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

Average Customer Rating: List Price: $55.00 Asia Trips Trips Price: $55.00 Subject To Change Without Notice Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Manufacturer: University of California Press
Binding: Hardcover Dewey Decimal Number: 796.095109 EAN: 9780520240841 ISBN: 0520240847 Label: University of California Press Manufacturer: University of California Press Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 388 Publication Date: 2004-09-13 Publisher: University of California Press Studio: University of California Press
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Editorial Reviews: By 1907, staff at the Tianjin YMCA were rallying their Chinese charges with the cry: When will China be able to send a winning athlete to the Olympic contests? When will China be able to invite all the world to Peking for an International Olympic contest? Nearly a century later, on the eve of China's first-ever Olympic games, this innovative book shows for the first time how sporting culture and ideology played a crucial role in the making of the modern nation-state in Republican China. A landmark work on the history of sport in China, Marrow of the Nation tells the dramatic story of how Olympic-style competitions and ball games, as well as militarized forms of training associated with the West and Japan, were adapted to become an integral part of the modern Chinese experience.
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: The clash of Imperial China and Western revolutionary modern Comment: 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. More Reviews