兵 Weapons & Boxing 拳

For civilian martial artists in the Ming and Qing dynasties, empty handed fighting skills were often practiced alongside weapons. In the modern day many of the traditional weapons are either impractical in warfare or illegal for everyday carry / self-defense. Many martial artists choose to practice their fighting skills without the traditional weaponry. This is entirely understandable. Western boxers typically do not train smallsword fencing - once two closely linked activities. Most Nak Muay (Thai boxers) do not train with traditional Thai swords, spears, and shields. Many Chinese boxers do not practice with the stafff, spear, saber, sword, and a variety of other traditional weapons. However there ARE still serious benefits to training the classical weapons even if they are not as high priority today. For this article I will focus on the 四大名器 The Four Main Weapons.

Martial artists with their weapons (saber and spear) and exercise equipment (jar, stone lock and stone barbell)

The Staff 棍

Ubiquitous and unassuming in its original context, the staff was the quintessential self-defense weapon for travelers as the Chinese countryside was fraught with wild animals and bandits. In times of peace, staves would still be permitted as hiking sticks, carrying poles, and for punting boats. For the Chinese martial artist, the staff teaches the fighter essential coordination, footwork, combat principles and how to strike powerfully. The staff of pole makes it obvious when the fighter is issuing power effectively, be it whipping energy to strike or a burst of sharp energy for a thrust. It is also considered the ‘ancestor of all weapons’ as it’s the base skill for all polearms. This was critical for many southern Chinese groups especially the Min of Hokkien (福建 Fújiàn). For them a large part of their indigenous fighting method was the combined deployment of a variety of polearms and shields. In the late Ming dynasty, General Yu Dayou would perfect the art of dueling with the staff - in such a way that the skills were easily transferable to all other polearms. He raised an army in Quanzhou to help fight the Wokou/Wako pirates and thus his methods were widely disseminated in the region. The staff was used as the base training and dueling weapon to build the foundation for trident, fork, glaive, spear, hook-sickle spears, hook-sickle glaives, etc. The athletics of staff fighting and the dueling theory are also directly applicable to 太祖拳 Emperor’s Fist striking methods. His staff fighting skills also deeply influenced the Shaolin staff fighting going into the Qing era.

The Spear 槍

The Spear was considered the King of the Battlefield. During the Ming dynasty and the golden age of “pike and shot” style battlefield warfare, Chinese pike and spearmanship reached great heights. More than any other civilization, Chinese spearmen utilized the sliding thrust to devastating effect. The spear continued to be the main weapon of village militias into the early 1900s. For the Chinese martial artist, the spear teaches the fighter thrusting power generation and controlling the centerline. With spearmanship one learns fundamental dueling. Many of the 回族 Huízú boxing systems are deeply rooted in spear fighting. The Hui are Muslim Chinese who have some genetic and cultural influence from Iranians and Central Asians, many of whom settled in China during the Tang and Yuan dynasties. For them the long-spear or pike was a primary weapon, an exercise tool, and a way to understand dueling as a whole. Through 形意拳 Xíng yì quán we can see how spear and boxing are related. The pikemanship correlates directly with the Five Elements of Xing Yi Quan, which further expands upon the five essential vectors of attack, the power chain for each, tactics and combinations. Many Hui (and related) boxing styles have a heavy emphasis on knockdown striking, piercing through the centerline with extreme force, and threading one attack after the other. To counter direct force, one circles and spirals, changing the palms, and so we can see the fundamental link between spear and say 八卦掌 Bāguà zhǎng. The permutations of this understanding help inform the practical throws one can launch the opponent with or slick counterstrikes utilizing the opponent’s momentum.

The Saber 刀

The saber was the typical sidearm of Chinese soldiers, bandits, and guards. In its current incarnation it is actually the Sinicized version of the Turko-Mongol saber popularized in the Mongol Yuan dynasty. For the Mongols and Manchu it was often paired with wrestling. It has ferocious cutting power and is effective on horseback and on foot. It finally retired from mainstream usage in the 1900s. For the Chinese martial artist, the saber teaches the fighter how to cover their lines of attack with cuts, to enter combat bravely, and to swiftly de-limb or decapitate opponents after by-passing, displacing, or controlling their weapon. Many Chinese boxing systems make use of chopping with the forearms or hammer-fists, as well as backfists. These types of short strikes inherently use the same musculature and striking theory as the saber. They also cover your lines of attack making it such that if an opponent strikes at you while you chop you can often displace their arm or create a ‘bridge’, a connection of the arms where you can trap or clinch-fighting from. As with saber, such chopping attacks bring you very quickly into wrestling. Today many street weapons such as hammers, pipes, machetes, and the like follow similar swinging patterns as the saber but are typically shorter.

The Sword 劍

This was the weapon of scholarly gentry and local strongmen leading their militias. It is a double-edged cut-and-thrust sword, tactically versatile, emphasizing centerline control and agile footwork. In the Qing dynasty, 貴州 Guìzhōu was famous for sword-armed duelists and vigilantes. For the Chinese martial artist, the sword is the ultimate marriage between battle sidearm and dueling weapon. It has nearly the cutting power of the saber without sacrificing the thrust potential, and while it doesn’t have the reach of polearms, is quick to the draw and well-designed for both cutting off the hands and controlling weapons to engage for a finishing cut or thrust to the neck or torso. Of the four weapons it is probably the most fit for dueling and self-defense principles. In its Ming-Qing incarnation it is a weapon meant for personal protection, engaging other swordsmen, and controlling opposing weapons. This lines up with Chinese Boxing self-defense methods, the tactics for dueling other fighters, and the art of bridging - the crossing of arms - which is directly related to swordsmanship and binding, coiling, and winding.

Weapons are a great way to learn to issue power from the body. As an extension of the hand(s), one must not only familiarize oneself with the ergonomics and feel, but attach the weapon to the base of the body and transmit power through stabs, thrusts, cuts, and strikes. Thus any flaws with your power generation become obvious in your poor cutting, striking, thrusting, or parrying. Training weaponry also heightens your sense of space and proprioception, and due to their deadlier nature, force the fighter to become very aware of tempo and range and winning the earliest intentions of the fight. The last benefit, and one that is less direct but no less powerful is Culture. The weaponry contains the mentality, the spirit, the ethos of the civilian martial artists of the late Qing era. The aggression and precision of techniques required in weapons carries over to the way Chinese boxing is expressed. The weapons carry with them a large piece of the puzzle when putting together a Chinese martial arts curriculum that keeps in mind the importance of warrior spirit. Anyone can learn fighting techniques but not everyone is a warrior - the weapons when trained properly, hone that aspect to a high degree.