15. Promoting a National [Martial] Art

In the 9th year of the Republic [~1920], after graduating from university, I was engaged in education, social work and Party affairs. On the other hand, I was also promoting a national [martial] art. Education means teaching about wisdom. Martial arts mean teaching about strength. Social work is a matter of governance. The promotion of martial arts is to look for physical exercise that will strengthen the county. No matter how you feel, you need people to govern. No matter what kind of work is done, you need strength to promote it. To undertake a great cause, you must have a healthy body. To have a rich and powerful country, we must certainly have healthy citizens.

Our country has had few wise monarchs who showed promise, who would attach great importance on both civil and military training, as well as attaching great importance to both academic and moral integrity. Generally though, after ruthlessly using force to acquire dominance, most followed Qin Shihuang’s [i.e., the First Emperor of Qin] dream of having their realms remain intact through the ages.

Under the pretext of advocating martial studies and culture, they dismantled the morals of the people, using their position and wealth so that scholars would sing their praises in imperial court. This was “singing of the wind and moon” [i.e., vacuous and sentimental poetry], as well as the ambition of the rotten scholars, so much so that they abandoned the military [arts] and the wisdom of the heavenly people. They were bound in the steps of the crown circle [i.e., influenced by the crown court], so that they became weak, resulting in repeated foreign aggression.

Although the momentum of the current times has resulted in the overthrow of the 5000 year old monarchy, and a democratic republic has been realized, we are still ridiculed as “the sick man of East Asia” by outsiders. This is extraordinarily shameful and humiliating for those who have joined together bravely [to found the Republic]!

In today’s schools, although sports are emphasized, these kinds of sports can only be accessed by a few people instead of serving as a national sport. Moreover, in terms of effectiveness and skill level, the various forms of activities introduced from the West are not as effective as the martial arts education in our country. [By doing martial arts, our countrymen] can not only benefit from the exercise, but they can also learn techniques so that they can protect themselves, strengthen their bodies, and defend the country.

The martial arts in Henan Province were very developed. The famous Shaolin temple, that is, the Shaolin Temple within the area that was burned, was used by the Manchu Government to put out the underground anti-Qing revolutionary forces who wanted the restoration of the Ming Dynasty. In the early years of the Republic, martial arts were not allowed to be openly promoted. Therefore, we first established “Youth Improvement Clubs” in Kaifeng. Although it had various types of exercise, in reality, it advocated for a national [martial] art. By the 14th year of the Republic [~1925], martial arts associations were being publicly set up, with branches and martial arts offices being set up in the counties and cities. At this time, the national [martial] arts in Henan Province were in the organizational stage, with public performances being practiced and popularized within a few years.

In the 17th year of the Republic [~1928], the Central Martial Arts Institute was established, and the Henan Wushu [i.e., Martial Art] Association was renamed as the Henan Guoshu [i.e., National Art] Association, with branches in each county and city. Since martial arts has been the quintessence of Chinese culture for thousands of years, it has been renamed the “National Art”. When I was head of the Henan National Art Association, I started martial arts training classes and hired famous teachers from all over the world as instructors, as well as recruiting young people from all walks of life for rigorous training. There were 100 students for each training period, and each training period was for one year. There were six training periods, so about 600 people were trained. From the 17th year to the 25th year of the Republic [~1928-1936], seven provincial examinations were held [to choose the students]. Each time it was held, there were hundreds to thousands of people [participating ]. The 600 trained students were used as coaches to educate the entire country. [Since their coaching] reached both the civilian and military population, they made great contributions to the country!

For the first national examination, there were 25 athletes from Henan Province, all of whom were admitted [into the program]. During the second national examination in the 18th year of the Republic [~1929], more that 50 people from Henan Province took part in the competition, taking first and second place [with the highest scores]. Therefore, Henan Province is famous for its martial arts skills. In the 20th [should be 25th] year of the Republic [~1936], [our country] participated in [a martial arts demonstration during] the Olympic World Games held in Berlin, Germany. Residents from Henan Province accounted for three of the ten participants from our country. From then on, Henan Province was seen to have developed martial arts [the most] at that time.