Brief History of Yiquan

Xinyiquan is also named Xinyiuba, Liuhebu and Xingyiquan. In his Essence of Combat Science , Master Wang Xiangzhai mentioned that Xinyiquan was named Xingyiquan (shadow boxing) since Master Dai Longbang. Even now, both Xinyiuquan and Xingyiquan are still spreading in Henan Province , slightly different in practice because of the different development routes.

Master Wang also said that Xinyiquan was named Lao Sanquan (Old Three Punches) in its earliest time, that was, "Jian, Zan, Guo". In his words, Jian refers to footwork, Zan refers to the movements of the front arm and Guo means one's body movements should be all-embracing.

¡°Wuquan Shi'erxing¡± (five punches and twelve images) was explained by Master Wang as follows: in the original Xingyiquan, there were no definite practice of Twelve Images, yet it had incorporated all of them into it, with no one conflicting another. Nevertheless, Wuxing, referring to five forces, was not any set of hand posture or tactics and skills.

In 1938 Master mentioned about why he had changed the name into Yiquan. At that time, most people who were learning and practicing Xingyiquan put too much stress on Taolu and Zhaofa , knowing nothing about Jinli (law of strength). It was too far away from the right path. Therefore, he named his boxing Yiquan, so as to differentiate from others. At that time, though Master Wang was young, he enjoyed a high status since he was the only one who had been entitled to learn all the consummate skills of Senior Master Guo. Plus his sharp tongue, he aroused jealousy among people. Many of his fellow students called him maniac or denied him as the disciple of Master Guo, this was another reason for him to change the name into Yiquan.

As for the book The Right Track of Yiquan, according to my brother, it when he made a visit to Wang Qiaoyu's place with our fellow Han, there was a Mr. Yang whose name was forgotten. In my memory, less than a year after this Mr. Yang being a student of Master Wang, I had left there. If this book was adapted by Mr. Yang, I'm afraid it could not remain all its original meanings.

As for the book Essential Points of Xinyiquan , Master Wang called it the old illustrative charter of Xinyiuan. It is the earliest and the most profound masterpiece among all the illustrative charters of either Xinyiquan or Xingyiquan. It is falsely believed that The Right Track of Yiquan was based on this great book.

As for the belief that The General Yue Fei was its founding master of Xinyiquan, I believe it is only a forgery, so is the belief that he was the author of Essential Points of Xinyiquan . Master Wang had said that Shaolin Temple (in Songshan Mountain ) is a fountainhead of Xinyiquan, which was its most orthodox boxing division. But only the successors are entitled to know this, and every generation has followed this teaching prudently. While in all the illustrative charters of Xingyiquan it is said that Xinyiquan (Xingyiquan) was created by Ji Jike who got an illustrative charter from Zhongnan Mountain and mastered the boxing skills in it after three years' practice. This is not true. Why should this Mr. Ji of Qing Dynasty avoided speaking about his teacher while falsely claiming Yue Fei as the founding master? According to some old legends, Shaolin Temple was burned twice by the Qing government. In Secrets of Shaolin Boxing (published by Chung Hwa Book Store) it is said that after the collapse of Ming Dynasty, Zhu Youtao, a member of the royal family, came to Shaolin Temple and became a monk. He was good at martial arts. Later, he invited four renowned martial masters (including Master Bai Yufeng from Shanxi Province and Jueyuan Shangren) from to Shaolin temple to conduct profound studies of boxing. As a result, Shaolin boxing was pushed to its peak. In this book, it is also mentioned that in the rear hall of Shaolin is an altar in commemoration of Zhu Yuanzhang together with his commandments. Around the year 1920, Master Wang had been to Shaolin and made acquaintance of the abbot, Master Henglin (Henglin may not be correct since it is recorded by the pronunciation of Master Wang). In the beginning of 1979, I went to Shaolin Temple in Songshan Moutain. I mentioned the Great Master Henglin to Master Zhengjue, and got a cordial reception. In the guide of Shaolin Temple , it is mentioned that Shaolin was searched and burned down both in the reign of Emperor Kangxi and Emperor Qianlong and got rebuilt both times. Emperor Qianlong even stayed one night in the abbot's room, and it is he who made the inscription on the great horizontal board of Shaolin Temple . Till today, the board still remains in good condition. The title of the emperor's reign that was inscribed on the roof ridge of the rear hall still can be seen. On the murals in the two halls there are persons in Manchu clothes watching martial shows by Shaolin monks. Scenes of repression were as if happening before your own eyes. Even today, Shaolin monks still hold ¡°Every martial show of Shaolin faces towards to the north, as an indication of no oblivion of the national feud, since the capital city of Qing Dynasty was in the north.¡± They also always mention that Xinyiquan is Shaolin's treasure of stabilize the mountain. There's no other boxing apart from Xinyiquan. Therefore, in my opinion, since Mr. Ji Jike, as a person living in the beginning of Qing Dynasty, avoided talking about his teacher while at the same time dragged Yue Fei, a national hero, to be the founding master, is it possible that he was somewhat connected with Shaolin's organization of overthrowing the reign of Qing and restoring the one of Ming?

