World Politics and its Influence on Martial Arts
Okay, so let’s talk about history and the martial arts. I think it’s a very misunderstood subject. Lately, I’ve seen a lot of martial artists become interested in looking into the history of their art. I found myself surprised that many did not know the roots, beginning and ancestry of the Asian martial arts. This struck me as really odd, because I’m a bit of a history buff, but maybe it’s not. Maybe it’s because no one reads anymore. If it’s not on Instagram or Facebook, you never heard it before. Today you have modern media (because they’re making money from it) beating your brains out that MMA is the one and only thing, when in fact combative arts have been in practice for thousands and thousands of years.
So, let’s understand the truth. Not your subjective truth, not the one that you were sold, hook line and sinker, or the one that you want to believe in because it’s convenient and makes you happy, but the real truth. Sometimes, the truth offends. The real truth is that history is written by the winners. When looking at the history of how the Asian martial arts proliferated throughout the world, the basic catalyst, in my opinion, was World War II. Prior to World War II, there was little or no reason for Asian martial artists to share their art with westerners. When American servicemen bombed Japan and took over, they came across the various arts of Karate, Judo, Jiu Jitsu, etc.. They said to the Japanese, well, that’s pretty cool, teach me, and, begrudgingly, because they were defeated and had no choice, they taught them, and slowly those arts were brought over to the west. The question of them fully being taught, shown all the “secrets” and so on can be another lengthy discussion altogether, but let’s just say they were taught and they brought them over to the US and then slowly to other European countries, and they became a rage. That’s not to say that these arts were not exposed prior to that, but this was a huge jumping off point. If we take several steps back even further, the same thing was done to the Okinawans. Hey, history repeats itself. The Okinawans have a long-standing history of trade and cultural association with China, but because they were conquered and subjugated by the Japanese, they, in turn, also were forced to “teach” their so-called “native” martial art, Karate, which wasn’t so native.
Let’s talk about Karate and what that actually means. Many people are under the misconception that the term Karate means “empty hand,” when the original calligraphy writing meant “Chinese hand,” so Karate-do means, “way of the Chinese hand.” The original names of many martial arts in Asia used this term, “the Chinese hand.” Just as Greece was pivotal and central in the development of western civilization, music, art, poetry, and the arts of war, so it was with China and eastern civilization. Were there other cultures? Of course. But just as Greece was in the west, China was the predominant if not the sole cultural influence for all of Asia. If you go back far enough, most of the smaller countries in Asia at one point in time were either part of the Chinese Empire or vassal states that paid homage to China. Did you ever ask yourself why China is called “the Middle Kingdom?” Because at that time, since they had no real connection to the west, it was considered the center of the known world. The Tang Dynasty was the height of Chinese power, and if you go back and look at any of the ethnic costumes that all the other nations wear, they’re all heavily influenced by Tang Dynasty culture. That’s the giant thumbprint that China left on east Asia. The Chinese innovativeness, ingenuity, overall capability and manpower is what established the basis for other Asian civilizations and cultures. It is the Middle Kingdom. But I’m going to come back to China later, because I have a beef with China, too.
Going back to the meaning of Karate and the change of its name… This was done with modern day Karate for political reasons, in my opinion. At the time the Japanese started to bring Karate over to Japan, which was not that long ago, around the turn of the century, the Chinese were going through political turmoil. We like to call China “the dragon” because it’s up and down, up and down. At this time, the Eight-Nation Alliance of Japan, Russia, Britain, France, the U.S., Germany, Italy and Austria-Hungary came in and carved up all of China. This was a pivotal time in Chinese history when many of the great legends of Kung Fu were alive and fighting against the crumbling Ching Dynasty. The 1920’s, 30’s and 40’s were a long period of turmoil for the Chinese. China was down, and Japan was on the rise as a military power. The Japanese wanted nothing to do with claiming that any of their arts had anything to do with any nation other than their own. Because of their nationalistic pride, they would not dream of giving homage to the Chinese or pay respect to the original source. So, they changed the calligraphy for the character Kara from meaning Chinese to meaning empty hand. This was done under the guise of trying to make it seem more Buddhist and Zen-like, but in my opinion it was more of a strategic maneuver to disassociate the art from any Chinese roots. They didn’t want to have a connection to China because China was, in their eyes, “the sick man of Asia.” But they wanted the spoils; they wanted the best stuff, but to claim that it was theirs. This was also done later by the Koreans, who were a vassal state of China for many centuries. They had a close connection to the northern Chinese and learned northern systems of Kung Fu, just as Karate came primarily from southern systems of Kung Fu. Prior to and up to the 1950’s, the original name for their arts, as an umbrella, was Tang Soo Do, which also translates to, “way of the Chinese hand.” But, following the Japanese example, the Koreans updated and changed the name to Taekwondo to separate themselves from any connection to the Chinese. People have selective memories. The grandfather knows the grandchildren, but the grandchildren don’t always recognize the grandfather.
