[Modern Xuchang Experiences·Anecdotes of "Hard Belly Society" (Part 1)]
Anecdotes of "Hard Belly Society" in Xuchang a hundred years ago
Text‖ Confucius Quiet Picture‖ Network
In the early 20s, due to warlord melee, local bandits rose up, and bandits in Xuchang dozens of times, robbing families everywhere, disturbing the people running around, restless day and night. Located on the edge of Xu (Chang) and Lin (Ying) counties, the villages of Shizhuang, Sun Liuzhao, Gu Xu Wang, Liyuan, Li Jian, former Liu Wang, Later Liu Wang, Jiang Liji and other villages are places where bandits often harass each other. The people in the village are worried about their lives, regardless of their wealth.
For their own safety, they organized armed associations and clubs, hired teachers, learned martial arts, stood guard, and defended their homes. At the same time, neighboring villages formed an alliance to communicate information and support each other, and bandits took unified anti-fighting actions when they came. Because the association and society are crowded and the prevention is tight, it has played a certain role in curbing small groups of bandits and protecting the safety of the masses. (To appreciate the article selected from "Xuchang Experiences in Modern Times", welcome to click the following link:
When I was young, I often heard elders tell stories about the hard belly club, and left a deep impression on my mind. In recent years, I went back to my hometown to reminisce about the past with several 80-year-olds. They still missed the major events that happened in the hard belly club back then. I will remember them briefly.
Joining the club and practicing qigong
The so-called "hard belly" is actually a kind of qigong. But people at that time did not understand science, advocate superstition, and said that "hard belly" is "invulnerable to swords and guns, and turns bad luck into good luck" under the protection of God.
Most of the hard-bellied teachers hired in our area are from the Tupu near Linying County. It is said that there is a master with great martial arts skills there, and many famous disciples have been taught, so people from other places are recruiting them. After the teacher was invited in the village, I found three empty rooms as the hard-bellied club and community hall (some called the venue). The center of the house worshiped the ancestor and Guan Gong . Because the martial arts of hard-bellied farming were magical at that time, most young and middle-aged people were willing to join the club to learn martial arts. When entering the club, a ceremony was held first, which was to burn paper and kowtow to the ancestor and Guan Gong. At the same time, the teacher drew nine cinnabar talismans with yellow paper. After igniting it, the paper ash was placed in nine small black bowls, mixed into the well to pull cold water, and let the people who entered the club drink it. Then, the teacher talked about the rules and some taboos, such as the absolute for the ancestor. Sincere, you cannot be close to women during practice, you must not eat meat, etc., otherwise the spirit will not be blessed and you will not practice well.
After joining the club, you mainly practice. Practice mainly in the winter and spring seasons, usually work during the day and practice at night. First, practice "bricking", that is, use a whole brick to hit your legs, and then gradually hit your body and arms, and finally break the whole brick when hitting your head. When you are placing bricks, hit it "ha". Practice this every day until the bricks hit your body without feeling pain.
also has the ability to "bricking bricks" that is not strong, and you can stop practicing halfway. For example, a Jiang surnamed Jiang in Jiang Liji Village, today He was 82 years old and 14 years old and participated in the hard belly club to practice. He recalled: "After I joined the club, the teacher asked me to practice brick rehearsing, and it hurt to smash the bricks on the calf. I smashed the teacher lightly and said it would not work. I couldn't stand the sin, so I didn't practice." After practicing "brick rehearsing", he continued to practice "brick rehearsing". The method was the same as "brick rehearsing", but instead used a big knife to chop it against his body. It was not until it was cut on the flesh that it didn't hurt. Finally, he also had to practice "brick rehearsing".
According to an old man in Shizhuang Village who had witnessed practicing "brick rehearsing rehearsing rehearsing rehearsing at night, using two "earth-mounted" (a kind of earth-made cannon ) on two square tables, loaded with special shells, so that the rehearser kneeled 50 meters away, and waited with his chest open.
When the teacher shouted "Watching cannons" beside the "Garden", the rehearser quickly stood up and rushed towards the cannons, "hum, ha" and the gunman holding the "Garden" immediately fired the cannons, leaving no scars when the gun shot on his body. The two practiced, and then the other two practiced, until dozens of those who learned hard belly practiced.
For those who enter the hard club, each person uses a long yellow cloth strip to tie his waist and wears a bellyband with a yellow cloth seam. It is said that it can block the entry of swords and guns. Each person also has a banana leaf fan, which is held when the opponent is confronted, saying that it can fan the bullets away.
The talisman under the foreign gun failed
was around the tenth day of the first lunar month in 1921. Six small bandits (some say more than ten people) came from Mi County and Dengfeng . After eating and drinking in Xuchang City, they were led by their accomplice Linying Gaozhuang Ma Fuzhou, and settled in Yangquan Village (now belonging to Jiangguanchi Township, Xuchang County) at the junction of Xuchang and Linying Linying counties. The horses were the bottom line and prepared to "do work" in nearby villages.
The next morning, Yangquan Village secretly went out to Sun Liu, Zhao, Yan Chunni's house and leaked the news. When Yan heard about this, he immediately went to Guxuwang Village to report the "hard belly field". After hearing about the hard belly of the village, he summoned the members of the community and dated the members of Liyuan Village. He decided to go to Yangquan to fight for "walking" in the afternoon. At that time, the elderly Murakami came out to persuade him. He practiced a hard belly and thought that he had good skills. He did not listen to others' persuasion and insisted on his own.
[Unfinished, please continue to appreciate the wonderful content of "Hard Belly Society Anecdotes (Part 2)" tomorrow]
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