<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > an overview of martial arts in the Song Dynasty</h1>
Since 960 AD, Zhao Kuangyin seized the power of Later Zhou and established the Song Dynasty. By the time of Emperor Taizong, the division of the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms was over. However, this unification situation was limited to the Central Plains. At that time, the Song Dynasty was also opposed by the Liao, Western Xia, and Jin regimes.
Song Wuzhuangyuan
In the 11th century, the Northern Song Dynasty was destroyed by jin, and the Song Dynasty crossed south to rebuild the Song Dynasty south of the Qinling Mountains and the Huai River, and the capital was Lin'an [now Hangzhou], which was called the Southern Song Dynasty. Although there were many large-scale wars during the two Song Dynasties, and the situation of unification and division alternated, judging from its political, economic and cultural development, the Song Dynasty was still a peak in the history of the development of ancient civilization in China. As the historian Chen Yinke pointed out: "The culture of the Chinese nation, the evolution of several dynasties, was created by the Zhao and Song dynasties. ”
The imperial examination system originated from the Sui Dynasty, the Tang Dynasty began to be institutionalized, and by the Song Dynasty it was greatly improved, and the concept of entering the career path from the imperial examination was deeply rooted in the hearts of the people in the Song Dynasty, and even affected the Ming and Qing dynasties.
Wuju was an important part of the imperial examination system, and the Martial Arts of the Song Dynasty had a new development on the basis of the Tang Dynasty. The Song Dynasty was the first to set the precedent for the Wuju Temple Examination, and formed a three-level examination system of understanding the examination, the provincial examination, and the temple examination. Song Wuju changed Tang Wuju's practice of only emphasizing martial arts and not asking about articles, paying attention to examining Wujuzi's military theoretical attainments, and wanted to select a Confucian general who was also a scholar and a martial artist.
Although the Song Dynasty experienced ups and downs, it eventually institutionalized martial arts and compiled the textbook " Seven Books of the Book of Martial Arts " . However, the imperial court promulgated the "Law on Supplementing Officials and Assigning Characters", which also closely combined the appointment of military officers with army building. Judging from the concept of selecting military talents, the Song Dynasty's martial arts were more conceptual and more progressive, and the Song Dynasty attached equal importance to culture and martial arts, breaking the tradition of selecting generals by bows and horses, opening up a new road for selecting military talents under peaceful conditions, and impacting the tendency to select generals from among the sons of high-ranking nobles.
然而，宋朝“重文轻武”的社会背景，“以文制武”、“将从中御”的统兵体制，使宋代武举难以避免地表现出“录取人数不多”，“武学规模不大”，“武进士不愿从军或学非所用”等弊端使得终宋一朝，名臣、名将中无一人出自武进士。 The ideal of relying on martial arts training and using martial arts to select outstanding generals and raise the quality of officers has not been fully realized.
Wu Zhuangyuan branch encountered the ancestral hall inscription
<h1 class = "pgc-h-arrow-right" >, the number of Wu Zhuangyuan and Wujinshi in the Song Dynasty</h1>
According to the "Zhuangyuan Canon", "Song Hui To Compile", "Continuation of Zizhi Tongjian Long Compilation", "Continuation of Zizhi Tongjian", "Supplement to the Compilation of Song Hui", "History of Song" and other documents and relevant local records, the Song Dynasty opened a martial arts branch from the eighth year (1030) of Zhao Zhen Tiansheng of the Northern Song Dynasty, to the last martial arts of the Southern Song Dynasty Emperor Zhao Yu Xianchun Decade (1274), a total of seventy-eight lists of martial arts were opened, and 78 Wu Zhuangyuan should be produced. 目前，发现有姓名可考的武状元人数是8人，（如支氏乐清始祖支遇，就是1184年武科状元，只在乐清县志寥寥几笔，其他无发现史料记载）其中1名应视为武童试状元，科分不详者6人。
It should be noted that in the seventy-eight lists, four lists of 2 people in this book, and the reason for this is that the 2 people listed in each list have provenance and need to continue to be examined. It can be seen from the "Song Dynasty Wuju Dengke Table" of the "Zhuangyuan Canon" that there are forty-four martial arts that accurately record the number of wujinshi, and these forty-four branches have produced 1459 wujinshi. When looking up the local history materials, the author found the names of 188 martial artists of the Eighteen Branches of Martial Arts. In this way, the number of known Song Dynasty martial artists reached 1647. However, unfortunately, the total number of martial artists admitted to each of these eighteen subjects is unknown, and the number of 188 students is definitely less than the true number of martial artists admitted to these eighteen subjects. For the other sixteen subjects, not only is the total number of wujinshi admitted unknown, but in the process of searching for historical materials, the author has not found the names of other wujinshi other than Wu Zhuangyuan.
