that came into existence later on in China and have accurate historical data relating to their inventors. In regard to the Shaolin style that is currently popular, a legend extant since the 17th century CE.[citation needed] originally attributed Bodhidharma (Pu Tai Ta Mo in Chinese or Daruma Daishi in Japanese), a visiting Buddhist monk, as the progenitor.

According to some versions of this legend, Bodhidharma visited a monastery, and was unhappy to find that some of the monks would fall asleep during their meditations. Deciding that they needed more physical stamina, he introduced to the monks a system of exercises that later developed into the modern Shaolin style. However, the texts that first attributed him to Shaolinquan have been shown to be unlikely forgeries. Historical evidence has shown that the Shaolin monks during and before this time harboured retired soldiers who taught the monks self-defense techniques that they had learned during military training.

In around 500 CE, the Shaolin monks, in order to protect themselves from bandits and criminals, began to codify what they had learned into a "Shaolin" style. The fighting styles that are practiced today were developed over the centuries, after having incorporated forms that came into existence later. Some of these include Bagua, Drunken Boxing, Eagle Claw, Five Animals, Hsing I, Hung Gar, Lau Gar, Monkey, Praying Mantis, White Crane, Wing Chun and Tai Chi Chuan.