Ma Hong, whose real name is Guo Yukun, was born in the small town of Shenzhou, Hebei Province, and was a standard nerd when he was young – graduating from the Chinese Department of the North China Union University in 1948, he spent all day in a pile of manuscripts and papers. In the 1950s,…
Inheritance of Martial Arts Family Born in the birthplace of Taijiquan, Chen Xiaowang learnt boxing from his father Chen Zhaoxu (a direct descendant of Chen’s Taijiquan lineage). When other children were playing with slingshots, he was already practicing Push Hands (Taijiquan sparring technique), and learnt boxing, weaponry and sparring all over the place. 1980, just…
Wushu Enlightenment: From a Medical Teenager to a Taijiquan Master He Zhaoyuan (founder of He-style Taijiquan) from Zhaobao Village, Wen County, Henan Province, was born into a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. When he was a child, he watched his neighbours practicing martial arts, and he did not even want to take the imperial…
Born in Dongrentong Village, Wangdu County, Hebei Province, Sun Fuquan (孙福全), known in his later years as Hanzhai (涵齋), was known in the martial arts world as the ‘Living Monkey’ (活猴), because of his agile body shape. With his original Sun’s Taijiquan system, this martial arts master in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republic…
In the history of Tai Chi Chuan, the martial arts innovations of Wu Quan You (1834-1902) profoundly influenced the modern internal martial arts system. This Manchu martial artist founded Wu-style Tai Chi, which is still a sought-after crystallisation of Eastern wisdom by fitness enthusiasts around the world. Legendary life: from nobleman’s disciple to founding a…
Wu Yuxiang (1812-1880 | Wushu Master, Yongnian County, Hebei Province), whose real name was Wu Heqing, Chinese character Yuxiang, and number Lianquan, was a native of Yongnian County, Hebei Province. He came from a family of scholarly martial arts practitioners, and his two older brothers were both successful in the imperial examinations and served in…
In 1799, a boy was born in a poor farmer’s house in Yongnian County, Hebei Province, and his parents named him Yang Fukui. This young man, who used to practise boxing in the fields on a hungry stomach, would shake Beijing forty years later with the name ‘Yang Wufu’, but his life took a turn…
Chen Wangting(1600-1680 | Chinese Martial Arts Masters) You may have heard of Taijiquan – that graceful, dance-like martial art – but do you know the story of its founder? Chen Wangting was born in a place called Chenjiagou (then known as Changyang Village) in Henan Province, China, and was himself the ninth generation of the…