Research On The Social Ecology And Social Motivation Of Wushu Development

Village is a visual angle. From this angle, scholars in China and abroad haveobtained commendable academic achievements of sociological or anthropologicalresearch on Chinese village. However, the window—“village”, has never been reallyopened in the field of Wushu. In China, traditional Wushu, which includes various“Quan Zhong (martial arts categories)”“Tao Lu (martial arts routines)” and “Liu Pai(martial arts schools)”, is a unique cultural phenomenon. And its contents and formsare rooted in traditional Chinese vernacular society on the basis of “village”, thrivingand growing, such as Taijiquan in Chenjiagou and Bao-style martial arts in Baotun etc.So “village” can be regarded as a “micro-panoramic window” through which we caninvestigate the cultural phenomena of Chinese Wushu. Although adequateachievements of Chinese village researches have been obtained, it is extremelyincongruous that the theoretical foundation of ethnic traditional sport, including Wush,is rather weak, most studies of Wushu cultural phenomena in vernacular villages arelimited in “mining” and “arranging”, and there are seldom systematic researches onWushu using anthropological and sociological paradigms and methods. And it is a“blind spot” of ethnic traditional sport theoretical research that there are fewsystematic deep analysis of Wushu from the aspects of anthropology and sociology onthe basis of village. Therefore, we can eliminate this blind spot and extremely enrichthe theoretical foundation of ethnic traditional sport by a case study of village Wushu,which contains deep anthropological and sociological interpretation and analysis. Asthe most basic component unit and a relatively complete “social ecological system”and “basic functional unit”, village is a particular window from which peopleunscramble the origin and development of Chinese Wushu. Through this individualcase of village Wushu, we can ascertain the essential issues of the transmission anddevelopment of Chinese Wushu in the historical course.On the basis described above, this research systematically introduces theparadigms and methods of anthropological study, looks into “village Wushu”, theindividual case, from the visual angle of “village” by using field investigation method,case study method, logical analysis method and so on. We investigate the Wushucultural phenomena in three villages (i.e. Chenjiagou, Wenxian County, Jiaozuo,Henan Province; Baotun, Daxiqiao Town, Anshun, Guizhou Province; Dongjie,Baodian Town, Zhangzi County, Shanxi Province), carry out deep sociologicalanalysis, and thus examine the Wushu cultural phenomena in the “microcosmic society”. Then we thoroughly dissect the “social ecology” and “social motivation”issues of Chinese Wushu development, and consequently achieve furtherunderstanding of Chinese Wushu culture.The dissertation is structurally composed by individual6sections, which are wellmatched with each other, and expounds forward step by step. The general writing routis “raising questions—analyzing questions—resolving questions”. The basic issues ofthe study include:1. What kind of social ecosystem of Wushu development is there?2.What are the social motivations of Wushu development?3. What kind of interactiverelationship should it be between Wushu development and social system? Based onthe constant thinking and quest for the above questions, we carry out case research inthree villages from the three aspects—modern, country and local knowledge. Then wedeeply analyze the Wushu cultural phenomena in the villages, such as “Chen-styleTaijiquan”,“martial art performance in temple fair”,“Biao Ju (an establishment whichprovides escorts (bodyguards) for a fee)”,“martial art club and school” and “Jun NuoDi Xi (military exorcising play on the ground)” etc. This is the major part of the“analyzing questions” section. The third section,“resolving questions”, peels off theexternal phenomena, explores the social motivating mechanism of the transmissionand development of Chinese Wushu on the basis of sociology, social ecology andBourdieu’s sociological theory from the particular vision angle of “village” and“village Wushu”, examines the social dynamic mechanism of the transmission anddevelopment of Chinese Wushu, deductively infers its general social rules, and thussystematically dissects its social ecology and social motivation issues. This sectionconcluds and responds to the questions raised above, making this research an entirety.This dissertation includes six chapters: introduction, major part, conclusion andprospect of the research.Chapter1is “Introduction”. This part expounds some relevant basic issuessystematically, such as “why we did this research”,“how we did this research”,“methods used in the research”,“innovations of the research”,“hypothesis of theresearch”,“main idea of the research” and “definition of relevant terms” etc.Chapter2is “Academic Review—the Current Situation and DevelopmentTendency of Research at Home and Abroad”. This part sorts the contents about fouraspects—“cultural anthropological research on sport”,“cultural anthropologicalresearch on village”,“anthropological and sociological research on‘village Wushu’and‘village sport’”, and “social ecological research on Wushu”, summarizes the current situation and development tendency of research relating to this dissertation athome and abroad. Based on this, the research is cogitated from three levels—“discipline consciousness—the starting