wushu, past and present
Wushu is choreography with practically no real martial content. Its modern incarnation is a creation of the communist government's sports ministry as a sugar-coated mishmosh of traditional martial arts forms to be promoted as exercise and entertainment. Hand-to-hand combat techniques were to be reserved for the military and police. Hence the insubstantial nature of wushu "weapons" whose thin blades make a nice noise as they are swung about.
Wushu does have antecedents in the flashy martial arts displays that were often part of the lowbrow entertainment of the marketplace in imperial China. These acts were sometimes paired with strongmen pulling massive bows or heaving large stone blocks, or boxers who would invite the wannabe pugilists in the audience to join them in a bout. Enterprising medicine pitchmen would often hire these guys as a "testimonial", and secret societies sometimes used the shows to attract young ne'er-do-wells as potential members.
The weapons used for such shtiks were often of exaggerated proportions, and more importantly, designed to make noise. An example is the broad falchion with 9 loose-rings on the dorsal side of the blade. Tridents would often have several large iron washers mounted on the shank between the tines and the socket that would jingle as the devices were brandished. The difference is that such show-weapons of the past were sometimes of considerable size and heft (although their blades of course were mostly unsharpened) whereas today's wushu weapons are almost all extremely light and flimsy.
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