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Spearheading foreigner lessons
A spear about two meters long comes to life in the hands of Yu Jiyuan. He blocks, twists, thrusts and rotates the weapon as if it were an extension of his own arms.
His movements are so swift that a red ribbon tied near the spear’s handle leaves twirling flashes of color around his body.
“I’m not good at talking about these movements,” he says. “So let me show you instead.”
Yu, a Shanghai native now in his 60s, was among an early group of martial arts athletes when kung fu became a national sport in the 1950s. Since then, such team performances have been adapted and are judged on an aesthetic scale of points, similar to that of aerobatics.
“The basic moves are just blocking and thrusting, but there is so much you can develop from the basics,” Yu says. “It is the most beautiful of all performances.”
As a member of the Shanghai martial arts squad, Yu won many national and regional championships in spear performances. Later, he stayed on the team as a coach. In the 1990s, he was asked to teach kung fu to foreign visitors.
Since then, Yu has taught thousands of foreign students, including one who returned to his native Switzerland and opened a kung fu institute there. The school is now one of the largest in Europe, and Yu travels there to teach every year.
“I get very excited about designing new moves and combinations for the students,” he says. “Overseas kung fu fans always bombard me with so many questions, which sometimes cause me to stop and think, and then send me back to do more research. Many of these students are very well-read and knowledgeable about the history, culture and concepts of kung fu.”
When he was a young athlete, Yu learned all the traditional styles, both bare-handed and with weaponry. He was most fascinated by the spear, which is known as “the king of all weapons.”
On ancient Chinese battlefields, it was common for a general to challenge the commander of the rival army to a duel before the battle started. By winning, a general could inspire the troops about to be sent into combat.
In the duels, the opposing commanders would charge at each other on horseback, aiming to injure or even kill the opponent. The spear was the most common weapon used because it’s long and heavy, allowing a protagonist some distance from his opponent.
A traditional spear is made of ash wood, which is light and flexible. The key to success is vibrating the spear swiftly like a twisting snake so that an opponent isn’t quite sure where the blow will come.
The pointed tip is thin and narrow to enable penetration through some openings in armor. Vestiges of ancient battlefield techniques survive in moves such as the classic technique of the “horse-turning spear” (hui ma qiang 回马枪), which involves a movement allowing a combatant to strike his opponent from behind.
Many Chinese novels described the spear forms of the heroic Yang family of the Song Dynasty (960-1279) as “thousands of plum blossoms, and each lethal.” The so-called “plum blossom spear” was a specialty of the family, which counted numerous generals and even female warriors among its ranks.
“There are thousands of different weapons in Chinese kung fu,” Yu explains. “The four basic forms are the spear, the staff, and the single-edged and double-edged swords. All others are derived from one or a combination of these.”
He cites the saying that “the spear thrusts in one spot while the staff swipes a group.” The single-edged sword is a shortened version of the staff, while the spear is a variation of the double-edged, he explains.
More than just a weapon, the spear is an important tool for practicing bare-handed combat skills. It focuses strength training on the waist. Holding a spear with both arms at chest level, the practitioner is required to vibrate the spear by waist rotation alone, without moving the arms.
“You need to understand the spear to get deep into Chinese kung fu,” Yu says. “I’m still fascinated by its endless variations.”
hidden weapons
The spear, the sword and the staff are among the most traditional of Chinese weapons used in martial arts, though history and novels give other examples, sometimes with intriguing names.
There’s the chicken claw sickle (jizhua lian 鸡爪镰), which comes in pairs of two — bladed weapons that look like a hooked sword. The short weapon contains a spearhead for stabbing, a hook to grab other weapons and a wooden handle for swinging and swiping. Its use combines several weapon skills in one lethal instrument.
Anqi (暗器), or hidden weapons, is a category that includes arrows, darts and needles thrown to catch an opponent by surprise.
Many martial arts novels and books cite the use of “golden coin darts” (jinqian biao 金钱镖) as hidden weapons. They are said to be based on bronze coins, which were easy to carry and fling.
Ancient generals who fought battlefield duels often chose heavy weapons, adding power to an attack mounted from horseback.
In addition to long, heavy spears, many legendary field commanders also used the “shooting star hammer” (liuxing chui 流星锤) a chained metal ball that was thrown at an adversary.
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