Embarrassing Martial Arts: Masters Passing on the “Real Things” and Local Valuation in Shanxi

ABSTRACT: Chinese martial arts are traditionally transmitted through the private master-disciple relationship. In recent years, some masters have been expressing their concern about the desuetude of their art, which calls into question the confidential modes of transmission and what is held to be orthodox in it. Concurrently, intangible cultural heritage (ICH) taken by a wide range of social actors, including the masters, attempts to valuate practices and perpetuate lineages. Fieldwork observations, however, enable the analysis of complex lineage functioning and a certain embarrassment linked to historicity and martiality when it comes to promoting traditional martial arts outside the private sphere. This article draws on masters’ narratives (oral testimonies and written sources), taking xingyiquan (“form and intention boxing”) as the main case study, conducted in Shanxi Province in 2017 and 2018. It aims at questioning the constraints balance arising from efforts to preserve cultural integrity, on the one hand, and engaging in valuation and standardisation processes, on the other. KEYWORDS: martial arts, esoteric practices, lineages, transmission of knowledge, cultural valuation, ICH, xingyiquan, Shanxi.