Fenghuang Ancient Town... https://www.facebook.com/thisishunan/videos/1389057717809891/?hc_ref=ARTYoXM11HaXJUsluvhEz-nlyOCLiu1W8ypHS_jagbZAPsupkjWrZk7BbIx50MU1duk&fref=gs

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https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/vpis-v-sezono-2017-2018-jure-ceh

Število pet ima v kitajski tradicionalni medicini, daoistični filozofiji in kitajski kulturni tradiciji na sploh pomembno vlogo: predstavlja zaključen cikel v prostoru in času: pet elementov (les, ogenj, zemlja, kovina, voda), pet letnih časov (pomlad, poletje, pozno poletje/zgodnja jesen, jesen, zima), pet smeri neba (vzhod, zahod, sever, jug, sredina). Še bi lahko naštevali… A to ni naš namen… QI LAB. INSTITUT bo 6. avgusta tega leta dopolnil pet let delovanja. Rodil se je iz želje posredovati praktično in teoretično znanje o tradicionalnih kitajskih veščinah, približati slovenskemu človeku del bogate kitajske tradicije, predstaviti njihovo ustreznost in dobrodejnost tudi v slovenskem prostoru. V teh petih letih vas je bilo veliko, ki ste se nam pridružili na tej poti, prepoznali vrednost našega delovanja, nas na različne načine podprli, soustvarili in sodelovali pri temu, kar smo danes. Iskrena hvala vsem, ki ste nam odprli prostor, posvetili čas, ki ste nam dajali znanje ali ga sprejemali, ki ste s svojim specifičnim znanjem bogatili naš ustvarjalni prostor, ki ste znotraj in zunaj naše dežele izkazovali spoštovane do naših naporov in še vsem tistim, s katerimi so se naše poti samo prekrižale ali pa smo skupaj hodili del poti. Hvala tudi vsem tistim, ki ste še vedno tukaj, z nami, da skupaj gradimo to, kar nam vsem pomeni in nam je vredno.

Acupuncture for horses ...

The highest excellence is like (that of) water. The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things, and in its occupying, without striving (to the contrary), the low place which all men dislike. Hence (its way) is near to (that of) the Dao. The excellence of a residence is in (the suitability of) the place; that of the mind is in abysmal stillness; that of associations is in their being with the virtuous; that of words is in their trustworthiness; that of government is in its securing good order; that of (the conduct of) affairs is in its ability; and that of (the initiation of) any movement is in its timeliness. And when (one with the highest excellence) does not wrangle (about his low position), no one finds fault with him...

MAN AND WARFARE - FROM THE PALAEOLITHIC TO THE CIVILISATIONS IN MESOPOTAMIA AND EGYPT The question whether the existence of man is implicitly linked to fighting and warfare is far from simple. If man wished to survive as a species in the prehistoric era, he had to be capable of surviving in the natural environment, catching prey and defending himself against the beasts he was threatened by. When we speak about the struggle for survival in the natural environment it is therefore understandable that man used his capabilities for attack and defence and that he was applying the same objects both as tools and arms, if necessary. As organic materials, subjected to weather conditions, disintegrate quickly, the Neolithic weapon and tool finds are mostly made of stone and bone: hand axes, spearheads, cutting tools, scrapers, etc. But even before the human ancestor knew how to process stone and bone, he had already utilized wooden sticks and bats, which he eventually used for mounting spears and cutting tools on them, by which he increased the effectiveness of the weapons – tools. For this reason, the find of eight Schöningen wooden spears , which belong to our ancestors Homo heidelbergensis (ca. 300,000 BC), is exceptional. At the moment, the Schöningen wooden spears are considered the oldest fully preserved wooden weapons. For hunting large carnivores, the hunting groups of that time resorted to traps, ambush and throwing weapons, such as spear, stone