Globalisation and the ‘Internal Alchemy’ in Chinese Martial Arts:The Transmission of Taijiquan to Britain

Abstract

Taijiquan (t'ai chi ch'uan) is a Chinese martial art that has grown substantially in popularity and global reach since the mid-twentieth century. Known as an 'internal' martial art that combines combat techniques with meditation and longevity practices, it has influenced, and been influenced by, the global dissemination of Chinese medical and therapeutic techniques. Like other martial arts, its pedagogy and techniques were changed significantly in early twentieth century China and later during the Cultural Revolution, in line with ideals of physical fitness as a tool for social reform and nation building. In the mid-twentieth century, taijiquan migrated West, becoming aligned in the 1960s and 1970s with Western interest in holistic health, Asian meditative systems and Chinese martial arts, but its martial techniques were little known until the 1980s and 1990s. British taijiquan illustrates the complex outcomes of globalisation processes, resulting in the establishment of different hybrids. There is evidence of the transmission of simplified systems promoted by the Chinese government; of innovative adaptations, developed to suit Western needs; and practices that appear to have survived suppression in mainland China, to be reconfigured in the West. These varied outcomes have been enabled by diverse channels of transmission and by colonial relationships, for example between Britain and Hong Kong, whilst the opening of mainland China in the 1980s has added further exchanges and complexities. In Britain (as in China), at the start of the twenty-first century, taijiquan is mostly

Western men and Eastern arts: The significance of Eastern martial arts disciplines in British men's narratives of masculinity

“…These adaptations have come principally as the arts have been disembedded from their 'home' settings, and modified in order to fit within Western physical cultural norms (Krug, 2001). In this regard, the meanings of participation have borne significance through either reflecting and supporting normative Western sporting contexts, along with the popularisation of traditional Chinese medicine (Jennings, 2010;Krug, 2001;Ryan, 2008). Meanwhile, various Eastern martial arts continue to be practiced for their purported usefulness in 'real' fighting situations, being popularly taught for the purposes of self-defence (e.g.…”