A Historical Model of the Formation of Chinese Regional Wushu Culture: A Study on the Origin and Inherited Characteristic of Huizhou Wushu in the Ming and Qing Dynasties

Abstract

Based on expounding the concept of Huizhou Wushu, this article probes into the crucial reasons for the rise of Huizhou Wushu in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. The research holds that Huizhou has a strong atmosphere of clan culture since ancient times. During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the frequent power struggles among clans and the advocation of resorting to force to resolve disputes led martial arts training become the prevailing practice in Huizhou. In addition, Huizhou merchants became active during that period, and the urgent demand for personal and property safety in their business activities also stimulated the development of Huizhou Wushu. As a typical regional Wushu culture, the origin and inheritance of Huizhou Wushu in the Ming and Qing Dynasties showed unique regional cultural characteristics. First of all, it emphasizes both the practical rationality and the artistic aesthetics; second, it takes the ethics of Neo-Confucianism as the moral standards; furthermore, it attaches great importance to foreign exchanges while valuing the inheritance of clans’ blood ties. All in all, the inheritance and development of Huizhou Wushu in the Ming and Qing Dynasties had an important historical impact on the development pattern of later Chinese Wushu.