or axe. By retaining the distance between them and the prey, hunters were less exposed to injuries. As greater distance meant greater safety, they certainly pondered quite early about how to throw these object further. Thus the invention of the first weapon took place: the throwing rope – a primitive slingshot, and the bow and arrow. The oldest throwing rope was discovered in Peru. With the aid of radiocarbon analysis it was dated to 2500 BC. The invention and use of the bow and arrow, on the other hand, originates from the Late Stone Age, which lasted from 40,000 to 10,000 BC. The oldest sources are: the painting of men hunting with bows and arrows in the Valtorta Canyon in Spain and the so-called Holmegaard bow (Denmark), which was presumably made between 9000 – 7000 BC. Did different hunting groups, families or tribes threaten and attack each other? What was their attitude towards life as something sacred? In his research into the religious life of the early humanity, Mircea Eliade wrote, quote: … that the killing of animals was a ritual for the Palaeolithic hunter, which presupposes that hunters killed only for nutritional needs and that food was not consumed unnecessarily ”. And how was this respect for life reflected in interhuman or intergroup relations? Some archaeologists presumed that no mutual conflicts took place owing to the sparse settling by the Palaeolithic peoples. On the basis of the analysed skeletal damages, certain archaeologists defended the thesis that the Palaeolithic Age was relatively peaceful and non-violent. Among the finds associated with the Vinča culture there are no such finds that could explicitly refer to warfare. The settlements were not walled-in, either . The idea of the peaceful Palaeolithic, however, is refuted by archaeological finds pointing at inter-group violence and killings, which confirm the thesis presented by Prof Lawrence H. Keeley in his book War Before Civilization: the Myth of the Peaceful Savage . One of such archaeological sites is Nataruk in Kenya, where a violent massacre of 27 people that presumably took place ca. 10,000 BC was investigated. The greater part of this group was comprised of women and children, including a woman in high pregnancy, which speaks in favour of the thesis that this was not a case of rivalry between two hunting groups, but slaughter of an entire tribe – family. The fundamental difference between the Palaeolithic and Neolithic societies lies in the so-called social stratification. If the Palaeolithic society was a nomadic tribal association of hunters and gatherers, where the control of the group spontaneously belonged to the more experienced (older) and competent (stronger) individuals, and in which the idea of private property was practically unknown, the Neolithic society heralds the beginning of agriculture, which contributes to permanent settling and gives rise to private property over land and domesticated animals. Thus begins divisioning of the society into priests, officials, military stratum, farmers and craftsmen. The first civilizations (Mesopotamia, Egypt) introduce the law of succession and the right of ownership over another person, i.e. slavery. The Palaeolithic chiefs transform into religious, the Palaeolithic most capable men into military leaders. The Neolithic marks cohabitation of various social structures – on the one hand there are hunting-gathering, herding nomadic groups, which find it difficult to accept somebody appropriating the land, while on the other hand there are permanently settled communities, which begin to grow wheat or rice on this land, breed animals such as cattle and pigs, and thus introduce private property. The conditions for conflicts are thus more than evident. For the settling purposes, “farmers“ search for fertile districts with plenty of water. This is the reason why the first settlements grew along the Nile in Egypt, in