8 Generals performances ()

[brianlkennedy]

Although not directly related to Chinese martial arts, still I thought a couple of photos I took last week might be of some interest or amusement. And actually there is some connection as most of the guys involved in these temple parades are also involved in southern Shaolin systems (be they Hung Gar, White Crane or some other system).

It is an 8 Generals performance (八家&#23559. The performance was actually across the river from my neighborhood in a part of Taipei known as the Dihua district (迪&#21270. The 8 Generals act to protect the neighborhood from various evil spirits, ghost and pestilences. The kid is supposed to represent the god the 8 Generals serve.

In any event I thought it might be of interest and it does show how martial arts and martial themes are interwoven into Chinese culture and religion.

Take care,
Brian

 

[Rabu]

Wow!

(I am a total addict for this site already, and it only gets better)

If you could, I (at least) would greatly appreciate your continued posting of daily pics of Taiwan. The little snapshots of your experience are wonderful to see.

Thank you for sharing!

Best regards,

Rob

 

[Xue Sheng]

cool

 

[tshadowchaser]

would you please explain to us what exactly the 8 generals performances involve and represent

 

[brianlkennedy]

What I have called the 8 Generals is probably more accurately translated as the 8 Retainers in the sense of staff officers working for a court official. And actually what they are quite close to, in a weird sense, is cops, police officers and detectives.
Their job is to investigate, arrest and punish evil spirits, ghosts and other banes on the neighborhood. This kind of comes out with the photos. Several of the guys are carrying wooden handcuffs and badges (the kind of wooden fan thing in the guys hands).
What the performance actually consists of is them being possessed by the spirits and then they literally walk the beat around the neighborhood. For example the day I took the photos they walked two laps around the neighborhood.

To kind of give a broader perspective let me quote from an article of mine that will be published later this year. In that article I say:

But this is not the only reason for the swords and the Generals and the martial arts forms. On a more religious, or metaphysical aspect; for traditional Chinese culture there is both this seen, normal everyday world but alongside of the seen world is an unseen but nonetheless very real world “overlaid” or “intermixed” with the normal physical world. This unseen world was the world of wandering ghost, evil spirits, demonic forces and these were, in traditional Chinese metaphysics, the causes of various misfortunes, diseases, plagues and other pestilence.
The way to “battle” against these forces involved a combination of bribery and beatings; carrot and sticks so to speak. The bribery consisted of paying respects to these evil forces, burning hell money and incense. The beatings aspect involved the players in the temple parades, working in league with various good deities to subdue and beat down the evil forces or by their presence frighten the evil forces away from the village or town. The various hand gestures, the uniforms, the weapons and the solo martial arts forms were all directed at beating down invisible, but nonetheless quite real, supernatural opponents. Put simply they are “street fights” where normal people only see one of the fighters, the “good guy” while the “bad guy”, the demon or ghost, remains invisible. For a traditional Chinese these “street battles” are not a metaphor, they are quite real and their outcome will have a quite real impact on the health of the village. Put simply the martial parades are spiritual protection from disease and plague and other malicious acts.


Glad folks found the pictures of interest. Taiwan is an interesting place.

Take care,
Brian

 

[brianlkennedy]

I realized after I posted that last entry, I am only telling half the story. Although what I just mentioned is accurate, there is a very sleazily low life side to Taiwanese 8 Generals performances. And if you take a hard look at the picture, in particular the lower one, you will see a couple of guys in pink Polo shirts standing around the 8 Generals performers.

They are Taiwanese gangsters. And I mean that in the full criminal justice sense of the word, i.e. they are part of some organized crime group.

And the connection between these kind of groups and gangs came out in the news a couple of days ago. About two weeks back a Taipei County Councilman was murdered in broad daylight, in his office. The police have caught the guy who organized the killing. Guess what his day job was------8 General Performance sifu!!

So I guess it is like the old Stones song, “every cop is a criminal and all the sinners saints…”

Take care,
Brian