ABSTRACT
This chapter studies the relationship between politics, nationalism and Chinese martial arts in the Republic of China era (1912–1949) in the context of civil wars and the First and Second World Wars. It explains why the Nationalist government, educationalists and the general public supported the widespread promotion of what they called ‘guoshu’ as a means to encourage individual fitness and benefit national defence, and highlights its role in reinforcing national unity and constructing national spirit and national identity among the Chinese. The Republic of China era also saw the rise of ‘wuxia’ novels and movies. Chinese novelists and movie producers consciously or unconsciously used Chinese martial arts to invent a cultural identity, and aided the construction of a collective modern national identity among the Chinese. These wuxia novels and movies in turn helped Chinese martial arts make a rhetorical claim to national identity. A wuxia culture mixed with nationalism took shape.
