These are questions from Chinese movies, but they should have factual answers.
In the movie Hitman (1998):
Jet Li’s character claims he was trained by the Chinese army to be able to gorge himself on food so that he wouldn’t need to eat for 3 days or more. True? Is this actually possible?
In the movie Bodyguard from Beijing (1994):
One of the main plot points was the weapon that the killer used. It was supposedly a Chinese Army issue bayonet with a strange design. Looking straight down on it from the point, it has an X shape, so it has 4 blades (or was it a Y shape and 3 blades?) In the movie they explained that the reason it is in this shape is that if you stab someone with it, it’s easier for them to bleed to death, as the shape allows blood to flow out while the bayonet is still in them, and increases blood flow after it is removed. Is this a real weapon and can it really do that?
In the movie Supercop (1992):
Jackie Chan visits a Chinese Army kung fu training facility. One demonstration he observes is breath control/iron skin, where through training, one’s body can be similar to iron and feel little or no pain. This is a famously fictional martial arts that doesn’t exist. Does the Chinese Army actually train people in this?
1.you don’t have to gorge to go 3 days w/o food, with sufficient water a healthy person can go 2-3 weeks w/o food, I’ve done it and have watched friends do it. This is called fasting.
2.col. hackworth writing about combat in Korea describes the brutal wounds inflicted by chinese bayonets, this is more or less true.
3.the dallas cowboys football team once hosted a demo of this by an asian master, there was video of herschel walker and randy white hitting and kicking him as hard as they could, he just stood his ground with almost no reaction. This skill is not particularly useful in a combat enviroment filled with razor sharp bits of steel flying about at supersonic speed.
Don’t fear the heathen chinese, we ought to fear our own incompetent lawyer politicians…
The Chinese Army’s assault rifle, the Type 56 (one in a long, long line of AK-47 derivatives) has a spike bayonet that looks like this. The spiked bayonet has been around a long time, the Chinese just added fullers.
On the ‘iron skin’ idea, this is apparently based on a sometime Shaolin notion called ‘iron shirt’. The general idea of training toughening one up is of course sound, but as with most qigong there’s a lot of woo involved. Can’t find any evidence that the Chinese Army practices it, though.
Surviving three days without food is a piece of piss comparatively speaking, Gandhi for instance went on hunger strike for 21 days.
I don’t think it was the same idea as surviving without food. Iirc, the meaning was that he could eat a weeks worth of meals in one sitting or something. My interpretation was that if they had to do a hard march for 3 days or something, they wouldn’t need to stop to eat by doing this.
Probably not, BUT people who learn (and teach) Muay Thai actually do something like this.
This martial art involves plenty of leg work notably knee; tibia and shin strikes. Serious practitioners spend a long time striking stones, sticks or even bollards with their legs & shins. Apparently this both desensitizes the nerves to sudden impacts to help reduce the pain, which in turn lets one strike even harder without feeling it oneself; and causes micro-cracks in the bone itself which will then heal and calcify, which toughens or thickens the bone.
But again, the goal is to let you kick like a mule, not be “iron legged” as a defensive measure or somesuch.
Grooves in blades (called fullers, as was already mentioned) are commonly believed to cause greater bleeding in their victims. The belief is so common that fullers are often referred to as “blood channels”.
The truth of the matter is that their purpose has nothing at all to do with blood.
If you make a relatively long and thin blade, like for a bayonet, and you make it out of a flat piece of metal, you’ll find that it has a problem in combat. It is easily bent to the side. There are two main ways that this problem has been solved over the years. The first was through the use of triangular bayonets, as the triangle shape naturally resists bending in any direction. The second is the use of fullers, which strengthen the blade in the same way that we use I-beams for construction instead of solid square beams. The I-beam shape is both stronger and lighter than a solid square beam would be, and the same is true of flat blades with fullers. There have also been triangular bayonets with fullers, which make the Y shape you asked about.
Could you explain part of that to me? I understand why an I beam would be lighter and why it would have a higher strength to weight ratio. But are you saying that it is stronger, irrespective of the weight?
That is, if I have a solid square beam that’s 100cm long and 10cm X 10cm and an I beam of the same dimensions (but most of that being hollow except for the I shape), the I beam will carry more weight before bending or breaking?
If so, could you explain how that happens? I understand quite well why it would have a higher strength to weight ratio.
Also, how do I beam handle shear forces compared to solid square beams?
I’m not so sure it’s useful in a purely unarmed combat either.
A “good old-fashioned beat-down”, where you emerge with just bruises and maybe a cracked rib, is a staple of American film and TV. In reality, if grown men punch and kick you, and you’re not guarding in any way, it won’t take long before you start getting severe, and then life-threatening injuries.
Tensing the muscles may help, and perhaps the skill is based on this. But still we’re talking about slightly slowing down the rate at which strikes to the torso cause injury.
Actually there’s several different things being talked about so far.
The muay thai training is referring to a phenomenon known as Wolff’s Law. If you abuse your bones, they will grow stronger.
The getting punched in soft areas like the stomach is muscle training. The more muscle you have, the more hits you can take.
The movie stuff is nearly all fakery. That’s why cement blocks break in half perfectly or explode in a puff of smoke. Mythical “iron skin” can resist swords, knives, etc. e.g. Jimmy Wang Yu’s fight with Donnie Yen at the end of Wuxia, the Five Deadly Venoms. It’s such a well known fake martial arts that is why I’m asking if the Chinese army actually uses it.
OK, but in the original description you emphasized the not feeling pain part. I was just saying that not feeling pain is really not so useful in a fist fight.
And being able to take a few shots without injury…has some utility, but very little. Very little because if you really aren’t in a position to block or avoid shots (or run away), it’s just a matter of time before you’re injured or worse. In a combat scenario there can’t be many situations where being able to take the first couple of strikes would make that much difference.
That said, just because it’s a pointless thing to learn doesn’t mean you aren’t obliged to train in it in the Chinese army. I’m also interested to hear the answer
Don’t underestimate Gandhi, his words are backed with nuclear weapons!
Can’t remember where I read this so no cite, but IIRC Roman legionaries before going on march used to do something similar - knowing that rations would be scarce, stuff yourself with what you could first.
There’s a maxim most every grunt lives by, even if they haven’t heard of it : “Never pass up an opportunity to eat, sleep or take a dump. You don’t know when the next one will come.”
Yes, I remember that from history class. Never thought I’d see someone use it without a smilie or other hint that they were not serious. As a heathen myself, I’m shocked.
