Emanuele Papa 31/05/24
At times, when talking about the relationship between Inner Mongolian bökh and modern Chinese wrestling, people often bring up the stark difference in terms of their wrestling attire and struggle to see a clear connection between them. At first glance, the two styles seem to only share the choice of a short-sleeved jacket. Indeed, contemporary Chinese-style wrestling gear is composed of a set of modern wrestling shoes, pants and a short-sleeved jacket made of hard cotton. In contrast, today's wrestlers from Inner Mongolia wear heavy leather boots and a studded leather wrestling jacket called jodag ᠵᠣᠳᠤᠭ. However, there was a very specific point in history in which the outfit used was more similar than what people might expect. The goal of this brief article is to highlight more clearly the similarities in terms of the outfit worn by the wrestler at around the time considered as the origin or source of Chinese wrestling - the Qing dynasty.
To start our comparison, let us look back in time and explore the outfit worn by the wrestlers of the Shanpuying 善扑营 - a battalion of the Qing army under the jurisdiction of the Bodyguard office considered as the source of modern Chinese wrestling. To do so, it is necessary to take a look at two short fragments describing the Qing dynasty Manchu wrestlers:
[...] 短衣窄袖峭裲裆
[wearing] short jackets [with] narrow sleeves and a pair of chaps
顾汧, 《扑交行》. Gu Qian, “Wrestling Ballad,” 1712.
黃幄高張傳布庫，數十白衣白于鹭。
衣才及尻露兩檔，千條綫縫十層布。
[In front of] the tent of the emperor [those with] a high rank thought buku (wrestling), dozens [all] wearing clothes, white like egrets.
Their clothes (jacket) reach down to the buttock leaving the over-pants exposed, [they] made with a thousand threads woven in ten layers of cotton cloth.
赵翼,《行围即景·相扑》. Zhao Yi, “Hunting round Extempore," 1812.
These two different poem fragments, written during the Qing dynasty, exactly one hundred years from each other, give us an idea of what the wrestlers used to wear. Firstly, let us pay attention to the word liangdang 裲裆. In both the two poems the term is used to describe a pair of chaps or over-pants, also known in chinese as taoku 套裤 and takitu ᡨᠠᡴᡳᡨᡠ in Manchu.
Although often referenced as "pants" ku 裤, the takitu actually consist of two different pieces, each to be worn covering legs and knees and attached to the belt at the waist with straps. They could be made of different materials, such as cotton, yarn, satin, silk and also deer skin. This kind of over-pants was part of the Qing and Manchu clothing and reflects the practical needs and aesthetic taste of northern ethnic minorities. They could be worn both during everyday life and military activities. Therefore, it is possible to assume that when wrestling, wrestlers used to simply keep wearing part of their military attire such as leather or cloth booths, pants and over pants, as we can see in the following drawings of that time.
In terms of the jacket used during wrestling, the previous fragments are coherent with all the various depictions of the time and describe a short-sleeve, white jacket, made of hard cotton.
Modern day shuaijiao refers to the jacket simply as jiiaoyi 跤衣wrestling clothing. However, among the people, particularly among the old wrestlers of the capital, the term that is mostly used is dalian 褡裢. This theme in Chinese describes a cotton pocket bag used to carry a variety of items and that was designed to be carried over the shoulder. It would thus be reasonable to ask how this word can be used in reference to the wrestling jacket. A more superficial answer might be that this term was used in reference to the similar material used both for this kind of bag and for the wrestling jacket. Both are indeed made of rough cotton. However, there might be a more complex answer. If we take a look at a Chinese - Manchu dictionary, we would discover that the Manchu word daliyan ᡩᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ was also used to refer both to the same specific type of bag and to the jacket worn by the wrestlers. It is thus very likely that the Chinese word dalian is a loan word from the Manchu daliyan. However, it is important to note that in the Manchu language another word fokto ᡶᠣᡴᡨᠣ was also used to refer to the wrestling jacket.
To sum up, during the time in which what we now call Chinese-style wrestling was developed, wrestlers used to wear an open-chest white cotton jacket, takitu over-pants and boots. In contrast to the kind of jacket worn today, besides the stark difference in color - red and blue borders - is the fit of the jacket. Indeed, during the imperial times and throughout the republican period, up until a few decades ago, the jacket used to fit quite tight and always have an open chest, thus without the two lapels folding onto each other. The practice of wearing a closed jacket, without excessively exposing the chest and stomach, is a rather modern development, probably caused by the influence of judo. This practice is highly criticized by some coaches because wearing the jacket in such a fashion does not allow the use of certain grips. Such practice is slowly disappearing due to the adoption of a new cut of jackets that allows for a more "open chest" fit.
The outfit just now described appears to be very similar to that worn by Inner Mongolia wrestlers today, if we do not take into consideration the different material of which the jacket was made and the presence of metal studs.
However, it should be mentioned that Inner Mongolia bökh wrestling also went through a series of changes, and through what can be described as a "standardization." Back even a few decades ago, it was still possible to come across a wide variety of materials used and jacket styles, varying depending on the region. The use of leather for the totality of the jacket is in fact a rather recent development. In the past, the wrestling jacket style and materials could vary mainly between fully cotton jackets, cotton jackets with leather borders and studs or fully leather studded jackets.
As we mentioned previously, the outfit of the wrestlers would vary depending on the customs of its region. For instance, wrestlers from the Hulunbuir region used to wear a style of white cloth jacket that was generally shorter and that was secured to the chest through a built-in rope. Unfortunately, this style of jacket has disappeared due to "standardization" of the jacket style used for Inner Mongolian bökh today. However, a special feature that survived until today are the peculiar shin guards called toliya ᠲᠤᠯᠢᠶᠠ worn and tightened together with the leather boots.
Wrestlers from other areas such as those coming from the Xilingol league used to wear the same kind of over/pants that we described above, which in Mongolian are called tuhuu ᠲᠤᠬᠤ and a colored skirt called labaier ᠯᠡᠪᠷᠢ. This last item of clothing, although not mentioned in the poem fragments we examined, still remains present in the wrestling depictions and in the memories of old wrestlers. According to Li Baoru, such kind of skirt was called colored skirt caiqun 彩裙 or water skirt 水裙 shuiqun.
After analyzing both the outfits worn by the Inner Mongolia bökh wrestlers and by those of the Shanpuying, it becomes easier to understand the connection between them. I could keep writing at length about their historical relationship, but this is not the goal of this brief article. Here my goal is to show how it is possible to highlight a common or similar cultural and historical background through the exploration of the clothing and garments worn by the wrestlers. This is possible because the wrestler's outfit is not just an accessory to the practice but rather a means through which the person becomes and gains its identity as a wrestler. It is possible to say that the wrestling outfit speaks to those that understand its cultural background. The wrestlers' clothes thus have the creative power to make wrestlers, shaping a person into one. Of course, this could work only if there was a shared understanding of its cultural background. Indeed, a person dressed in a freestyle singlet and wearing modern wrestling shoes would still be a wrestler, but it would not be one belonging to the wrestling scenes of the grasslands or of the great Qing hunts.
Despite the similarities in the wrestling outfit we just talked about, many still refuse to recognize and accept that what is today commonly referred to as Chinese shuaijiao has its roots deeply planted within the Qing dynasty and its Manchu and Mongolian heritage. This brief analysis shows us how, during the Qing dynasty, people coming from different but closely related cultures used to take part in a common practice. We could say that not just back then, but even now, the wrestler's outfit is not just a marginal part of the practice but rather that which gives the participants their unique identity as wrestlers.
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