If you like to watch martial arts novels or movies, you may have noticed that many martial arts stories are set in the Ming Dynasty. For example, Jin Yong's sword stained with royal blood is set in the middle and late Ming Dynasty. "Eternal Dragon Slayer" is also the Ming Dynasty, and even Zhu Yuanzhang appeared. Another example is some classic martial arts movies, such as "Royal Guards", which tell the story of the Ming Dynasty. Some martial arts stories that don't specify the time background, such as the legendary swordsman and Xinlongmen Inn, many people tend to assume that the story background is in the Ming Dynasty. But the question is, China has such a long history, why do these martial arts stories have such a soft spot for the Ming Dynasty?

Anecdotes about chivalrous men have been circulated in the pre-Qin philosophers' times. For example, Sima Qian has already made biographies for all kinds of chivalrous assassins in history in Historical Records. But after all, this is only a historical event recorded in the official history, and it has not formed a social culture. The prosperity of martial arts culture did not reach its peak until the Ming Dynasty. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, there was a Ming Wuzong, who was highly trained in martial arts, and his behavior was very free and easy, full of chivalrous demeanor. Moreover, in the Ming Dynasty, not only the royal nobles advocated martial arts, but also novels describing men and women at the bottom of society tried their best to eulogize the chivalrous spirit. The most famous novel in Ming Dynasty is Water Margin, in which almost all the heroes in Liangshan are examples of outlaws. Although its fictional background is Song Dynasty, it is obvious that what Shi Naian wants to express is the social sentiment at that time.

but why did the Ming society advocate martial arts so much? In fact, this is closely related to the formation of social atmosphere at that time and the changes of political and human environment at that time.

During the Ming Dynasty, Japanese pirates always harassed China's coastal areas, so many famous anti-Japanese heroes were born, such as Yu Dayou and Qi Jiguang, whose heroic achievements are immortal. But you may not know that there are many chivalrous figures among the aides of these famous anti-Japanese soldiers. Among them, many chivalrous men even died heroically for generals, and scholars died for confidants, which became the core values at that time in the rivers and lakes of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, there are all kinds of sects in martial arts novels. You may think that perhaps only Shaolin and Wudang are true, and other strange gangs are probably fictional. That's where you are wrong. The social ecology of sects in martial arts novels is really a true portrayal of the Ming Dynasty. We haven't even heard of many small sects, but they were really prosperous at that time. The followers of these sects not only practice martial arts to defend themselves, but also teach their martial arts to their disciples everywhere. The "Eighteen Martial Arts" that we often talk about was decided during the Ming Dynasty.

One reason is that the imperial examination channels became increasingly narrow in the Ming Dynasty, and it was difficult for many apprentices to realize their life ideals through the imperial examination system. Therefore, they had to expand their life ideals and living space from other directions, and the saying that nothing is a scholar was born in the social environment at that time. These literati's ideal of achieving success by obtaining fame has failed, and they are still considered worthless. I certainly hope that society can respect their existence. So they began to seek to break through the order and establish another kind of values with a demeanor similar to that of a chivalrous man in order to gain social recognition.

so in the Ming dynasty, a new group called "mountain people" came into being, that is, hermits living in the deep mountains. Later, Badashan people in the Qing Dynasty and Qi Baishi in modern times called themselves Baishishan people, and this title also began to appear in the Ming Dynasty. Compared with the later mountain people, most of them were literati, and the mountain people in the Ming Dynasty often traveled with swords and were active in the rivers and lakes, which had a considerable impact on society. In addition, even those literati who have gained fame and mastered the right to speak have a very depressed living environment. As we all know, the East Factory, the West Factory and the Royal Guards were special secret agencies in the Ming Dynasty. These secret agencies joined forces to closely monitor the officials and people at that time, which restricted the life of literati everywhere. Even though these literati are in the DPRK, they are still invisibly forced to yearn for another chivalrous life of pleasure and enmity. Therefore, we can also see that in the martial arts works, those eunuchs and fathers-in-law who supervise the East Factory and the West Factory, as well as the guards in the Royal Guards, are often villains with high martial arts skills but are ruthless, which is indeed closely related to the negative evaluation of them in society at that time. Therefore, a true martial arts novel can not only tell a good story, but also give comments to future generations, from which you can have a deeper understanding of the social humanities it reflects.