A Study On The Population History Of The Yumenquan Inheritance Of The Xuanhan Tujia Yumenquan, A Project Of Intangible Cultural Heritage In Sichuan Province

Tujia Yumen Quan is a traditional martial art that originated in the Former River Basin where Bailixia in Xuanhan County of Sichuan Province is located.It was once established by the East Sichuan Tujia family and was widely spread in counties in eastern Sichuan and Chongqing,Hubei,and Shaanxi.As an indigenous boxing type of the Emei Boxing series,it was originally known as Yumen Quan and was listed in Sichuan Province's Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection List in 2009 with the apply of Xuanhan County in Sichuan Province.This paper aims to make a case study of Tujia Yumen Quan from the perspective of inheritors so as to sort out and analyze the inheritance status and existing difficulties of non-heritage projects of traditional martial arts in China,and explore how to break through existing difficulties and promote the development and inheritance of traditions martial arts.Under the theoretical guidance of uninherited population history and martial arts oral history,oral interviews,literature,field surveys and other research methods are used in this paper and Ding Yaoting,the inheritor of Tujia Yumen Quan is taken as the research object.According to ordination and analysis of oral historical data,this thesis is hoped to sort out the historical origins,development history,technical characteristics of the Tujia Yumen Quan and the origin of the martial arts of the inheritors,the practice history,and the inheritance experience and then carry out inheritance characteristics,inheritance methods,inheritance difficulties,and heritage visions of the inheritors,the result shows that:Tujia Yumen Quan originated in the Ming and Qing Dynasties,which evolved from Huatuo's “Five Animals Play”.It was digested and passed down from generation to generation by boxing teachers.Besides,through the special geographical environment of Xuanhan County and the long-standing Tujia culture,it has developed with the features like“Bionics and health of five birds”,“Land of the lying cow”,“Brightness of the short hand ”,“ Strict attack and defense of the attack and defense ”,“Heavyweight fists and more hands”.Mr.Ding Yaoting,the representative inheritor of the provincial intangible cultural heritage Tujia Yumen Quan,has been suffering from polio since childhood.Under the leadership of Master Ding Jugao,he trained hard at Tujia Yumen Quan,which not only curing his disease but let him systematically studied the exercises of Tujia Yumen Quan.It inherits the four main methods of family inheritance,teacher-inheritor transmission,school inheritance,and museum development,follow the development principle of“combining martial medicine and internal and external cultivation” during the process of inheritance and persists in “discarding the portal and winning public opinion”,take "individual materials,teach students in accordance with their aptitude" as its teaching methods and inherit "deformation,fast and orderly" training procedure and carry forward the "emphasis on military ethics,moral service people" quality inheritance characteristics.Tujia Yumenquan has passed through several hundred years of inheritance.Due to changes in the social background,it is now facing a shift from "taking health from arms to healthy people" to "bringing up arms from merchants" and "strategically fighting" to "maintaining health" as the mainstay.Rural people don't have the awareness to protect such an art thus there is a miss of its inheritance.When it comes to the solution,the inheritor hopes that the state,the government,and the society can offer support and help from perspectives of “protect the source”,“build the iconic architecture of the hometown of Wu shu,” “display the Tujia Yumen Quan in the Bashan Grand Canyon as an important part of the exhibition” and "Actively tapping the entire Ba culture,Tujia culture,cultural relics".As one of the boxing types of Chinese traditional martial arts,Tujia Yumen Quan has the values of medicine,arts and crafts,health,and education,which should be continually inherited and developed.In the process of inheritance,it is necessary to establish the inheritor's cultural self-confidence,practice cultural awareness and adhere to the essence,take the characteristic road suited to its inheritance and development in addition to the support and assistance of the state and the government.