A Study Of Minnan Folk Martial Art Culture

Minnan folk martial art of long standing and well established is a significant branch of Chinese traditional martial arts.With social transition,Minnan folk martial art has changed into a folk item combining with fighting skills,sports and folk activities from a fighting skill in the beginning.Changing the traditional research method of sports science and studying Minnan folk martial art by using historical literature,filed work and other methods from the perspective of folklore,anthropology,sociology and history can dig its cultural connotation and historical value further.The geographical environment of “leaning the mountain and facing the sea” in Minnan area,the organic integration of northern soldiers' valiancy and southern natives' agility and braveness,the quick development of the society and economy in Minnan since Ming and Qing Dynasties,the destruction of the social order in Minnan caused by Japanese pirates,the war between Ming Zheng government and Qing government and the frequent occurrence of fighting between villages and clans during Ming and Qing Dynasties and the culture tradition of “combination of martial art and temple” formed by common development of Minnan folk belief and the Minnan folk martial art since Ming and Qing Dynasties all make Minnan martial art learning folkway prevail together.This results in continuous development of Minnan folk martial art and forms three features: there are a large number of people learning folk martial art and the fame of valiancy is well known,there are many sorts of folk martial art and fighting skills of different schools blend together,the spread of folk martial art is widely and the communication between both sides of Taiwan Strait is close.However,Minnan folk martial art changes a lot in his development process because of the change of the social and cultural environment.Its nature has changed into folk sports and folk activity and developed together from a fighting skill in the beginning.Its function has been dominated by physical and mental exercise and entertainment adjustment instead of being dominated by offensive and defensive combat so that the historical value,the scientific research value,the folk value and the economic value come into being.Moreover,the inheriting way of Minnan folk martial art has combined with family,master and school education instead of family and master only in the beginning.As traditional martial art clubs are almost built attaching to temples in Minan,Minnan folk martial art and Minnan folk belief form a close relationship so that Minnan folk martial art culture and temple culture form a special “culture symbiosis” relationship.Analyzing field work data for one year of Jiaoziqiao Community Martial Art Club and Zhenanmiao Temple in Xiangcheng,Zhangzhou can dig the folk connotation contained in Minnan folk martial art and reveal the “culture symbiosis” relationship further,then putting forward some relative countermeasures and proposals from the perspective of cultural ecology protection to solve the problems appearing in the work of inheriting and protecting Minnan folk martial art nowadays.These constitute main study contents of Minnan folk martial art culture,providing a newer idea for the study of Minnan folk martial art in the future.