Golden sabre in the black mist : understanding the Mizong Luohan martial art in the framework of the UNESCO representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity

Abstract

The author is a long-time and experienced practitioner of the Mizong Luohan (迷蹤羅漢) Martial Art. He has studied the art since 1999, and currently occupied the post of Head of Rituals and Ceremonies in the Mizong Luohan School, one of the six highest-ranking positions in the school’s hierarchy. As such, he is an inheritor and transmitter of the Mizong Luohan tradition. Given his unique position, the author has the in-depth knowledge to explain the history, culture and contemporary affairs of the Mizong Luohan school, and how the Mizong Luohan martial art can satisfy the criteria for inscription on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. He is also in close contact with the Mizong Luohan School’s leaders and seasoned practitioners and has regular access to the school’s archive room and the collections within. This dissertation focuses on the Mizong Luohan Martial Art’s potential beyond being a localised martial art, and instead as an item inscribed on the UNESCO Representative-List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The scope of this dissertation covers the identification and documentation of the tangible and intangible elements of the Mizong Luohan Martial Art, and the ways and extent the art can satisfy the instruction criteria for the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Representative List. Expectedly, any study on the Mizong Luohan Martial Art is inseparable from the Mizong Luohan School of Hong Kong and its headmaster, Sifu Douglas Lau, and as well as the Mizong Luohan tradition in general, which includes the Mizong Luohan school’s “peripheral cultures” and also the activities of other branch-lineages that may or may not concern the school.1 A considerable part of the Mizong Luohan School’s history and culture will also be expounded upon in the following chapter, so as to provide sufficient context for the in-depth discussions required to fulfil this study’s focus.