Zhangjiajie Ethnic Martial Arts
The Tujia people value martial prowess as an age-old tradition. Hongjiaguan in Sangzhi County, hometown of Marshal He Long, is known as the 'Home of Martial Arts.' Through long years of fishing, hunting, farming, and warfare, the Tujia created a rich variety of local martial arts with a distinctive ethnic character. Tujia people love practicing boxing and staff fighting and are known for their bravery and honesty.
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The Tujia people have long been known for their martial prowess, a tradition passed down through generations. Hongjiaguan in Sangzhi County, the hometown of Marshal He Long, is called the 'Hometown of Martial Arts.' Through long periods of fishing, hunting, farming, and military life, the Tujia people created a wide variety of local martial arts with a distinct ethnic character. Tujia people are fond of practicing boxing and stick fighting and are competitive, showing the Tujia ethnic character of bravery and honesty as well as a strong, robust physique. The Ming Wanli 'Cili County Gazetteer' records: 'Examining the cave barbarians through history, from the Han and Jin to the Yuan, they were difficult to control.' 'Their nature delights in conflict (meaning fighting); from Qin to Yuan, their rebelliousness can be traced.' The Kangxi 'Yongding Guard Gazetteer' also records: 'The Chu customs are tough and vigorous, and their faults often flow into fierce indignation.' After a Tujia child is born, a piece of rough iron of the same weight as the infant is said to be soaked in poison; when the child reaches twelve, it is taken out and forged into a knife, and they practice with it all day. After the baby is born, green bamboo strips are roasted and used to brand the soles of the feet with oil, so from childhood they develop 'iron footboards' for climbing great mountains. Wielding swords and spears, boxing with staffs, and hard qigong are known as the 'Three Wonders' of Dayong Tujia martial arts. According to research, the Tujia people have had a martial tradition for over a thousand years. In the Song Dynasty, the Dayong area was under the control of Tusi (local chieftains). To consolidate their rule, the Tusi established Tusi armed forces. These forces were essentially an ancient form of militia organization, where the Tujia people 'were civilians in peacetime and soldiers in wartime,' so practicing martial arts in leisure time was a major characteristic of the Tujia ethnic group. After the Qing Dynasty's policy of replacing hereditary local rulers with appointed officials, weapons were stored away, and the Tujia people switched to practicing boxing and staff techniques. Among the boxing arts, the most formidable are sticky power, grappling hands, and acupoint striking. Sticky power refers to internal and external skills; grappling hands involve offensive and defensive grappling and escape techniques; acupoint striking, called 'divine strike' by the Tujia, is the skill of hitting acupoints. Boxing is collectively known as self-defense skill. Staff techniques are divided into two major categories: grappling staff and flower staff. The ce staff is further divided into single-headed and double-headed types. Single-headed staff techniques include 'One Pillar of Incense Facing Heaven', 'Separating Mountain Staff', 'Old Ox Swinging Tail', 'One Staff Breaks Nine Provinces', and 'Ancient Tree Coiling Roots'. Double-headed staff techniques include 'Yellow Dragon Coils Around Waist', 'Double Peel Up', and 'Five Horses Break the Trough'. Flower staff forms include Large and Small Four Gates, Single and Double Six Harmonies, Four-Route Rushing Journey, Eight Trigrams Staff, Monkey Staff, and Carp Supporting Heaven Staff. The 'bangbang tobacco pipe' is a special martial arts staff of the Tujia people. This 'jing bamboo head bangbang tobacco pipe' is usually used for smoking in leisure time, and temporarily used as a self-defense weapon. There are also common farmers' production tools, such as the threshing pole, carrying pole, sweat towel, hoe, carrying spike, winnowing fork, flail, and ox rope (special whip technique), all of which are used as weapons for practicing skills and self-defense. After 1949, folk martial arts gradually evolved into fitness sports or artistic forms for stage performance.