The book One Thought on Boxing Learning was finished in the autumn of 1950 with the assistance of Brother Sun Wenqing, more than a decade after the completion of the book On Dachengquan . Mr. Gao who was in charge of publishing the latter should also know this.

The article ¡°New Thoughts on Boxing¡± was based on the words of Master Wang and Brother Qi Zhidu took the actual writing in the winter of 1937, and was published in the spring of 1938 in Beijing Morning Post , named ¡°To Those Who Are Scientifically Practicing Internal Boxing¡±. Later, this article was made into copies of small pamphlets. Some copies can be still found even today. As for the book Scientific Internal Boxing , I had leafed it over in a hurry in 1937, finding that it did have some profound views. But what a pity I haven't read it carefully and thoroughly.

The book New Collection of Yiquan I mentioned last time was also based on the words of Master Wang and Brother Qi Zhidu made the actual writing. When finished, the book was presented to Master Wang for his comments. In the winter of 1939, after it was made 80 copies, the copies were sent to some experts for their criticisms. Based on these comments, the book was revised and was planed to be published formally. But due to the change of the situation and transferring of job, it was not published in the end.

Brother Qi Zhidu came to learn Yiquan from Master Wang in childhood because of his weak body. So he mainly focuses on health cultivation, and hasn't touched upon Jiji. His father is Mr. Qi Zhenlin, a scholar of Yanli School , who had been president and headmaster of Sicun Learning Community and a vice-officer of Ground Force at the beginning of Republic of China. When Master Wang was instructor in Ground Force Martial Arts Training Institute, Mr. Qi was in his term. So, the two had an intimate association.

Among the great masters of Xingyiquan, Master Li Cunyi, Qian Yantang and Zhang Zhankui hold Master Wang in high esteem. In the long poem Master Qian offered to Master Wang when they were in Shanghai, there are two lines to the meaning of ¡°your level of marital arts is as high as a thousand ren (seven or eight chi , around 2.5 meters); if you can make a step even further, you will be in the consummate point.¡± Though the father and son of Qian had done a favor for Master Guo, they still hadn't been taught the most secret skills of Xintyiquan by the latter. This demonstrates strictness of Master Guo when he selected his successors.

Guo Yuan is the adopted son of Master Guo whose only son died from a fall from the horse. When Master Guo passed away, Guo Yuan was still very young. Therefore, following his father's words, he became a student of Master Wang. Before he died in Shenxian County in 1930s, he had been to Baoding , Tianjin and Beijing to visit friends and teach students.

According to my memory, Master Zhang Yuheng didn't published articles in the newspaper to introduce Master Wang in those years. The name was known until June, 1940. At that time, there were three interview reports successively, with ¡°Wang Xiangzhai Discusses the Essence of Combat Science¡± as the representative work.

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All rights reserved. Yao Chengguang, Beijing Zongxun Wuguan,Beijing Institue of YiQuan