In addition, in these sixteen lists, some of them do not even know the name of Wu Zhuangyuan. Judging from the forty-four lists with the exact number of martial artists, the list with the largest number of admissions in the Song Dynasty was the Dong Junping list, with 61 people; the list with the fewest admissions was the Ying & Ran list, which only admitted 2 people. The number of people admitted to the Song Dynasty martial arts was mostly between 30 and 50 people per subject, and if the known forty-four subjects were averaged at 1459 people, the number of martial artists admitted to each subject was 33. If we assume that the number of martial artists admitted to each subject of the Song Dynasty is 30, then it can be inferred that the Song Dynasty admitted more than 2300 martial artists in the seventy-eight branches of martial arts. Compared with the number of people admitted to the WenjinShi section, the number of Wujinshi admitted in the Song Dynasty was too small. In the Song Dynasty, a total of 108 lists of Wenjinshi were opened, and 42,457 Wenjinshi were admitted, and the number of Wenjinshi was more than eighteen times that of the number of Wujinshi.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > second, the Song Dynasty's contribution to the martial arts system</h1>
First, the Song Dynasty martial arts began the temple examination. The martial arts examinations of the Song Dynasty were conducted in three levels, namely the Dismissal Examination, the Provincial Examination and the Temple Examination. The appearance of the temple examination shows the importance that the rulers of the Song Dynasty attached to martial arts, and the examination cycle was mostly once every three years, but also once every four years, while the first martial arts hall examination was only one year away from the second martial arts hall examination. From the perspective of time, the Song Dynasty exam was registered at the end of June in the military department, and the exam was held in August. Before the test is released, there must be a qualification test, which will be directly assessed by the local officials of all walks of life. There is no limit to the number of people, as long as the bow horse is qualified, you can participate in the test. The test is presided over by the Military Department, and there is a certain limit to the number of places to be taken, generally about 70 people. The provincial test is presided over by the Military Department and is a real "Military Examination". The time is in January or February of the following year after the test is solved. The timing of the examination varies greatly from subject to subject, ranging from March to August.
Although the temple examination was personally tested by the emperor, it was basically just a form to show the grace of the emperor, as long as there was no major problem, all participants could pass. Wu Zhuangyuan was produced according to the candidate's performance and the emperor's likes and dislikes.
Marshal of the Branch
Second, the content of the Song Dynasty martial arts examination was to attach equal importance to both culture and martial arts. The Song Dynasty's martial arts changed the Tang Dynasty's practice of only emphasizing martial arts, and changed it to both martial arts and policy theory. The martial arts are mainly based on the examination of bow horses, and the bow horses are divided into two fields, first "rifle shooting" and then "horse shooting", which are specifically undertaken by the guards and the horse army. If the bow horse is qualified, it will take the essay examination, first to ask questions, and then to take the "Seven Books of the Martial Classics".
