Chapter 6 Wushan Martial Arts Culture - An Overview of the Development History of Tange Martial Arts in Xinwushan

An overview of the history of the development of Tange martial arts

Chinese martial arts have a long history, broad and profound, its formation and development has gone through a long process, it plays an important role in production and labor, war skills, physical fitness and friendly exchanges.

The earliest character in the Tange martial arts who can be examined is "Marshal Qi". According to the second line of small characters carved in the cliff stone carving of the Nangou circle of Tange, the name of "Marshal Lacquer" is Chang, and the official position is "Marshal Zhenning", about the end of the Northern Song Dynasty or the Yuan Dynasty, he once guarded the Nangou of Tange, and has "three grasslands, 33 miles in a garden circle, each with a boundary", it is the ancestor of the people of the lacquer family of the Tan Song, and there is a "family palace" in the lacquer family village, that is, the ancestral hall of the "marshal of lacquer". Every year on the seventh day of the seventh month of the lunar calendar, the "Marshal of Lacquer" Christmas, a grand sacrifice is held. In addition, Wei Lian's Wei Gongye family has Wei Lian, the year of birth and death is unknown, a native of Heichi Palace, once served as Fujian Lianjiang Yingyoufu, awarded General Huaiyuan.

At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, martial arts began to be introduced to the Tange area, and many people did not know much about martial arts. As the saying goes: "Martial arts are not poor" and "Poor are not practiced martial arts". Only a few children of wealthy families practiced martial arts, and they hired foreign boxers as masters (coaches) to coach boxing. The most famous is Li Maoting in the middle street of Tange, who set up his own more than six acres of river land as a racecourse, practiced horse archery (riding archery), and opened a precedent for Tange to practice martial arts. To this day, the land is still called "Trip Land", and the original site is in front of the Nada Song Elementary School in the south of the Imatan Ugashi Bridge.

By the mid-to-late Qing Dynasty, due to the stimulation of the imperial examination, the number of local martial arts practitioners gradually increased. They invited famous teachers to teach boxing and equipment, smell chickens and practice martial arts, and practice kung fu hard, so as to obtain martial arts, achieve fame, glorify their ancestors, and repay the country's merits, which greatly enriched the content of Tange martial arts and improved their skills. But most of them are closed doors to learn and practice, the door is independent, and they are not secret. The people who took the imperial examination include Chen Xidian, Chen Xizhang, Liu Shangwu, Guan Diguang, Li Xianpi, Wang Zeyong, Li Linxuan, etc. (see the introduction below), in addition, there are many folk martial arts masters who are unwilling to participate in the martial arts examination, such as Yang Wuye of Guojiadi, Liu Wanshun of Beishan Sihewan, etc.

At the end of the Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the Republic of China, due to the turbulence of the country's political situation, warlords and bandits, the local people in order to protect their families and defend themselves and strengthen their bodies, the villages set off an upsurge of martial arts, forming a martial arts style. There are more martial arts practitioners in the villages of mountains and rivers, the content is more abundant, the styles are diverse, there are boxing and swords, guns, sticks and eighteen kinds of weapons drills, the wind of martial arts is flourishing, this is a climax period of the development of Tange martial arts, but there are still portals, secrets are not passed on.

Since the 15th year of the Republic of China (1926), Li Zihe, a famous boxer from Fuqiang (Gangu), has come to the local area many times to teach boxing and learn martial arts with local boxers. At that time, the famous local boxers were related to Tingjun, Guan Shuhuai, Long Shengyun, Ji Shiyan, Shao Tuxian, Zhao Shixian, Guan Zuohan, Guan Ruiren, Wang Hongbin, Wang Hongchang, Ji Tianru, Guan Youhan, Li Junsheng, etc. In the spring of the eighteenth year of the Republic of China (1929), Guan Tingjun, a boxer from Guanjiazhuang, formed a five-person team to go to Tianshui and participated in the "Longnan Guoshu Competition Conference" held by the famous patriotic general General Ji Hongchang, and achieved excellent results. In addition, these boxers widely taught their disciples, spread martial arts, carried forward martial virtues, defended their hometowns, resisted bandits, or resolved civil disputes with their own prestige, escorted the stability and tranquility of their hometowns, and made great contributions to the development of local martial arts and various undertakings, and were widely admired by the people. Their deeds are still being told among the people.

