Skills and Martial Arts
The most notable martial art of the Beggars' Sect are the 'Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms' (traditional Chinese: 降龍十八掌; simplified Chinese: 降龙十八掌; pinyin: Xiáng Lóng Shí Bā Zhǎng) and the 'Dog Beating Staff Technique' (Chinese: 打狗棒法; pinyin: Dá Gǒu Bàng Fǎ). The chief is expected to have a profound mastery of both, especially the latter, which is only passed on from a chief to his/her successor. No other member, not including the elders, know the 'Dog Beating Staff Technique'. The sect has a battle formation known as the Dog Beating Formation (打狗陣). A typical member is usually armed with at least a wooden staff.
Since members are not limited to only beggars, people from all walks of life join the sect, including scholars and military personnel. As such, the sect's martial arts are rather diverse, since some members have learnt other forms of martial arts prior to joining the sect. For example, Wu Changfeng in Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils uses a customised saber movement while Chen Guyan carries a sack filled with poisonous creatures for use against enemies.
Read more about this topic: Beggars' Sect Famous quotes containing the words skills and, skills, martial and/or arts:“The invention of photography provided a radically new picture-making process—a process based not on synthesis but on selection. The difference was a basic one. Paintings were made—constructed from a storehouse of traditional schemes and skills and attitudes—but photographs, as the man on the street put, were taken.” “I have great faith in ‘ordinary parents.’ Who has a child’s welfare more at heart than his ordinary parent? It’s been my experience that when parents are given the skills to be more helpful, not only are they able to use these skills, but they infuse them with a warmth and a style that is uniquely their own.” “To a surprising extent the war-lords in shining armour, the apostles of the martial virtues, tend not to die fighting when the time comes. History is full of ignominious getaways by the great and famous.” “In a very ugly and sensible age, the arts borrow, not from life, but from each other.” |