Martial history is so misunderstood and mixed up predominantly because of these two factors. One reason that this history is largely unknown is that during feudal times, martial art systems in China were kept secret and/or clandestine. Organized martial art systems came about in China for the clans, families or larger associated groups to protect themselves. We must understand that feudal law and medieval society were not looking out for the betterment of the individual, but rather for the gain of the Empire and those who were in the ruling class. So, in order for these smaller groups to effectively protect themselves from roving bandits, Imperial guards, and the like, they developed ingenious martial art systems that were practiced within the clan. They had to keep it secret because either you were a revolutionary looking to overthrow the established empire, which many southern systems have roots in, or you just wanted to keep your best-kept secret your secret and didn’t write anything down.
The second reason is this. Don’t forget that China, if not all of Asia, at that time was agricultural, as was Europe. That was their industry. They were illiterate and couldn’t read or write. Everything was passed down verbally, if at all. And of course, as all good marketing goes, you need a good gimmick and a good story to keep people interested. So, you have systems developed by saintly figures descending upon the founder in a dream, or wayward nameless monks teaching on mountaintops. An example would be the myth, and I do stress it’s a myth, of Bodhidharma or Dat Mo, the wandering Indian monk prince that slept in a cave in Shaolin Temple for nine years, found the monks there wanting and therefor taught them his brand of Chi Gung and Kung Fu. Baloney. Sorry to burst your bubble. The truth is that organized martial art training existed in China, and most likely in Shaolin and other temples, long before the advent of Dat Mo coming over to spread Buddhism, if that’s even the truth. The martial traditions of China stem from its original conception as a state. The injection of Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian philosophies came at a much later point in time, much more recently than many care to admit. Fighting is fighting, and China has been a fighting state since its inception.
The Karate that you see today is heavily influenced by the southern Chinese martial art systems, predominantly from Fuk Yin province, many claiming to originate from the southern Shaolin Temple – Five Ancestor Fist, Southern White Crane and the like. They are so close in technique and in performance to Karate, it is unmistakable that this is the original source. There was an extended period of time, from the 1300’s until at least the 1850’s, where southern China had ongoing trade with the Okinawan Islands. When Okinawa became part of Japan and that trade was cut off, Kung Fu in China continued to change and grow. So, you see the difference between Karate and the southern systems that are practiced today which are much more heavily embroiled in the revolutionary cause of overthrowing the Ching Dynasty and bringing back the Ming. All the five family systems, Hung, Lau, Choy, Li, Mok, etc. were an outgrowth of the burning of the southern Shaolin Temple. Some of the movements that we do in the southern systems have symbolic revolutionary overtones that the Karate systems don’t have. The true genesis of Kung Fu was about fighting for survival. No philosophy, no Chi Gung, no longevity exercises, just protect yourself and kill the enemy. The other things came much later as embellishment to the systems to make them more well-rounded.
