Marrow of the Nation: A History of Sport and Physical Culture in Republican China (Asia: Local Studies / Global Themes, 10)

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Summary: The clash of Imperial China and Western revolutionary modern
Review: An important book on the politics of physical culture in China. Those wishing to get a deep insight into the role and importance of martial arts to Chinese nationalism will find this book invaluable. The book focuses on the terrible time during the political, social, and economic collapse of traditional China and offers a deep insight into the clash of Imperial China and Western revolutionary modernism.
During the New Culture Movement of the 1910s, two clear factions developed among martial arts associations. The modernists rejected old Imperial values and proposed reform along the lines of Western and European ideas as a way of keeping martial arts relevant. Resisting these changes were the conservatives who hoped "to preserve China's old ways and skills and who reject(ed) Europeanization." The reformers strongly criticized the old traditional Shifu and associations for favoring oral transmission to a select few. They claimed that traditional factionalism and secrecy was limiting the vitality of the martial arts and even misleading the public with "mumbo-jumbo." During the first decades of the Republican era, some members of the martial arts community began repackaging wushu in modern, scientific terms, and promoting it as part of modern physical education. They argued that the martial arts were an indigenous physical culture, as useful as European exercise and sport.
Interestingly modern China, in re-packaging its culture, has taken this same route.