〈권술견문록(拳術見聞錄)〉과 민족영웅 곽원갑(霍元甲)의 신화

Abstract

The current study explores a couple of aspects involving the myths of Huo Yuanjia, a national hero in the late Qing and the early Republic China. In the myths, two important episodes were most important. One was about his protecting western missionaries and Chinese Christians against the The Boxers in Tianjin and his punishing the head of The Boxers. The other was about his defeating a Russian giant man who used to insult the Chinese by referring to them as the sick men of East Asia. One of the arguments that this study is suggesting is that the two episodes were conceived by a martial arts novel writer and a researcher of martial arts Pingjiang Buxiaosheng, who compiled Huo’s myths completing him to be the national hero by creating Righteous Heroes of Modern Times[Jindai Xiayi Yingxiong Zhuan]. The reason for the claim is the that, except Pingjiang Buxiaosheng, no one in even Chin Woo Athletic Association mention the episodes. The claim was further supported by the series of contrastive text analyses of all the descriptions of Huo in both Biography of Great Strongman Huo Yuanjia [Da Lishi Huo Yuanjia chuan] and Sketches of Chinese Martial Arts [Qianshu Jianwenlu] conducted in the current study. Although the episodes were first released to the public through Xiao Rulin’s Biography of Great Strongman Huo Yuanjia, through the analyses, this paper suggests that Huo in Pingjiang’s Sketches of Chinese Martial Arts was written earlier than that of Xiao. In addition to the introduction of the two episodes, the paper investigates how the two played an important part in making Huo as a national hero. Russian giant man episode—the single battle with the Russian giant man was an alternative choice for the cancelation of the fight with an Western giant man which was originally planned—led Huo to acquire the status and quality of national hero. The Boxers episode, which occurred before the Russian giant man episode, played a role in certifying Huo to be one of best fighters in China so that he can fight with the Russian giant man. The episode is also meaningful in that it removed the obstacle for the Chinese martial arts society by completely denying the society’s relations with the Boxers. Pinjiang’s creation of the Boxers episode demonstrates that his martial artist identity has been an huge influential factor in making Huo as the national hero.