Song Wuju as a whole showed a tendency to attach equal importance to both culture and martial arts, the purpose of which was to obtain Confucian generals who could fight well, and the result was that the overall cultural quality of the Song Dynasty's Wujinshi and Wu Zhuangyuan was higher. Some of them have made achievements at the local level, such as Zhu Yi and Cai Bisheng; some have also become military theorists, such as Hua Yue and Jiang Bohu; and some have become independent military generals, such as Cheng Mingfeng, Xu Sichun, Zhang Jianhou, Li Zhongfang, Zhou Hu, and Xue Yi.
Third, the Song Dynasty established a relatively complete school for martial arts, Martial Arts, and compiled a special textbook, the Seven Books of the Martial Arts, which gave the cultivation of martial arts talents a relatively solid foundation. According to relevant documents, the Tang Dynasty established martial arts in the first year of Emperor Xuanzong's reign (713-724), but it was not institutionalized. This martial art, which originated in the Tang Dynasty, was borrowed, developed and perfected by the rulers of the Song Dynasty. The martial arts of the Song Dynasty experienced two rises and downs. The first establishment was in the third year of the Northern Song Dynasty Renzong Qing calendar (1043), the site was the Wucheng Wang Temple in Kaifeng, Henan, the official in charge was ruan yi, and his official position was Wu Xuezhi. But the school lasted less than a hundred days. The reason is that no one wants to enroll. 30 years later, that is, in the fifth year of Xi Ning (1072), Emperor Shenzong of Song issued an edict to restore martial arts, the scale was initially set at 100 students, and the highest number was 200, divided into 100 people in the outer house, 70 people in the inner house, and 30 people in the upper house, with a study period of three years, and food and accommodation were provided by the state. Military students are derived from civilians, children of bureaucrats, and those who have military attaché qualifications but have not officially become officials, and each of these three qualifications requires two middle and senior officials to do so, and pass the examination to enter the school.
The contents of the study of martial arts students include: the Art of War - The Seven Books of the Book of Martial Arts, examples of the success or failure of the use of soldiers in previous dynasties, and the deeds of loyal and righteous people in past generations. Students who are interested in platooning can also receive pawns allocated by the imperial court for use in training. The Northern Song Dynasty collapsed, and Wuxue was forced to move to Lin'an (present-day Hangzhou). There, at its peak, the number of martial arts students reached 130. Martial arts students who enter the military and leave the official position must also pass the martial arts (or wenju) examination. At the beginning of the military service, it is generally necessary to go to the frontier or other places to serve as a small leader or as a grass-roots commander. Wuxue, a school specially established in ancient China for the cultivation of military talents, incorporates the cultivation of military talents into the education system, which is not only a contribution to the ancient Chinese education system, but also the improvement of the ancient Chinese martial arts system. It is conducive to the implementation of the martial arts system, sends a relatively high-quality source of students for the martial arts examination, and improves the cultural quality of the martial arts.
Fourth, the establishment of the Absolute Lun Branch in the martial arts is a feature of the Song Dynasty martial arts, and it is also an innovation of the Song Dynasty martial arts. In the era of cold weapons, the level of soldiers' martial arts had a great impact on the combat effectiveness of the army. There are many people in the military and in the civilian society who are not well-written but who are outstanding in martial arts and have strategic talents. In order not to make these specialized warriors feel lost and to give full play to their strengths, the Song Dynasty Wuju specially set up a unique branch for them. This kind of Absolute Lunke, which began in the Northern Song Dynasty, is not independent of Wuju, it is only a certain difference in the content of some examinations between Wujuzi. The content of the exam is also "right", but the standard of the article is lowered at the time of admission, but it also increases the difficulty of the martial arts exam, and the rifle shooting and crossbow pedaling are added, and the bow strength is also much higher than that of other candidates. The Northern Song Dynasty martial arts absolutely low requirements for the article, but in the Southern Song Dynasty, the nature of the absolute lunke also became equally important to culture and martial arts.
