Strange Voices and Art of Conversing

While I was reading Itoman’s 1934 “The Study of China Hand Techniques” on the older practices of Toudi, this section of the chapter ‘Techniques of Cheating and Deception’ made me think on how much has changed since those times.




(2) Strange Voices and Art of Conversing

"As mentioned earlier in the section on offense and defense, the art of conversing and using strange voices are one method of attack and defense. There are many different strange voices but I will mention eight different methods: white crane, monkey, tiger, dog, rooster, dragon, horse, and bull. The art of conversation can use logic and and reason to gain victory, to confuse or render a person ignorant, or remove his will to fight and control him. During the Six Kingdoms period, warriors would be entrusted to traverse the kingdoms on diplomatic missions. These men were eloquent and gifted speakers and from that era a phrase has been handed down, “A man who can win a victory over an enemy by his speech is by virtue worth more than one who can cut down 100 men”. "



Today where the discussions often are we’re not prepared for ‘real’ violence, far less heed is paid to thinking about the skills of conversation to eliminate the need for violence being necessary. We all should give pause at what was once considered necessary skill and what we are doing with our training.