Abstract
Qi Jiguang’s Jixiao xinshu contains the second-earliest extant Chinese discussion of the martial arts. For modern scholars of Chinese martial arts, this work presents both a touchstone and a conundrum. General Qi’s chapter on boxing places unarmed combat skills within a military context and describes not only individual schools of martial arts but also a simplified new fighting system. Unarmed combat skills are therefore portrayed as an important basic component of a soldier’s training. Yet when General Qi revised his training manual many years later, he removed the chapter on unarmed combat. Unfortunately, Qi Jiguang did not explain his reasons for changing his manual. This paper attempts to explain why the later version of the Jixiao xinshu removed the chapter on unarmed combat, along with three others. It argues that Qi’s second edition of his manual was a further refinement of his military method based upon experience. His experience showed that unarmed combat was useful neither in war nor as physical training for soldiers. Part of the reason for this was the increasing use of firearms and polearms over swords and bows. This trend would be reinforced when the Japanese invaded Korea at the end of the 16th century. Qi Jiguang’s revised manual was therefore a leading indicator of where combat was going and signalled the separation of unarmed combat from battlefield effectiveness.
I am grateful for the anonymous reviewer’s extremely helpful comments. Considerations of space and time prevented me from extensively treating all of the reviewer’s suggestions, all of which I hope to address in the future.
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Notes
- 1.
For the gun see most recently Tonio Andrade, The gunpowder age: China, military innovation, and the rise of the West in world history (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016); Kenneth Chase, Firearms: A global history to 1700 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003); Peter Lorge, The Asian military revolution (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008).
- 2.
Qi Jiguang, Jixiao xinshu [New treatise on military efficiency/disciplined service; hereafter JXXS], in Zhongguo bingshu jicheng [Collection of military treatises of China], vol. 18 (Beijing: Jiefangjun chubanshe, 1995); Qi Jiguang, Lianbing shiji [A practical account for the training of soldiers; hereafter LBSJ], in Zhongguo Bingshu Jicheng, vol. 19 (Beijing: Jiefangjun chubanshe, 1994).
- 3.
This chapter has been translated into English twice: Douglas Wile, T’ai Chi’s ancestors (New City NY: Sweet Ch’i Press, 1999); and Clifford M. Gyves, “An English translation of General Qi Jiguang’s ‘Quanjing jieyao pian’” [Chapter on the first canon and the essentials of nimbleness from the Jixiao xinshu] (MA thesis, University of Arizona, 1993).
- 4.
Douglas Wile, T’ai Chi’s ancestors, pp. 7–35.
- 5.
My assumption here is that the writing of Lianbing shiji is not just chronological, but also intellectually logical. Qi Jiguang’s second step in writing a training manual, with the second edition of the Jixiao Xinshu followed intellectually from the Lianbing shiji. The anonymous reviewer perceptively pointed out that this may not, in fact, be the case. My strongest argument in support of my assumption is the chart in the appendix comparing the respective chapters of the three books. A separate discussion of this issue is certainly warranted, but beyond the scope of this discussion.
- 6.
Stephen Selby has translated the chapter on archery into English online at atarn.org, “Chapter thirteen of the ‘New book of discipline and effectiveness’: Archery” by Qi Jiguang.
- 7.
JXXS (2nd ed.), p. 802.
- 8.
For Hideyoshi’s invasion of Korea, see James B. Lewis ed., The East Asian War, 1592–1598 (London and New York: Routledge, 2015); Kenneth Swope, A dragon’s head and a serpent’s tail (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009); and Kenneth Chase, Firearms: A global history to 1700 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 186–93.
- 9.
See Kenneth Chase, Firearms: A global history to 1700 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 186–93. Though, like Qi Jiguang, the Japanese samurai had already incorporated muskets into their armies during the wars of unification. As their invasion continued, muskets were increasingly valued over any other weapon.
- 10.