Fifth, in the sixth year of Chunxi (1179), Emperor Xiaozong of the Southern Song Dynasty promulgated the "Law on Supplementing Officials and Sending Notes", which greatly increased the rank of Wujinshi and played some positive roles in encouraging Wujinshi to join the army.
Wu Zhuangyuan branch encounter
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > third, the regionality of martial arts in the Song Dynasty</h1>
Judging from the existing data, the place of origin of Wu Zhuangyuan in the Northern Song Dynasty is mostly unknown, and the regionality of Wu Zhuangyuan is mainly manifested in the Southern Song Dynasty. From the second year of Emperor Gaozong's reign (1128) to the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, a total of 14 of the Wu Zhuangyuan were produced in pingyang county in present-day Zhejiang Province, accounting for more than a quarter. As a result, Binh Duong is known as the hometown of Wu Zhuangyuan. Another eight wu zhuangyuan of the list were produced in Fuzhou, accounting for one-sixth of the total. In the Southern Song Dynasty, the emergence of wujinshi also showed a strong regionality. According to the 1991 edition of the Pingyang County Chronicle, p. 608 and the author's statistics, among the 1182 known Wujinshi of the Southern Song Dynasty, Pingyang County produced a total of 276 Wujinshi (including 5 Wubangyan and 6 Wutanhua), accounting for more than 23% of the total number of known Wujinshi in the Southern Song Dynasty. In addition, MinXian and Changle in present-day Fujian Province also produced many martial artists. Why was Pingyang able to produce so many Wu Jinshi and Wu Zhuangyuan? Of course, this is inseparable from the material foundation and humanistic background of Pingyang County. First of all, Binh Duong's economy is rich, which provides superior material conditions for martial arts practitioners. Pingyang is a vast area, and its area accounts for 1/3 of the total area of the entire Wenzhou area today. It is located on the coast of the East China Sea, with a pleasant climate, beautiful scenery and superior natural conditions. The Aojiang River crosses the county and flows into the East China Sea. The area's Nanji Island is one of the best fishing grounds in Zhejiang, and the fertile Wanquan Plain is a paradise for food crops. These have made Binh Duong a rich land, the land of fish and rice. Binh Duong is rich in products, prosperous in economy, and has considerable room for development, making it an ideal place for immigrants. Pingyang County has a household registration record, which began in the Song Dynasty. According to records, during the northern Song Dynasty, there were more than 65,000 people in Pingyang County. At that time, Wenzhou was still a "remote lower state". After the Song Dynasty crossed south, the population moved south in large numbers. During the reign of Emperor Gaozong (1127-1130), the population of Binh Duong increased by 218%, which was particularly prominent in the context of the sharp decline in population during the Two Song Dynasties. Secondly, Pingyang has a relatively deep and unique humanistic background. The humanistic background of Pingyang County can be summarized in three sentences: one is the strong martial style, the second is the flourishing style of learning, and the third is that the people of Pingyang associate the realization of their own value with the fate of the country. Pingyang is located in the south of present-day Zhejiang Province, bordering Fujian to the west and the sea to the east, and is good at winning the mountains and seas, the so-called "facing the sea and losing mountains, Shiwei Ou Minjiang", becoming "two Zhejiang throats, eight Fujian lips and teeth".
Since the Northern Song Dynasty, due to the need to prohibit illegal trade by sea traders, the relevant departments have recruited prime-age men in the local area to form elite troops, and according to the dangerous fence, pumen and nanjian villages have been set up to defend against pirates and foreign officials. The localization of soldiers has made the local area form a relatively strong martial arts atmosphere. After the Southern Crossing of the Song Dynasty, Pingyang's role as a transportation artery in Fujian and Zhejiang became more prominent, and due to its proximity to the capital of the Southern Song Dynasty, Hangzhou, the responsibility of the Gongwei Jing Division became increasingly heavy, and the imperial court also paid more attention to the construction of the local army. The origin of history and the needs of reality make the local folk customs quite strong, but also make them pay more attention to learning martial arts, to this day, the local still circulates that "men and strong men practice martial arts, and villages have boxing circles." "The folk proverb. Emperor Gaozong crossed south, displacing the center of the Song Dynasty's rule. A large number of people moved south, and some social elites came to Pingyang, which greatly changed the talent structure of Pingyang and had a positive impact on the humanistic environment of Pingyang. Pingyang was a relatively culturally backward area during the Northern Song Dynasty, and became a place where the Southern Song Dynasty was full of learning style and talents.
