Of Mongols and Shuai Jiao
Coach E-chao and his student, Alsa
Today Chinese Wrestling, or 中国式摔跤 Zhōng Guó shì shuāi jiāo, known for its dynamic movement, aggressive throws, and short-sleeved jacket, is largely dominated by Mongolian athletes.
Mongolians dominate Shuai Jiao, especially in the medium and heavy weight divisions
Today Chinese Wrestling, or 中国式摔跤 Zhōng Guó shì shuāi jiāo, known for its dynamic movement, aggressive throws, and short-sleeved jacket, is largely dominated by Mongolian athletes. Yes there are notable Han champions like Liu Tian Sheng from Baoding city and others but by-and-large, since the 1980s, Mongolian wrestlers have been consistently getting 1st place in most of China’s Shuai Jiao competitions. This might seem ironic. How are Mongolians dominating a Chinese sport? There must be a mistake. Yet, that’s the fact. As for why… we need to go back to the Manchurian Qing Empire.
In the 1600s, Nurhaci would unite the Jurchen tribes under Manchu “Banners” to conquer China. His dynasty brought about the 大清帝國 Da Qing Empire which ruled over a vast swath of land and its peoples including most Mongolian and Han peoples. Although the Manchu were farmer-hunter folk and the Mongols generally pastoral nomads, their service in the Qing Banner military system and other factors led to mutual influence on one another. One of the Mongols’ great influences on the Manchu was wrestling. What the Manchu called Buku (ᠪᡠᡴᡠ / 布庫) was essentially their version of Mongolian Bokh with their own version of the jodag. Other names were ᠵᠠᡶᡠᠨᡠᠮᠪᡳ jafunumbi and 貫跤 Guàn jiāo.
Imperial wrestling matches were held to maintain rapport and respect from the Mongols that the Qing Emperor ruled, and for this purpose a special Imperial wrestling team was formed: the 善撲營 Shàn Pū Yíng. For a couple centuries, only Manchu and Mongol Bannermen were allowed. Han Chinese only began learning the Bannerman’s wrestling in the later 1800s. Yet despite a high degree of professionalism and training, Mongol wrestlers within and outside of this elite team were still often better than the Manchu. It took a long time for the Manchu to get to the skill level of the Mongols. This is on top of the fact that most Mongols had to stay within their Banners (military-administrative divisions) unless called to Beijing, re-assigned elsewhere or mustered for war, so it’s not as if they could easily specialize their wrestling skills for the Imperial style. Wrestling became closely associated with Bannermen and the Qing dynasty. But as the empire declined, things changed…
In the late 1800s into the early 1900s, Han and Hui began to learn the art of Shuai Jiao as we know it today
Amidst European colonization, famines, rampant corruption, and atrocious civil wars and rebellions, many Han Chinese and Hui (Chinese Muslims) rose up in anger against the Banner-folk and massacred many thousands of Mongol and Manchu families. The Qing dynasty collapsed, and the Republic of China became established in 1912. The Mongol and Manchu Banner-folk (now out of work) were retreating to their homelands or hiding their identities in this turbulent and highly ethno-nationalistic China. While many felt teaching commoners was beneath them, some former Shàn Pū Yíng would train Chinese civilians. Thus, the Hui and Han Chinese began to learn the ways.
Huhu-le, heavyweight champion of the Chinese National Games of 1959
Hui Chinese martial capability blossomed in this era. From the 1920s to the 1990s, Hui martial artists, strongmen, and wrestlers did extremely well in their respective fields. In this time, an influential Hui wrestler, 馬良 Mǎ Liáng, would promote this wrestling style to the Chinese. ᡠᡴᡠ Buku or 貫跤 Guàn jiāo became known as 摔角 Shuāi jiǎo and was given a Nationalist Chinese narrative. This wrestling, re-branded as Chinese wrestling, would be taught to the military in this young Republic and for a time Shuai Jiao became popular in parts of China amongst Hui and Han Chinese.
Although considered powerful wrestlers, Mongols didn’t seem to be specializing to the Shuai Jiao format in the Republican era, and it’s possible their top talent was not always able to make it to the National Games. It seems the first Chinese wrestling school in Inner Mongolia was established in the 1950s in Hohhot - yet at the time most Mongolians were still living as rural herders.
E-chao (left) has been National Shuai Jiao champion at least 10x
However, in the 1980s, Mongols in Uzemchin started to standardize Bokh and systematically train in 摔跤 Shuāi Jiāo. Formal teams began popping up all over Inner Mongolia and the region’s skill got even better. The Mongol athletes began rapidly dominating the sport. Due to the deep wrestling culture of Mongolian people, their training methods, and the similarity of the two arts - Shuai Jiao essentially being an offshoot of Bokh - the Mongols continue to do very well in Chinese wrestling. Mongolian wrestlers would often be spread out and put on Chinese provincial teams. Coach Huhe (RIP) for example was a champion in 2008 and yet the record has him from Xian. Now, this is not to say non-Mongols do not succeed. There are several notable Han Chinese champions, and many do well in the lighter weights under 70 kg, and as noted before, the Hui did extremely well for about 70 years. However the re-appearance of the Mongols and their subsequent domination of the sport is undeniable.
Yes, during the Qing, Han and Hui were not wrestling against the Imperial team…
…and of course in the rocky days of the Republican era, Hui and Han Chinese wrestlers were doing quite well in a time when the Mongols were often more impoverished and had less access to national-level wrestling.
Now in the People's Republic of China, with everyone having a chance, we can better compare things and the Mongols are clearly doing many things right - and they have the gold medals to prove it.
Vincent Tseng @the.wandering.warrior
