A Holistic and Immersive Approach to Integrating Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports into Physical Education

• In Event: Contemplative practices in K12 and higher educational settings: Indigenous sports, poetry, and storytelling

Proposal

Objectives and Purposes

Traditional Indigenous culture is a kind of precious cultural resources that are jointly built, shared, and enjoyed by all citizens of a country. China, both as an ancient country and as a civilization with a long history, has nurtured rich traditional cultural practices. Traditional Indigenous Sports are a unique part of the Chinese traditional culture. The sports are played among the 54 ethnic minority groups in China, and are of many kinds, including competitive archery, swinging, kite flying, lion dancing, dragon boat competition, horse racing, Tai Chi, martial arts, wrestling, etc. These sports which originated from the Indigenous minority groups’ historical context and arose from people’s social, economic and military activities over time, have been integrated into people’s social and cultural life. The Traditional Indigenous Sports are a collective way of life with strong national and cultural characteristics, taking place in a distinctive Chinese cultural context. Communities are engaged in competition but also united in collaboration during the sports. William George Beers, the father of lacrosse, regarded indigenous sports as a means of portraying the soul of a nation (Michael A. R., 2002).

Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports, as they embody the nation’s spirit and way of life, have been an important part in China’s physical education curriculum and instruction for decades. However, many problems arise in the teaching practice, such as that the sports were taught mechanically lacking connection to the cultural context where the sports arise and people practicing them, lacking the cultivation of moral values connected to the sports, and too much stress is placed on students’ intellectual development while scant effort is made to understand students’ physical conditions, emotions and health, and there is an absence of aesthetic education (Li, Z.T., & W, J., 2020). Wu (2018) point out the major causes of these problems are “decontextualization” and “disembodiment” from the culture and practice behind the Traditional Indigenous Sports.

The goal of this study is to develop a theoretical framework for teaching Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports in P.E. K-12 and higher education classes, with a holistic, immersive, and culturally relevant approach. The hope is that theory can guide teachers to design practical pedagogies for P.E. which are holistic and culturally immersive.

Methodology and Data Source

The first author has been a professor in Physical Education in a university for 12 years. He has engaged in many years of research on Traditional Indigenous Sports in China. He is a martial arts practitioner since age 6 and has taught Tai Chi and martial arts in his university and several countries. The data of this research paper draws from his personal experience and observations, literature research, and his doctoral study which focuses on integrating Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports into the education system. The second author has also first-hand experiences living in a Chinese minority cultural context observing the role of local indigenous sports in community building.

The Educational Essences of Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports Culture

During 2017-2021, China’s State Council and the Ministry of Education issued several important educational policies and documents, which all proclaim the importance of integrating Chinese traditional culture into all aspect of education, including moral education, intellectual education, liberal education, arts education, and physical education. Furthermore, one of these policies set out a clear objective which emphasizes that the teaching and learning be culturally immersive fitting into situations of local schools.

What makes Chinese traditional indigenous sport culture so valuable in the pursuit of every student’s holistic development? First, Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports aims at improving the mental and intellectual quality of the participants and inspire aspirations for social and personal good through healthy competition. Competition is the core of all sports. The guiding philosophy of Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports is “constant self-improvement.” The sports contain a competitive ethos which serves to motivate people to strive for a better life. However, this ethos of “competition” is deeply influenced by the traditional Chinese philosophy on “harmony”, which means that while the sports emphasize speed, strength, skills, etc, also stressed are harmony with nature, inner retrospection, inner peace and respect for each other. This diverts sports from being a “Zero-sum game”. Further, participants of the indigenous sports actively create scenes, landscapes, body movements, actions, tools, languages, and individual images that portrays high respect for the spirit of striving, enterprise and unity, as well as the eternal pursuit of common prosperity and community building.

Second, Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports holds great potential for the holistic growth of the participants. Participants can cultivate moral values such as respect and love for one’s country; develop their intellectual capacities; embody their culture by participating in the sports; cultivate ways to appreciate the indigenous culture and values, and through the sports inculcate a new understanding of happiness and human flourishing.

A Theoretical Approach for Holistic and Immersive Educational Pedagogies in P.E.

We propose a theoretical approach to integrating the Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports in P.E. which is holistic, contextualized and immersive. We will lay out the various contexts where students are presented with scenarios and opportunities to immerse in the sports and the cultural values the Indigenous people uphold. We will outline the creative, imaginative elements in various Indigenous sports and beauty and spirit that emerge, and opportunities that can be captured by teachers to develop students’ physical abilities and emotional intelligence, and cultivate their intellectual abilities and creativity. By creating immersive environments that connect with the indigenous culture and life, students will embody the cultural values embedded in the sports, such as truth seeking, self-understanding, perseverance, life decisions that consider the self and others, and development of citizenship.

Significance

Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports hold great potential for the holistic development of participants, if they are integrated into P.E in a culturally immersive and relevant way. The research will shed light on how we can revive Chinese Traditional Indigenous Sports and fully integrate them into physical education in all levels of schooling in China. This also has implication for indigenous sports and their integration into formal education in other contexts.

Authors

• Zhixing Xu, Guangxi University

• Jing Lin, University of Maryland, College Park