In the final Song Dynasty, Pingyang not only produced 14 Wu Zhuangyuan and many Wujinshi, but also produced 3 Wenzhuangyuan, 1 Wenbangyan, 2 Wen tanhua, and 406 Wenjinshi. The patriotic poet Lin Jingxi and the famous scholars Chen Jingzheng, Chen Jingbang and Song Zhicai were all from Pingyang. The Song Dynasty's martial arts not only examined martial arts, but also paid more attention to the examination of the military theoretical qualities of wujuzi, and promoted "using strategies to ask questions to stay, and using bows and horses to set high and low." If Pingyang only has the style of shangwu and does not have the style of study, then Pingyang will not produce martial artists and wu zhuangyuan with certain cultural skills and military theoretical attainments, but martial artists with strong limbs and simple minds. Among the martial artists in Pingyang, there are many people who are themselves wenjinshi, some of them are first examined in Wenju, then in Wuke, and some are first in Wuju, and then change to liberal arts after entering the Shi. Although they were wujinshi, they served in prefectures and counties, such as Xue Wanshi Zhiyangshuo County, Zhu Shangzhi Zhiwu Prefecture, Yang Mengfei Zhiteng County, Yang Yongzhi Guizhou, Xue Yinglong Zhihui Prefecture, xue Wenhuan Zhicili County, and among them, those who had quite a political achievement were Zhu Yi and Cai Bisheng as the most important. The Southern Song Dynasty suffered from war and chaos, and many Pingyang immigrants had too many national hatreds and family hatred, and the cruelty of reality made the people of Pingyang know that only by protecting the country could they govern the country. At this time, what the country needs most is the talent of the general who commands the army to fight. As the Pingyang brothers Wu Zhuangyuan Chen Yan and Chen Ao's father Chen Wen taught them: "Shizhi Shangwen, the world chaos Shangwu, the construction of merits to repay the country, at this time also." The so-called "rather a centurion than a bookworm" is also. For the loss of land, the shame of the snow country, the invitation to the Second Saint to return to the dynasty, the sitting and talking of the literati and scholars, it is not as good as the rise of the iron-blooded people.
At the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, many martial artists in Pingyang were martyred on the battlefield and martyred. The close combination of social reality needs and the realization of one's own value cannot but be regarded as one of the reasons why Wu Zhuangyuan is mostly Pingyang people. The strong martial arts style gave the Pingyang people a higher martial art, and the flourishing style of study gave the Pingyang people a profound cultural foundation, coupled with the influence of the actual needs of the Southern Song Dynasty society on the Pingyang people, so that the Pingyang people could take full advantage of the time, place, and people of the martial arts, so that the Pingyang people could show their skills in the Song Dynasty martial arts examination that attached equal importance to literature and martial arts and selected Confucianism as their responsibility.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fourth, the limitations of song dynasty martial arts</h1>
The martial arts and martial arts of the Song Dynasty did cultivate and select many military talents, such as Xu Sichun, Xiong Anshang, Zhou Hu, Cheng Mingfeng, Zhang Jianhou, Li Zhongfang, Jiang Bohu, Cai Bisheng, Hua Yue, xue Yi, and so on. But on the whole, the martial arts of the Song Dynasty were not selected, nor did they cultivate and produce very good generals. Some outstanding military generals of the Song Dynasty, such as Yue Fei, Han Shizhong, Di Qing, and others, were not from martial arts.
