Integration of National Complex and Sports Techniques: A View on the Historical Media of the Chinese Martial Arts from Unification of Martial Arts (1934-1935)

The Unification of Martial Arts was an important publication about martial arts during the period of the Republic of China. As a media for communication, it exerted a huge positive impact on spreading traditional Chinese martial arts in its ways and the contents. Therefore, this paper explores this journal through the method of literature and logic analysis. The study finds that, in terms of the content spreading, Unification of Martial Arts mainly has analyzed the martial arts from its unified concept, its ambitious thought of building China into a powerful nation, the basic knowledge of martial arts, its history and the legendary stories related to it. In terms of the ways, photographs have become an important carrier of martial arts techniques and a way of expressing national complex. The communication and investigation have presented the readers with a learning platform for interaction. Meanwhile, the dissemination of information about other sports has broken through the limitation in martial arts communication, demonstrating the inclusive spirit in the sporting world.


Introduction
The phrase "Martial Arts" derived from the word "Wushu", which appeared for the first time in the period of the Republic of China. The development of wushu has evolved into different factions with various fists. While in the early years of the Republic of China the propaganda of martial arts made the society give a high degree of recognition to wushu, which broke the harmony within the various factions, resulting in constant disputes. All these have hampered the healthy development of wushu. In order to mitigate this phenomenon, the Central Martial Arts Hall was established as the most important government agency to publicize martial arts, and to promote and propaganda the movement of the unification of martial arts in the period of the Republic of China. With this in mind, the Central Martial Arts Hall adopted a series of measures to promote the unification of martial arts: the establishment of a unified martial arts committee to lead the unified movement of martial arts, the use of unified martial arts curriculum standards and teaching materials, the unification of the definition of martial arts related terms, the active support in the establishment of publications related to martial arts aiming at the promotion of the movement of the unification of martial arts. The purpose of the unification of martial arts was to take the national martial arts as the starting point to first unify the national martial arts to eliminate the factions and work together to develop a scientific martial art. On this basis, efforts were made to popularize martial arts and achieve the unification of martial arts with sport (Note 1). Zhang Zhijiang once said in the Unification of Martial Arts that the unification of martial arts never meant turning the diversified moves of wushu into a singular and monotonous action. Instead, it stands for developing martial arts in a scientific way in the combination of fresh knowledge so as to systematize and organize them in a more acceptable way (Note 2 & Note 3). Under the circumstances, the Unification of Martial Arts was established and the journal named Unification of Martial Arts was published.
The Journal of Unification of Martial Arts was founded in July 1934 by the Shanghai Unified Monthly of Martial Arts, the editor of which was a martial arts enthusiast, Jiang Xiahun who later compiled the book named Illustration of Shaolin Fists. He made friends with those of congenial ambitions, such as Zhu Minyi, Xu Zhiyi, Tang Fansheng (Tan Hao), Lu Weichang, Chen Zhenming, Hu Puan, Zhang Qidong, etc. Driven by the interest in martial arts, they advocated and organized the publication office of unified monthly of martial arts. The office was originally located in Rui Kangli at Rue Kraetzar and then relocated in the 190th at Chapsal Rue. Four months prior to the publication of the journal, the publication office published special issues of the unified martial arts in the supplement of the Citizen once a week. However, due to a series of problems hovering the journal, such as long intervals in supplement publication, the limited layout, excessive amount of manuscripts waiting for publication and poor emendation, the supplement naturally failed to meet the demand of the unified monthly magazine and the readers. Confronted with these challenges, Jiang Xiahun and other colleagues jointly set up the Unification of Martial Arts to popularize and specify wushu in a scientific way so as to carry martial arts forway (Note 4).