Mesopotamia between the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers, and along the Yellow River (Huáng Hé) in China. Given that cultivated plants and domesticated animals are easier prey than the wild, free-living ones, a need to protect the property and territory arises. This gradually gives rise to the development of organized soldiery and military sciences. In view of the so far made archaeological discoveries, Jericho is considered the first walled-in town in the world. In 9400 BC, a four metres high and two metres wide stone wall was built around the settlement allegedly populated by some 3,000 people. The watchtower reached above the wall and enabled the surrounding areas to be controlled. It was probably used for both ceremonial and military purposes. The development of towns at the turn of the Copper Age into the Bronze Age was abrupt. In 2900 BC, the Sumerian city of Uruk was inhabited by more than 50,000 people. The Sumerians who developed one of the world's first writing systems, i.e. cuneiform, already mastered the sophisticated military training. This is demonstrated by the fragment on the Stele of the Vultures , which depicts a unit of warriors with helmets and shields on their heads and armed with spears in a battle formation called the phalanx. The stele supposedly depicts war between the towns of Lagash and Umma, which broke out in ca. 1525 BC. The Sumerian invention of the phalanx indicates that military training, battle strategies and commanding existed at that time. The phalanx cannot be deployed without trained warriors and centralized command. As an exceptionally successful military formation it was deployed in battle fields for more than 2000 years. People have no doubt always been scuffling with each other, competing in climbing, running, throwing … But it was only the civilizations that developed professional military training and maintaining combat readiness that stimulated the birth of martial arts as known today. The earlier historical sources, which substantiate the existence of organized martial arts, were bequeathed to us by the Sumerians (Babylonian terra cotta relief with the motif of two boxers ), the Egyptians (the exceptional depiction of wrestling and stick fighting painted on the eastern wall of the tomb of Baquet III in Egypt ) and the Minoan Greeks (wall painting in Knossos, clearly showing the use of boxing gloves ). In view of the fact that part of the Sumerian legacy has not been translated as yet and that some exceptional works such as “The farmer's instructions ” or “The advice of a supervisor to a younger scribe can be admired amongst the already done translations, we can hope that sooner or later texts dealing with military tactics, strategy, war doctrine, martial arts and issues concerning the so-called war or martial ethics will be found as well. As we can surmise from the hymn “The Adoration of Inanna of Ur ”, which was written by Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon I, the high priestess in the Inanna temple at Ur, the divine authority is the one who legitimizes the earthly ruler and gives him the right of judging the use of force: “Queen Who Rides the Beasts, Who at the holy command of An, utters the (divine) words, Who can fathom Your great rites! Destroyer of the Foreign Lands, You have given wings to the storm, Beloved of Enlil - You made it (the storm) blow over the land, You carried out the instructions of An…” Jure Čeh *** ČLOVEK IN BOJEVANJE - OD PALEOLITIKA DO CIVILIZACIJ V MEZOPOTAMIJI IN EGIPTU Na vprašanje, ali je obstoj človeka nujno povezan z borbo in bojevanjem, je težko enoznačno odgovoriti. Če se je človek v predzgodovinskem obdobju želel ohraniti kot vrsta, je moral biti sposoben preživeti v naravnem okolju, ujeti plen in se ubraniti zveri, ki so ga ogrožale. Kadar torej govorimo o borbi za obstoj v naravnem okolju, je razumljivo, da je človek svoje sposobnosti