‘Wrestling’ is a broad term encompassing a number of unarmed fighting skills that include grappling, throwing and ground fighting, but usually, though not always, exclude strikes. In Chinese history wrestling was a “martial (wu)” practice taken up in military preparations, or as part of performances and competitions, because, unlike striking or armed combat, a match between two opponents was less prone to serious injury. Our present poor knowledge of historical techniques prevents us from distinguishing non-Chinese wrestling from wrestling in the Chinese context. Certainly Chinese records often connect steppe groups with wrestling prowess. See Peter Lorge, Chinese martial arts: From antiquity to the twenty-first century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), p. 46.
- 11.
Peter Lorge, Chinese martial arts: From antiquity to the twenty-first century (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 3–6.
- 12.
Scholars of the martial arts may be disappointed in my cursory discussion of martial arts training here. The technical and terminological issues concerning taolu (form) and bufa (stance), among other terms, are not directly relevant to my current discussion.
- 13.
Kenneth Chase, Firearms: A global history to 1700 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003), pp. 205–7.
- 14.
LBSJ, p. 552.
- 15.
LBSJ, p. 564.
- 16.
Xu, Song, Songhuiyao jigao [The compilation of Song regulations] (Taipei: Xin Wenfeng Chuban Gongsi, 1976), Xuanju, 17/7.4520.
- 17.
Toqto’a, Songshi [History of Song Dynasty] (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuji, 1990), 195.4853.
- 18.
For Mongol Yuan dynasty military organisation see, Hsiao Ch’i-Ch’ing, The military establishment of the Yuan dynasty (Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press, 1978).
- 19.
For the superiority of southern Chinese troops over northern Chinese troops during the Imjin War see Kenneth Swope, A dragon’s head and a serpent’s tail: Ming China and the first great East Asian war, 1592–1598 (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2009), especially pp. 161–62.
- 20.
Ban, Gu, Hanshu [History of Han] (Taipei: Dingwen shuju, 1997), 30.1757–63.
- 21.
Confucius (Edward Slingerland trans.), The Analects (Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing, 2003), p. 64.
- 22.
A more detailed study would also require the discussion of Qi Jiguang’s Yuyu Gao [Collection of Qi’s thoughts and commentaries on a variety of political and military matters], a part of Zhizhi tangji., from which Qi drew in the Lianbing shiji, as well as his other extant writings.
- 23.
Gao Ying, Justin Ma and Jie Tian (trans.), The way of archery: A 1637 Chinese military training manual (Atglen PA: Schiffer Publishing, 2015).
- 24.
Ng Pak Shun, “Qi Jiguang’s ‘Oral instructions from the podium’”, Journal of Chinese military history, vol. 3, issue 2 (2014), pp. 140–90.
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Appendix
Appendix
First edition | Lianbing Shiji | Second edition | |
|---|---|---|---|
Chapter 1 | Five-man squad | Five-man squad training method | Five-man squad |
Chapter 2 | Signals and command | Training courageous qi | Ears and eyes |
Chapter 3 | Commanding formations | Training ears and eyes | Hands and feet |
Chapter 4 | Discussing troops | Training hands and feet | Hands and feet |
Chapter 5 | Laws and prohibitions | Training camp and formations | Hands and feet |
Chapter 6 | Comparisons | Training camp and formations | Comparisons |
Chapter 7 | Marching camps | Training camp and formations | Camps and formations |
Chapter 8 | Signals and practice | Training camp and formations | Marching camps |
Chapter 9 | Launching expeditions | Training generals | Wild camps |
Chapter 10 | Long weapons | Real battle | |
Chapter 11 | Shields and halberds | Courageous qi | |
Chapter 12 | Short weapons | Boat squadrons | |
Chapter 13 | Archery methods | Sentries | |
Chapter 14 | The boxing classic | Practising command | |
Chapter 15 | Various equipment | ||
Chapter 16 | Flags and banners | ||
Chapter 17 | Sentries | ||
Chapter 18 | Naval troops |
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Lorge, P. (2017). The Martial Arts in Qi Jiguang’s Military Training. In: Sim, Y. (eds) The Maritime Defence of China. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-4163-1_4
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