Martial Arts
Unification of Martial Arts was originally planned to publish for 10 periods, and cease publishing in www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/wjssr In the Declaration of Start Publication, Jiang Xiahun once said that the purpose of creating this journal was to spread traditional Chinese martial arts and martial ethics within it so that the Chinese people could revive the glory and wash away their national humiliation (Note 7). He also believed that martial arts and its spirit were significant components: the former referred to the moves presented to the outside, while the latter talked about the internal spirit. The spread of Chinese traditional martial arts shall take the two factors into consideration. Therefore, the establishment of the Unification of Martial Arts was to present and spread Chinese traditional martial arts through words and articles. The contents were divided into five parts, which included unified concept, ambitious thought of building China into a powerful nation, the basic knowledge of martial arts, its history and the legendary stories related.
Popularity of "Unification of Martial Arts": Unification of Martial Arts was funded when the movement of unification of martial arts was carried out. A glance at name of the journal rendered you a clear notion that it bolstered up and promoted the movement. Since the inception of Unification of Martial Arts, major politicians discussed the domestic status quo and military situation related to the unification of martial arts from an international perspective. For example, in the opening declaration of the second issue, Jiang Xiahun elaborated on the relationship between martial arts and unity. He thought that from the political perspective, the unification of martial arts rallied people to resist foreign enemies. Besides, to popularize martial arts would improve our physical health and strengthen our minds. Therefore, the unification of martial arts was necessary and served as the base of our nation, but the first thing we should do is to make it recognized by every citizen (Note 8). In order to promote the movement, the martial arts scholars keenly pointed out that "Chinese traditional fists shall be first adopted for physical training in army and soldiers shall learn and practice two or more types of fists (Note 9). The unification of martial arts movement, not only promoted the harmony and unity among factions, but benefited for building a strong national physique and forging an indomitable spirit. When people at that time tried every means to popularize martial arts, they advocated for being broad-minded by drawing strengths in sports from other countries. It also means that when we upgrade martial arts and learn from others in a critical way, we shall broaden our horizon and identify the characteristics of sports from other nations in an impartial way. Besides, we shall take the economic condition of our nation into consideration so as to make a rational decision (Note 10). The Unification of Martial Arts was regarded as a major platform for idea exchange in martial arts. It closely followed the latest development in that field and the famous articles published rendered it an authoritative position.
The concept of building a powerful nation: Before Unification of Martial Arts was established, the Chinese nation was confronted with domestic trouble and foreign invasion. The foreign powers acted in collusion to invade us and the Japanese army started to set foot on China's territory (Note 11).
Unfortunately, in face of these challenging situations, the Chinese people weakened both in physical strength and mental spirit. To revitalize the country, we must strengthen our body, enhance our physique through physical exercise and enhance our national self-confidence. In this case, the martial art, as a national sport, was vigorously promoted by the Chinese people. At the same time, the movement of unification martial arts distinguished wushu from sports of other countries. As the name "wushu" was replaced by "national martial arts (guo shu)", it recognized by more and more domestic and foreign friends. Besides, almost every article in the Unification of Martial Arts emphasized the importance of practicing martial arts in enhancing our physical strength and resisting foreign invaders.
The guiding ideology of the Unification of Martial Arts aimed at defensing aggressors and wiping out humiliations on the one hand and boosting the very foundation of our nation (Note 12). It asserted that "to promote the 'martial skill' and 'martial ethics' rooted in the genes of Chinese people equaled to rally all the people to scour away the shame engraved in the Chinese history" (Note 13). At the same time the slogan was shouted out that if we want to save the nation we must first make our people strong (Note 14), as the physical strength of our people closely relates to the power of a nation (Note 15). At that time in martial arts sector, an increasing number of patriotic scholars in martial arts tended to write articles for the Unification of Martial Arts. They proposed ways to improve wushu, introduced a certain type of fists in detail and published monographs of years' dedications. In their words, it was prone to discover that they were concerned about the future of our nation and the martial arts.
Discussion on "academic theory": Unification of Martial Arts was of great significance for research on the concept of martial arts, where the columns for theory, research and monograph were offered at every period. Some of the academic theories elaborated on the benefit of martial arts to human body and on how to better carry on the exercise. For example, Ye Liang thought wushu was a popular sport to "kill three birds with one stone", which means that learning martial arts could enhance physical and   valiantly resisting Japanese invaders in Ming Dynasty. These legendary stories were of special meaning at that impoverished period when a weak nation was confronted with foreign invasion. It expressed the hope of the writers that they wished the Chinese people would carry forward the glorious stories of the two generals and realize their ambitious dream of totally dispelling Japanese army (Note 23). The legendary novels of martial arts never just meant a literature work for entertainment in that particular period, and it inspired readers who yearned for the prosperity of the country. These complied legendary novels of martial arts published were prone to spread the national value in martial arts. Meanwhile, they became more interesting and readable.