uporabljal za napad in obrambo, iste predmete pa je po potrebi uporabljal kot orodje ali kot orožje. Organski materiali, izpostavljeni vremenskim razmeram, hitro razpadajo, zato so najdbe paleolitskega orožja in orodja večinoma iz kamna ali iz kosti; pestnjaki, osti, sekala, strgala ipd. . Še preden je prednik človeka znal obdelovati kamen in kost, je že uporabljal leseno palico in leseni kij, ki ju je pozneje uporabil kot nasadila za sekala in osti, s čimer je povečal učinkovitost orožja – orodja. Zato je najdba osmih Schöningenskih lesenih kopij, ki pripadajo našim prednikom Homo heidelbergensis (cca 300.000 pr.n.št.) izjemnega pomena za poznavanje ali razumevanje tedanjega načina življenja Trenutno Schöningenska lesena kopja veljajo za najstarejše znano, v celoti ohranjeneno leseno orožje. Pri lovu na večje živali so takratne lovske skupine uporabljale pasti, zasede in metalno orožje kot so kopje, kamen ali sekira. S tem, ko so lovci ohranjali razdaljo med njimi in plenom, so se manj izpostavljali poškodbam, ki bi jim jih povzročile napadene živali. Večja razdalja je predstavljala večjo varnost, zato so gotovo že zgodaj razmišljali, kako bi predmete lahko zalučali še dlje. Tako je prišlo do iznajdbe prvega strelnega orožja: metalne vrvi - primitivne frače ter loka in puščice. Najstarejšo metalno vrv, so odkrili v Peruju. Na osnovi radiokarbonske analize jo datirajo 2500 let pr.n.št. Iznajdbo in uporabo loka pa znanstveniki postavljajo v pozno kameno dobo, ki je trajala od 40.000 do 10.000 pr.n.št. Najstarejša vira sta upodobitve lovcev, ki lovijo s pomočjo loka in puščic, naslikane v jamah (?) v soteski Valtorta v Španiji ter ti. Holmegardski lok (Danska), ki naj bi nastal 9000 - 7000 let pr.n št. Ali so se različne lovske skupine, družine oz. plemena ogrožala in napadala med seboj? Kakšen je bil njihov odnos do življenja kot svetega? Mircea Eliade je v raziskavah religioznega življenja zgodnjega človeštva ugotavljal “ da je paleolitskemu lovcu ubijanje živali predstavljalo obred, kar predpostavlja verovanje, da lovec ubija samo za potrebe prehrane in hrane in ne troši po nepotrebnem ” Kako se je ta odnos spoštovanja do življenja odražal v medčloveških oziroma medskupinskih odnosih? Nekateri antropologi predpostavljajo, da zaradi redke poselitve paleolitskega človeštva do medsebojnih konfliktov ni prihajalo. Nekateri arheologi pa na podlagi analize poškodb, ki so jih odkrili na skeletih, sklepajo, da je bilo paleolitsko obdobje relativno mirno in nenasilno. Med najdbami povezanimi s kulturo Vinče ni takih, za katere bi lahko eksplicitno rekli, da se nanašajo na bojevanje. Tudi naselbine niso bile obzidane . Vendar pa idejo miroljubnega paleolitika prevračajo arheološka odkritja, ki kažejo na medskupinsko nasilje in poboje in potrjujejo teze, ki jih je v knjigi War Before Civilization: the Myth of the Peaceful Savage nanizal professor Lawrence H. Keeley (navedi teze). Eno izmed takih arheoloških najdišč je Nataruk v Keniji, kjer so odkrili sedemindvajset skeletov s poškodbami, ki kažejo nasilen poboji, do katerega naj bi prišlo 10.000 let pr.n.št. Večji del pobite skupine so predstavljale ženske in otroci, med njimi je bila tudi visoko noseča ženska, kar govori v prid tezi, da ni šlo le za rivalstvo med dvema lovskima skupinama, temveč za poboj celotnega plemena - družine. Temeljna razlika med paleolitsko in neolitsko družbo, je v ti. družbeni razslojenosti. Če za paleolitsko družbo velja, da je seljiva, nomadska plemenska družba lovcev in nabiralcev, kjer je nadzor skupine spontano pripadal izkušenejšim (starejšim) ali sposobnejšim (močnejšim), in kjer ideje o privatni lastnini praktično ne poznajo, se z neolitsko družbo začenja kmetovanje, kar pripomore k stalni naselitvi Zemljišče, kjer so se naselili in ga obdelovali, udomačene živali so postali zasebna last naseljencev. Tako se začenja razslojenost družbe na svečenike, uradnike, vojaški sloj, kmetovalce