Counter to Wuxia-level martial arts?

Hello

I'm planning a novel for Nanowrimo. My idea is to explore what would happen if, during the first Opium War, a particularly devout chinese peasant uncovered the secrets of meditation that allow him to develop his chi and dominate martial arts on a level of a Wuxia hero (think Li Mu Bai in Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon), which quickly renders enemy use of weapons other than cannons useless. He then starts training others, so together they are able to repel the British.

What counter do you think might be credible against these warriors? Better guns? Hermetic magic? Summoning beasts from another world? Stealing the secrets of their martial arts and adapting it for themselves?

Undoubtedly there would be attempts to reverse engineer the Wuxia fighting abilities, and the time period's right for Western countries to start developing chemical weapons, which would serve as a pretty good equalizer.

For something more flashy, you could have the British make some startling advances in electromagnets that they can use for telekinesis-like effects. Or, when one of these Wuxia fighters travels to Britain, the presence of a superpowered foreign soldier might cause Merlin, Arthur, and the Knights of the Round Table to awaken from their centuries-long slumber to fight on behalf of Britain. Or you could give the British a Dr. Moreau style mad scientist who combines people with animals to create half-beast supersoldiers.

Cowboys.

Guns are the counter to martial arts. Notice how Wuxia movies are always set in times when armies are equiped with spears and swords and such? That's because adding guns in the picture would create a The Last Samurai kind of situation, where the skilled and noble warriors get blown up by men who only have to know how to pull a trigger. In movies like Once Upon a Time in China it's even explicitly stated that guns brought an end to the era of kung fu.

Of course, I don't know what kind of abilities your specific brand of Supernatural Martial Arts offers. Wuxia heroes can usually only jump really long distances, catch arrows from the air, and stuff like that, but if you add something like Flash Step in the picture, then it's a completely different story...

edited 30th Sep '14 7:54:28 AM by Paradisesnake

The British realize they can't fight him directly, so they get him addicted to opium.

Water supply poisoning. Depends on the sort of person that the enemy commander is, though. (Insert evil laugh here.)

Massive disparity in numbers (a Zerg Rush, if you will), and not necessarily just consisting of the British as that level of power makes your protagonist(s) dangerous at a regional level.

Political solutions. The country the protagonists fight for gives up and allies itself with the enemy. (...I feel like I've seen that movie, actually.)

Better guns might not work - Shooting Superman is a trope, and making your villains too dumb to realize it makes for a poorer story. Plus, guns are only not-worthless when the user is physically using them - sneaking into an enemy camp and disabling or stealing all of them is a fun solution. They may be the ultimate counter, but they still take a second to ready and aim, especially on a whirling target that can kill you with his pinky. (Keep in mind that the situation in The Last Samurai combined this and the previous two solutions, and the movie took pains to show that they had to do it that way because any one of the three alone did squat-all.)

Hermetic magic might work - assuming they can be shipped there in time. (For some reason, I have Final Fantasy Tactics in mind here - a careful Geomancer can beat a foolish Monk under the right conditions, if they can inflict the right terrain-related negative status and either are wearing Earth Clothes or have the Float status to negate the Monk's only long-range attack and are keeping their distance at all times.)

Summoning beasts is just invoking the Godzilla Threshold under most circumstances. This sort of solution would need to be reflected in the enemy's personality, and would just cause all sorts of problems for everybody along the command structure. "My word, we summoned that monstrosity? ...erm, are we really the good guys here?"

Stealing the secrets... nah, too simple. Why's there only this one awesomesauce martial art in the world? The British had boxing, didn't they? Have you seen Ip Man (or was it the sequel)? I'd also suggest something like the Masaru chapter from Live A Live, where the character is a martial artist who travels the globe to fight other martial artists to gain their moves - the idea being that there are other martial arts in the world, and a Quirky Miniboss Squad gets brought in to deal with your protagonists.

edited 30th Sep '14 11:33:09 AM by DeusDenuo

Hum... What about Sympathetic Magic, curses, or some form of summoning? The first and second might be a means to strike down foes from afar, or weaken them to more mortal limits, while the last might be useful in either assassination attempts or direct assault, using supernatural entities to counter supernatural skill.

On a purely narrative level, I'm inclined to agree with Deus Denuo: having the Westerners steal the secrets of Eastern martial arts is less interesting than having a clash of two opposing supernatural forces: there's less variety.

Gatling guns. Can't dodge all those bullets forever.

^ Air support. Just try dodging an Arc Light run.

Martial arts has a built-in counter-Conservation of Ninjutsu. Your first wave of overconfident Red Shirts get offed mid-Calling Your Attacks while prancing around. The competent ones attack under cover of night, approaching from behind.

edited 30th Sep '14 10:39:41 PM by dvorak

Thinking on the concept of "reverse-engineered martial arts" for the British, I imagine Magic Bartitsu (better known as Sherlock Holmes' fighting style, also known as "Victorian MMA") vs Magic Kung Fu would be pretty amazing to see.

Well since Wuxia is fantasy a good counter would be fantasy from more western genres. Gunfighters that never miss and carry 12 shooters, scientists who can assemble death rays from a box of scrap, muscle bound soldiers who shrug off fatal injuries like water.

I think I will go with the "fantasy kitchen sink" route with this one: since the defeat the chinese give to the british is sound and undeniably supernatural in origin, all countries quickly start making their own research on the supernatural, finding, to their astonishment, that it is quite real. This does not deny technology, but opens up a whole new world of possibilities.

I still haven't decided whether other supernatural nasties (werewolves, vampires, etc) will make an appearance or not, though.

"Ghost Shirt" abilities traditionally have depended on a firm code of discipline and asceticism. Honey Trap is a guick and dirty method that will deal with that, or slowly tearing down the martial artists' morale with drinking and gambling.

What do you mean by "Ghost Shirt"?

The Kung Fu guys wearing the White Shirts and robes IIRC.

Essentially, any movement that claims to give mystical protection against bullets. They generally rose because the practitioners were outgunned in the literal sense. Believing you were immune to bullets improved morale. And it's always a non-falsifiable system. Anyone who gets shot was simply not doing it right.

Why not have a man develop supernatural weapons for the right warriors. Sort of make a quirky miniboss squad.