Dayong Qigong
Dayong qigong can be called a wonder of the martial arts world. It once won renown for the motherland and enjoys an extremely high reputation at home and abroad. Dayong qigong is one of the traditional sports of the various ethnic groups of Dayong, especially the Tujia, and is divided into two categories: health-building qigong and martial-arts qigong. The former includes "Returning-Origin Qigong," "Mawangdui Qigong," "Shaolin Damo Medical Health Qigong," and others; the latter includes meditation, gecko, spirit-child, two-finger flick, stone-splitting, relaxation-and-stillness, hard qigong, five-animal, five-yang exercises, and others, with hard qigong being especially famous. Dayong hard qigong has a long history. Xiang Dancheng of the Han Dynasty, Qin Hou of the Ming Dynasty, Liu Mingdeng of the Qing Dynasty, and in modern times Tang Zimo, Zhou Tiebian, Du Xinwu, Zhao Jishu, and others all possessed extraordinary hard-qigong martial skills. In their long struggles against conquest and oppression, the indigenous peoples of Dayong absorbed the finest martial arts of the Wudang, Shaolin northern and southern schools, and Kunlun school, creating the one-of-a-kind Dayong hard qigong. It is said that the founding ancestor of Dayong hard qigong was Guiguzi of the State of Chu. The Yongding County Gazetteer contains records of Guiguzi living in seclusion in Guigu Cave on Tianmen Mountain, devoting himself to studying the Yi and transmitting esoteric arts. By the Qing Dynasty there was the martial arts master Zhu Maoling, who lived in seclusion in the cave at Bajiaowan north of Sancha Village, studying the qigong arts of Guiguzi, and later took Hu Kouzi of Xixiping and Yu Shiwan (that is, "Yu Tongren") as disciples, passing on his mantle. Yu Tongren systematically organized martial-arts qigong, carried it forward, and spread its fame throughout the world. After the founding of New China, the Party and government attached great importance to the discovery and organization of folk qigong, and formally listed it as a sport to be popularized and developed. Today, in Dayong City, the number of people practicing hard qigong reaches tens of thousands. Guanliping Village in Yongding District has long enjoyed the reputation of "Hometown of Hard Qigong." In this village, men, women, the old, and the young have all taken up practice, and a general atmosphere has developed. Its martial arts master Zhao Jishu participated in both the provincial and national martial arts competitions in 1979 and won first prize in both, attracting the attention of the State Sports Commission. In July of the same year, Zhao Jishu made a special trip to Beijing to give a report performance for the central leading comrades. Thereafter, he accompanied the Chinese martial arts delegation and state leaders on two trips abroad, visiting Luxembourg, Italy, Belgium, Romania, Malta, and countries in Southeast Asia. His spectacular performances, such as lying on a knife and breaking stone, splitting stone on the head, double phoenix pouring into the ears, striking a stone pillar with the head, and pushing a millstone on fork tips, won high praise from foreign friends. A warrior in Luxembourg who had won a national medal came to the Chinese embassy overnight after watching the performance and presented Zhao Jishu with the medal he had treasured for many years; the King of Luxembourg enthusiastically walked up on stage and warmly embraced Zhao Jishu, repeatedly praising him: "Amazing! Amazing! International qigong master!" and presented Zhao Jishu with a treasured commemorative badge. A French friend praised him highly, saying: "It makes scientific sense that Chinese qigong is called a precious treasure of all humanity." From then on, Dayong hard qigong was famous throughout the world. Hunan Xiaoxiang Film Studio specially produced a color documentary, "Dayong Qigong." Dayong hard qigong has more than twenty items, the most influential being: Lying on the Belly on a Steel Fork: Two people hold a three-pronged steel fork on the ground with the tip pointing upward, the tip extremely sharp; then one person bends down onto the fork tip, with the tip pressed against the abdomen, and when the limbs are stretched out flat and suspended in the air, the two holders rotate the steel fork, which is called pushing the millstone. During the performance, the person lying on the fork is required to direct qi to the abdomen and concentrate mind and qi; the slightest carelessness and the fork will pierce through the abdomen. Lying on Knives and Breaking Stone: First, two large knives are fixed with their edges facing upward. After the person lying on the knives has directed qi, others lift him onto the knife edges (there are two types: lying face up and lying face down), then a huge stone slab (about several hundred jin) is placed on the performer's abdomen or back, and one or two people take turns striking the stone slab hard with a large iron hammer until it cracks and breaks apart. Breaking Stone on a Bed of Nails and Knives: A layer of broken glass is spread on the ground, and one person lies face up on it; then a bed of nails is placed on his abdomen, and another person lies face up on the bed of nails, then another bed of nails is placed on the second person's abdomen, and a third person lies face up on the knife bed, with a large stone slab of several hundred jin pressed onto his abdomen, and someone swings a hammer hard until the stone breaks. Silver Spear Against the Throat: A steel spear with sharp spearheads at both ends is pressed against the throats of two performers, who then exert force toward each other until the spear shaft is bent into a bow shape while their throats remain unharmed. Breaking Stone with Bare Hands: The performer places a hard, smooth cobblestone like iron on a stone bench (or the ground), then directs qi to the palm or fingers and strikes the cobblestone until it breaks (shatters). Kicking and Chopping Stone with the Leg: The performer directs qi to the leg and kicks a stone slab until it breaks. Generally, he can kick through granite or bluestone slabs more than 15 centimeters thick. Striking a Knife on the Chest: The sharp edge of a large knife is placed against the chest muscles, and a wooden club as thick as a fist is used to strike the back of the knife hard until the club breaks while the chest remains uninjured. Since the founding of New China, Dayong folk martial arts and ethnic sports have gradually merged into one, playing a major role in improving the people's physical fitness, carrying forward the tradition of Chinese martial arts, and enhancing international friendship. In addition to hard qigong, there are also dozens of martial arts forms scattered throughout folk martial arts and sports activities. For example, striking the flying stick, twisting the carrying pole, pushing against the carrying pole, squeezing oil dregs, throwing and grappling at the waist, lifting stone locks, butting ox horns (a form of bullfighting), and so on. Their characteristic is adapting to local conditions and requiring no special venue; fields, garden corners, courtyards, and market towns are all places for practicing martial arts and carrying out activities, with a strong earthy flavor. Some are created by slightly imitating and developing certain movements in life or certain forms of animals, and thus become a unique martial arts form. For example, the "Gongtian Comb" and "Rock Swallow Pouncing on Tianmen" created by the Tianshan martial arts master Yu Daoren; there are also martial arts forms created according to geographical features, such as "Swinging on Vines."
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