in obrtnike. Prve civilizacije (Mezopotamija, Egipt) uvedejo dedno pravo ter lastninsko pravico nad drugo osebo, ti. suženjstvo. Paleolitski staroste se preobražajo v idejne (verske), paleolitski sposobneži pa v vojaške voditelje. V neolitiku se prvič srečamo s sobivanjem različnih družbenih struktur – na eni strani so lovsko nabiralniške in pastirske , nomadske skupine, ki se težko soočajo s tem, da si nekdo prisvoji zemljišče, na drugi strani pa stalno naseljene skupnosti, ki na teh zemljiščih pričnejo pridelovati pšenico oz. riž, začnejo rediti živali kot so govedo in prašiči ki postanejo njjihova last Pogoji za konflikt so več kot očitni. “Poljedelci “ iščejo za svojo naselitev rodovitna področja z obilico vode. Zato so prve naselbine nastale ob Nilu v Egiptu, v Mezopotamiji med rekama Evfrat in Tigris, ob Rumeni reki (Huáng Hé) na Kitajskem. Ker so gojene rastline in udomačene živali lažji plen kakor divje, na prostem živeče živali, se pojavi potreba po varovanju lastnine in zaščiti teritorija. Vse to postopno vpliva na razvoj organiziranega vojaštva in vojaških veščin . Glede na dosedanja arheološka odkritja velja Jeriho za prvo obzidano mesto na svetu. 9400 let pr.n št. je bil okoli naselbine, v kateri naj bi živelo do 3000 ljudi, zgrajen štiri metre visok in dva metra širok kamniti zid. Opazovalni stolp je segal nad obzidje in je omogočal nadzor okolice. Verjetno se je uporabljal tako v ceremonialne kakor tudi v vojaške namene. Razvoj mest na prehodu iz neolitika preko bakrene v bronasto dobo, je bil skokovit. Sumersko mesto Uruk je 2900 let pr.n.št. naseljevalo več kot 50.000 prebivalcev. Sumerci, ki so razvili eno izmed prvih pisav na svetu - klinopis, že poznajo sofisticirano vojaško urjenje. To dokazuje fragment kamnite Jastrebove stele , na kateri naj bi bila upodobljena vojna med mestoma Lagash in Umma, do katere je prišlo cca. 2525 let pr.n.št.. Vojaki so opremljeni s čeladami, ščiti, oboroženi s kopji, razporejeni v bojno formacijo, imenovano falanga. Sumerska “iznajdba” falange, priča, da je obstajalo vojaško urjenje, bojne strategije in poveljevanje. Falange ni mogoče izvesti brez izurjenih bojevnikov ter centraliziranega poveljevanja. Kot izjemno uspešna vojaška formacija se na bojnih poljih izvaja preko 2000 let. Gotovo so se ljudje od nekdaj rvali med seboj, se primerjali v plezanju, teku, metanju, a šele civilizacije, ki so razvile profesionalno vojaško urjenje in ohranjanje bojne pripravljenosti, so botrovale rojstvu borilnih veščin, kakršne poznamo danes. Zgodnejše zgodovinske vire, ki dokazujejo obstoj organiziranih borilnih veščin, so nam zapustili Sumerci (Babilonski terakotni relief z motivom boksarskega dvoboja ); Egipčani (izjemen prikaz rokoborbe in borbe s palico je naslikan na vzhodno steno grobnice Baqeta III v Egiptu. ) in Minojski Grki (stenska poslikava v Knososu iz katere je razvidna uporaba boksarskih rokavic ). Med prevodi sumerske zapuščine lahko občudujemo izjemna dela, kakršna sta “The farmer's instructions ” ali “The advice of a supervisor to a younger scribe . Glede na to, da velik del sumerske pisne zapuščine še ni preveden ,, se lahko nadejamo, da bodo v sklopu ohranjenih tabel prej ko slej naleteli tudi na tekste, ki se nanašajo na vojaške taktike in strategije, vojno doktrino, borilne veščine ter na vprašanja ti. vojne ali borilne etike. Kakor lahko slutimo iz citata himne “The Adoration of Inanna of Ur ”, ki jo je napisala Enheduanna, hči Sargona I., visoka svečenica v Inanninem templju v Uru, je božanska avtoriteta tista, ki legitimizira zemeljskega vladarja in mu dodeljuje pravico presoje o uporabi sile: “Queen Who Rides the Beasts, Who at the holy command of An, utters the (divine) words, Who can fathom Your great rites! Destroyer of the Foreign Lands, You have given wings to the storm, Beloved of Enlil - You made it (the storm) blow over the land, You carried out the instructions of An…” Jure Čeh