Unification of Martial Arts-A Media for the Spreading of Martial Arts
Since its inception, Unification of Martial Arts, as a media for the spreading of martial arts, set the goal of being a guide and mentor in martial world (Note 24). Therefore, this journal distinguished itself from others in the form of media communication. For example, it was good at using pictures to convey the expression of martial arts skills and national complex and paid attention to the building of an academic platform among the interaction with readers. At the same time, it boldly broke through the boundaries www.scholink.org/ojs/index.php/wjssr in spreading martial arts, demonstrating the inclusive spirit in the sporting world.
Photograph promulgating is an important carrier of martial arts techniques and national complex. As photograph was one of the most basic information dissemination methods in newspapers and magazines, photographs of martial arts featured prominently in the Unification of Martial Arts for its intuition and convenience in reading and learning. Beginners often failed to get the obscured point when moves of martial arts illustrated with words, while it was easy for them to learn when the moves readers varied from person to person. Some took a bigger picture in mind by asking the unification the development history of martial arts, while others consulted a certain type of fist and did a research on a certain article. As the Unification of Martial Arts exerted enormous influence in martial arts spreading, some readers suggested recommending several martial arts gyms and qualified martial arts teachers. Editors like Jiang Hunxia and Xu Zhiyi and other colleagues carefully replied all these questions and took their suggestions. In this interacting process, the learning and research of martial arts was upgraded to a higher level. In addition, Unification of Martial Arts remained committed to serving the public from their stances. At the request of readers, some details of the martial arts masters and groups concerned by the readers were introduced in the part of letters from readers and an investigation bulletin board was also set up, where information about domestic large-scale martial arts pavilions, stadiums and martial arts schools collected through field investigation was presented to benefit readers.

Among these, information about Outline of Shanghai Martial Arts Museum, General Information about
Taiyuan Martial Arts and General Regulations for the Enrollment of Students by Sports College was included. Surveys closely related to national education recording martial arts venues and groups formed a unique social memory of martial arts.
Other sports information break through the limitations in martial arts communication with an inclusive spirit in the sporting world. Special column was given to Messages in each period of the Unification of Martial Arts to report the events of martial arts like martial arts training, competitions and book publication. However, the content of "Unification of Martial Arts" was not confined to martial arts. Sports Assembly were included. All the messages above were from the reports and records the current sports events. In the report, two articles were noteworthy. The first one was a panoramic report named Chinese Mermaid-Yang Xiuqiong's visit to Jiang Xi Province. Yang Xiuqiong was a famous swimming actress during the Republic of China, known as the "Mermaid". Editors believed that swimming was originally very important in martial arts (Note 27), so when the famous swimmer, Yang Xiuqiong paid visit to Jiang Xi Province to attend the sports meeting, her detailed schedule was covered coupled with news related to sports. The second one was Memories of the Participation in the National Games in 1933, which was an experiential memory reports from the participators. This article was published in three installments, where the editors recorded detailed information as participators and recorders when athlete attended the opening ceremony to joined in the sports events. These articles published in Unification of Martial Arts, broken through the boundaries in professional magazines.
They reported some key events related to sports, showing an inclusive spirit in the sporting world.

Conclusion
Unification of Martial Arts comprehensively and fully recorded the development of martial arts in the movement of Unification of Martial Arts. It spread martial arts culture in the professional perspective and promotes national unity. The historical records of martial arts, the research of martial arts theory and the explanation of martial arts techniques were important documents for studying the martial arts in the period of the Republic of China, but there were some limitations in this journal. First, some articles published were taken from folk rumors without meticulous investigation. For example, the description of Wang Zongyue in Mr. Zhang Sanfeng's Biography complied by Xu Shusheng published in the combined third and fourth period was from folk rumors without any historical basis. In the combined fifth and sixth period, an article named Magic Spear of Yang Family in Song Dynasty posted at the column for historical material was from unconvincing rumors. From the overall perspective of the dissemination of martial arts culture, the Unification of Martial Arts could be regarded as a high quality and popular Wushu journal as it was of important reference value for the study of the propagation of martial arts for later generations.