In 1947, 46 members of the small martial arts team of Tan Gewan participated in the county's student games, and the knife art project performed was a split, and won the team championship. Since then, boxing has also become a must-have program in the local Shehuo Yangge performance, and the Tange martial arts have increased the function of entertainment and fitness.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, local martial arts have developed further. From 1976 to 1978, Tange Middle School set up a martial arts team, coached by Mr. Liu Xiangfeng, and composed of more than 20 junior and senior high school students such as Yang Jianquan, Guan Xiaozhong, Chen Jizhong, Li Linchuan, Yan Genzhong, Ma Fushou, Qi Fenglan, Gou Huqin, and Zhang Fanlian. He taught the first, second, and third ways of primary Changquan and the routine of primary swordsmanship and swordsmanship compiled by the National Sports Commission, and toured in Tange Nangou and other villages.

Around 1992, Shao Jide, a national first-class martial arts referee and a native of Tange, retired from the Xinjiang Coal Chemical Plant and returned to his hometown, introducing Taijiquan to Tange for the first time. He taught Taijiquan extensively among the villagers, teachers, and staff in Tange Street, Tange Junior High School, Tange Forest Farm and other places, and later expanded to Wushan County, with many apprentices. The routines taught include "Twenty-four Simplified Taijiquan", "Yang Forty Tai Chi Forty Styles" and "Forty-Eight Styles", "Forty-two Comprehensive Tai Chi Boxing", Tai Chi Sword, etc., and created Tai Chi sticks, Tai Chi knives, Tai Chi swords, jacquard swords, Siping whip rods and other routines.

In 1992, Wushan County was named the first batch of "Martial Arts Hometown" by the National Sports Commission, among which Tange martial arts enthusiasts made great contributions. This honor has also promoted the development of the county's martial arts, and the practice of martial arts in public places has become a common practice, with tai chi, knives, guns, swords, sticks, etc. It also breaks the age and gender restrictions: in the past, only young and middle-aged men learned boxing and sticking, but now both men and women, old and young, frail and disabled, can practice martial arts and fitness and cultivate sentiments. On the martial arts field, there are both elderly people and yellow-haired children, so that the martial arts culture has been further promoted. The main function of martial arts has also changed from the past to focus on self-defense and home protection, supplemented by fitness and entertainment, to today's fitness and entertainment, supplemented by self-defense and family protection.

In 1995, with the support of the Party Committee of Tange Town and Zhou Tianxiang and Fan Wenming of the Xiajie Village Committee, a special martial arts training venue was opened in the lower temple of Wanhua Temple, and fifty or sixty people learned to practice boxing every morning to strengthen their bodies. In particular, some elderly women in Xiajie Village and Luping Village are the most persevering, and they arrive on time to practice at 6 to 8 o'clock every morning, and have received good fitness results.

In 1984, the Tange Town Martial Arts Association was established. This is the first folk group in the history of the development of Tange martial arts, under the leadership of the Wushu Association, the number of people practicing Tange martial arts has increased, more types of boxing have been practiced, and Tange martial arts have been further developed and reached a new height.

In 2006, Zhou Wenzhao, a retired engineer of Xinyun Company of China Railway First Bureau, who was originally from Tange Xiajie Village and now lives in Xi'an, came to his hometown to teach Chen-style Taijiquan, and spread Chen-style Taijiquan for the first time in Tange, the main routines are Chen-style Taijiquan old frame all the way, small frame all the way, national routine 56 style, Chen-style 49 sword, two-way cannon hammer, etc., the main students are Li Yingping, Qi Guifang, Zhang Fumao, Jia Yongdong, Li Xiangzhen, etc.

(Shao Jide, contributed by Yang Jianquan)