point of the research”,“epochconsciousness—the basic background of the research”,“problem consciousness—themain thread running through the whole research”, meanwhile, conception andprospect are put forward about contemporary research on “Wushu and culturalanthropology”.Charper3is “Discoveries on the Field—Case Investigation and Analysis ofWushu Cultural Phenomena in three villages”. This part carries out deep sociologicalanalysis about the Wushu cultural phenomena in three villages (i.e. Chenjiagou,Wenxian County, Jiaozuo, Henan Province; Baotun, Daxiqiao Town, Anshun,Guizhou Province; Dongjie, Baodian Town, Zhangzi County, Shanxi Province),summarizes and concludes the historical reasons, technical transmission, generalcurrent situation and development tendency of Wushu cultural phenomena in differentvillages, accurately expounds them from the three aspects—modern, country and localknowledge, and deeply analyzes several Wushu cultural phenomena, such as “martialart performance in temple fair”,“Biao Ju (an establishment which provides escorts(bodyguards) for a fee)”,“Taijiquan”, and “Jun Nuo Di Xi (military exorcising play onthe ground)” etc.Chapter4is “Linkage of Research Visual Field—Transition and enlightenmentsof Village Wushu”. This part further explains the relationship between “small place”and “big society”, and deeply analyses the typological significance of village, andthus carries out systematical historical investigation of village Wushu from the visualangle of “relationship between state and local”, summarizes the transition process ofvillage Wushu activities, and concludes that:1. The transition of society is thedominant factor of the transition of village Wushu.2. The transition of demands ofmain cultural group is the fundamental motivation of the transition of village Wushu.3. There is a deconstructing and reconstituting process of village Wushu duringcultural transition and accommodation.Chapter5is “Pursuing and Transcending Village—Research of the SocialEcology and Social Motivation of Wushu Development”. According to the theory ofsocial ecology, a village, a community and a school can be regarded as a relevantlycomplete social ecosystem. From the particular visual angle of village, the research ofWushu is based upon village, but does not stick to it, pursues village, and transcends it. This part systematically constructs the “social ecosystem” theory of Wushudevelopment, and expounds it from three aspects—integrity, dynamics, and harmony.At the same time, the social practice space of Wushu development is abstractlyconstructed from the visual angle of space. According to the relationship betweenWushu and time and that between Wushu and social space, the space of Wushu isclassified into four categories:①Wushu activities of the same period but differentsocial fields;②Wushu activities of different periods and social fields;③Wushuactivities of the same period and field;④Wushu activities of different periods but thesame social field. Based on this, the “dynamic mechanism” patterns of Wushuevolution and development are built and theoretically analyzed through the entwiningand interacting of internal and external factors. And it is concluded that the “lifemotivation” of Wushu development is realized under the influence of the entwiningand interacting of “internal factors” and “external factors”. The manifestation ofinternal factors is that Wushu itself has “intrinsic tension”; while the external factorsmanifest in three aspects: first, cultural demands of Wushu is an important potentialmotivation of Wushu development; second, the guidance and function of nationalpolicies are key external motivations of Wushu development; third, the fundamentalmotivation of Wushu development is the interaction and balance of the relationshipnet formed by the production and consumption of Wushu culture.Chapter6is “Conclusion and Prospect of the Research”. This part makes anoverall summary of the main contents of the dissertation, expounds the majorconclusions, and points out that:①Village is microcosmic but complete; Village issettled, while Quan Zhong (martial arts categories) is ambulatory. Through the caseinvestigation and analysis of several “villages” and “Quan Zhong (martial artscategories)”, we see that a number of settled “points” and ambulatory “threads”interweave with each other and form the overall perspective window as well as theculture blueprint of Wushu anthropological research.②Some factors are visibly orinvisibly relevant with each other, such as the adaptability and application of villageWushu in the process of social integral transition, the development of village Wushuand the major cultural demands of village populace etc.③During the process ofWushu existence and development, there is a struggle between two kinds of power,which manifests as the interaction of internal and external factors. Actually, Wushurepresents different patterns of life existence in different environments, which arecaused by the encounter and interactions between cultural demands and natural, social and spiritual factors around. Meanwhile, this part also puts forward the prospect ofWushu research according to the relevant studies: to systematically introduce theparadigms and methods of anthropological research from the visual angle of “village”;to respond to the research of “village” Wushu from the visual angle of “Quan Zhong(martial arts categories)”; to form a culture blueprint of Chinese Wushu research bycombining “village” and “martial art categories”.