A place of secret scriptures and magical forces
The clash of swords, mystical forces that send people flying and secret scriptures depicting the stances for hand and weapon combat.
It’s all in the Chinese Martial Arts Museum, which takes visitors on a whirlwind tour of kung fu history with more than 2,000 collection items. The museum, inside the Shanghai University of Sports, is a journey into the world of ancient Chinese chivalry. A giant painted column, covered with auspicious clouds, stands upright in the center of the hall. Carved in a fist-holding salute pattern, it represents the spirit of kung fu etiquette and mutual respect.
A map of China stretches out, highlighting the 29 provinces that were the cradle of 129 boxing schools, such as mantis boxing in Shandong Province, Shaolin boxing in Henan Province and eagle’s claw boxing in Hebei Province.
The walls of the museum are adorned with traditional Chinese weapons, including the 18 famous “cold weapons” such as the saber, spear, sword, halberd, axe, lance, whip and hammer.
A southern broadsword used in the first Chinese kung fu competition about 30 years ago is also on display. In trained hands, it could be used for striking, hacking, chopping, pushing and sweeping.
The wolf-toothed cudgel, an ancient weapon that appears only in kung fu fiction, has been reproduced. Its head is nailed with numerous iron spikes, which resembles the teeth of a wolf. The cudgel was used in battle to chop, punch, block and thrust against enemies.
The meteor hammer, a “soft” martial arts weapon, is convenient to carry and easy to use. Shaped like a small watermelon or a papaw, it can hurtle through the air as fast flying as a meteor sweeping across the sky.
A nine-section whip consists of a head, handle and eight steel knobs, connected by three iron loops in every section. The whip is used to wrap, sweep, swing and hang enemies.
A horsetail whip, originally used in Taoism, can also be a weapon in kung fu. It’s made of animal’s hair — often horsetail or deer tail — or of silk tied onto the front of the handle. The whip is used to lash upward, sweep downward, twist and tilt.
Portable cached weapons, allowing the most cryptic stunts in Chinese kung fu, are also on display. They include a flying dart, a plum-flower needle, a sleeve arrow and an iron billiard.
One flying sword was constructed with a groove on one side, where poison could be stashed to hasten blood loss when the weapon was thrust into skin. A concealed sleeve arrow could be activated quickly in attack.
Chinese kung fu dates back about 6,000 years, before metal was used in the instruments of hunting and warfare.
In the Xia (c. 21st-16th century BC), Shang (c. 1600-1046 BC) and Zhou (1046256 BC) dynasties, the Chinese learned how to alloy copper and zinc. In the Warring States (5th century-221 BC), bronze daggers and spears appeared. Installed onto long wooden sticks, the