Modern day Kung Fu, commonly called Wu Shu, also has a history behind it. Wu Shu literally means “martial arts” in Chinese, as opposed to Kung Fu, which means an acquired skill. The term Kung Fu is predominantly used by the Cantonese, and this is the major group that immigrated outside of China from the turn of the century up until modern times. Rightfully so, the term for marital arts that we became familiar with was Kung Fu, and not the term Wu Shu. Wu Shu, or Mo Sut, is the more technical term for Chinese martial arts. Today, Wu Shu is known for its flowery, dance-like, acrobatic movements with overtones of Chinese opera and theatrical performance, rather than having anything to do with fighting. This also is a huge history lesson because Wu Shu came into being with the advent of Mao Tse Tung’s communist revolution. It was about doing away with the old and traditional ways that in their view, “held back” China, traditional Kung Fu being one of them. They went about reorganizing the martial arts into a sport/dance/martial-esque art form. In the meantime, they persecuted, beheaded and/or excommunicated all the old masters. That’s not to say that traditional Kung Fu did not survive in China, but most likely anyone who stayed went deep underground for fear of persecution and death. Today, you are more likely to find traditional Kung Fu systems outside of China. The Wu Shu practitioner is an amazing athlete, but in terms of traditional Kung Fu, the combative technique and mindset is no longer there. The old southern masters had one intention in mind, take the country back at any cost. It truly was kill or be killed. You forged your body and mind into a living weapon because you had no access to weaponry. You had to become the weapon. Wow, this sounds strangely similar to some Karate concepts of forging the body into a weapon. I wonder why…
With the advent of Wu Shu, many years later, the Chinese government got smart and said, let’s reopen the Shaolin Temples and flood them with shaved-head pseudo-monks performing “modern day Wu Shu Shaolin Kung Fu.” They transformed it into a Disneyland for martial artists and tourists alike, which was an awesome marketing ploy and has paid off greatly. Now, because China as we said before, as the dragon, is on the upswing, many martial artists who in the past never wanted to associate themselves with their Chinese roots are now hurriedly rushing back to find recognition. I find this very funny. That’s why I said before that history is written by the winners. Before, the Japanese were the winners, so they rewrote Okinawan history and cut out the Chinese. Then, the Americans were the winners, and they took the Karate that the Japanese conveniently borrowed from the Okinawans and made it their own. The Brazilians are the winners because they took Japanese jiu jitsu and reformatted it into BJJ. What goes around comes around.
Now, the Chinese are coming back because they have money and political power. They are rewriting history and have all but obliterated traditional Kung Fu and only want their Wu Shu to be representative of the Chinese martial arts. Just like now the Chinese only want Mandarin to be spoken, not only in China, but throughout the entire world, and are going to great pains to obliterate all other dialects. I’m not a political guy. I’m just stating what I see. Every time I travel back to Hong Kong and Guangzhou, there’s fewer and fewer people speaking Cantonese. People are immigrating from different provinces and slowly pushing the Cantonese language out of existence. The funniest thing was, on my recent trip back to Hoy Hong Temple in Canton where Tiger Claw Kung Fu is from, as I was walking around, I was talking to the people that I was with and said, before we do anything, let’s light incense and give offerings. I said it in Cantonese, and only a group of older ladies that were in the temple praying understood me, and they all rushed over to talk to the foreigner that spoke their dialect. Meanwhile, the younger people there, including the monks that were in attendance at the temple, are not from that region and don’t speak that dialect. So, you might say, what’s your point? My point is, whoever has power is the one that dictates how things go down in history.
You can say I’m taking this way too seriously, but I look at it differently. I was taught and carry on a tradition that doesn’t adhere to the modern sport aspect of the martial arts. You can tell me I’m a dinosaur. Well, I may be a dinosaur, but if dinosaurs were alive today, you’d be lunch. I said in the beginning that this would be a blog about the truth, and that sometimes the truth offends. I hope I haven’t offended anyone, but the truth is, even martial arts cannot escape politics, big business, money and greed. There is a vast misunderstanding of martial art history because of masters being illiterate or afraid to speak because of fear of death. The martial arts have then been misrepresented by political history that casts overtones and shadows on the truth. No one wants to be number two or number three. Everyone wants to be number one, so no one’s going to readily claim that their art came from somebody else; they want to claim that it’s theirs. This is all understood, but if you want to truly benefit from the martial arts in general, you must acknowledge the truth and see it for what it is even if it goes contrary to your beliefs. It’s just like doing a DNA test. All your life, you think you’re one ethnicity, and then you find out you’re something else. You can’t deny the DNA. The same is true as far as the origin of martial arts. When you look at it, or at least when I look at it, I know where it comes from. The Chinese organized and codified the Asian martial arts and were able to proliferate them throughout Asia.
Today, everybody puts Kung Fu down and thinks it doesn’t work and it’s just a dance and so on, but in actuality, the Chinese martial arts is the grandfather, or maybe even the great-grandfather of all the martial arts being practiced today. It has a viable, usable function but has been
mistreated and maligned by the “winners.” Kung Fu is not portrayed the way it really should be for us, the traditionalists. Many of my brothers are out there, and we still hold true. Every time I go back to China and people see me practicing, they’re like, wow, what are you doing? Because it doesn’t fall into the parameters of what they were raised with, which is predominantly modern Wu Shu. So, if we’re not careful in all areas, there is the potential of us losing the traditional arts, culture and language that has brought these wonderful martial arts to us. We need to take great care and understand the history and respect it for what it is. Only knowing where you come from will allow you to know who you are and then, who you will become.
--Master Paul Koh 高寶羅