Branch Ancestral Hall
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the reason why there were no top generals in Wuke in the Song Dynasty</h1>
1, the number of students admitted to wuju is too small, the scale of martial arts is too small, and wushu is a vassal of wuju. As far as the system itself is concerned, the martial arts of the Song Dynasty are undoubtedly advanced. However, it was not the most common method used by Song rulers to obtain military generals. On the whole, the Song Dynasty was still most prevalent in the system of hereditary or military promotion to officers. In contrast, the weight of martial arts is too light. Among the thirty kewuju in the Northern Song Dynasty, many of them were admitted to the 10 or so people, and the minimum number was only 2 or 6. As we all know, quantity is the premise of quality, and without the basis of quantity, it is difficult to have a qualitative leap. How big a small number of people can such a few lists and so few people play in army building? It is not difficult to believe that people come to conclusions. Although there were more Wujinshi admitted in the Southern Song Dynasty, most of them were only 30 to 50 people, and compared with the number of Wenjinshi, the number of Wuju admissions was almost negligible. The martial arts of the Song Dynasty was the most ideal place for cultivating military talents, where it was possible to study military books and tactics, arrange troops, practice swords and guns, and be familiar with bows and horses, which should become the cradle of generals. However, it was either discontinued because of the lack of students due to the social background of heavy literature and light martial arts (during the Northern Song Dynasty), or because it was too small and the selection was strict, which made it difficult for many talented people to get involved. Imagine that there is only one such school in the country, and this school is recruited once every three years, with only 100 places per period, which must be sponsored by middle and senior officials, and it will be closed at any time. Compared with Taixue, it can be said that martial arts is more like an experimental school. Martial arts is a selection system, martial arts is an education system, the two should be a heavy selection, a heavy cultivation, but martial arts students can only enter the career through martial arts, martial arts from the day of its birth, it has become a vassal of martial arts, that is, for martial arts, martial arts education has become a test-oriented education, martial arts restricts the development of martial arts.
2, the weakness of the martial artists themselves. There were many loyal and righteous people among the Martial Scholars of the Song Dynasty, and there were only 8 people who entered the "Biography of Loyalty" in the "History of Song". However, there was also a very strange phenomenon in the society of the Southern Song Dynasty, that is, Wu Jinshi was reluctant to join the army, even if Jiang Bohu and Lin Bohu were in the army. Such a talented Wu Zhuangyuan also regarded joining the army as a disgrace. If the so-called military talents selected and admitted by the imperial court are not willing to serve the army and be loyal to the country's national defense construction, then the significance and original intention of the military are discounted.
One can imagine that a martial artist who does not want to become a soldier and is unwilling to apply what he has learned in his life to the battlefield will not become a famous general in any case. Of course, these weaknesses of the Wujinshi themselves are also caused by the background of the Song Dynasty's emphasis on literature and light martial arts.
Although the martial arts of the Song Dynasty had historical limitations, its valuable exploration of the selection of military talents, and its pursuit of fair competition and merit-based admissions were all full of advanced ideas. Although it failed to enable the Song Dynasty to reach the other side of the ideal, the fire of wisdom flashed by its progressive ideas and advanced ideas was not without benefit to future generations.
【About the author】:Pen name Pi Zhi, real name Zhi Dengcheng, Zhejiang Yiwu Zhi Miao ethnic group, cloth one piece. Haowen Shi, author of the book "The Origin of the Branch", like calligraphy and love to write poetry, drunken tea art, founder of Wu wound tea house. The titles of the author classification section of this headline are: Zhishi / Poetry / Travel / Feelings / Tea Ceremony / Literature and History / Life Tidbits, etc., please read according to your preferences. Headline content are the author's original, the fate is providence, the share is man-made, readers are welcome to interact with the post, don't forget to like, pay attention to Oh! Thank you
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