Master Yao Zongxun's Theories of Boxing

Why is Master Yao Zongxun considered as a great master who carried forward Yiquan into a new age? It is not only because he was pointed as the heir of Yiquan when given the name of Jixiang (successor of Xiang) by the founding master Wang Xiangzhai. More practically, it is because he, on the basis of what Master Wang had built, opened an utterly new land for the development of Yiquan.

We say Master had made epoch-making contributions to the development of Yiquan, it is because of his fruitful achievements in integrating traditional martial arts culture with modern physical culture theories after a lifelong explorations. Yiquan itself features innovation. It was with an image of an innovative master of boxing that Master Wang Xiangzhai was recorded into the history of Chinese martial arts. On the one hand, Master Yao Zongxun is the faithful successor of Master Wang; on the other hand, he is a great master of boxing who continue to make reforms and innovations.

Principle of Nalai: absorb the cream of other boxing schools for one's own use .

As a newly emerging thing, Yiquan enjoys a vast expanse for its development. As a typical and practical follower of the Principle of Nalai (take over the good points of others), Yiquan believes that it should absorb all the cream of any boxing divisions both home and abroad, rather than being confined by the traditional convention that holds fast to established ways.

There is a saying in the circle that Master Yao only practiced Dachengquan in the form of boxing and never paid attention to the practice like punching sandbags and wearing shielding masks. But in my opinion, to say Master Yao's Dachengquan is in the form of boxing doesn't have any favorable or unfavorable implications. In fact, it was after Master Wang had won the Britain boxing champion Engle that Master Yao began to study Western boxing under the command of his teacher. Since then, he had carried out a far-reaching research about the tricks, methods and technical contents of boxing training, especially on the footwork, punching skills and the pragmatism of training methods. By way of this, he enriched the training of real combats of Yiquan. For example, in Yiquan's training of real combats, it adopted the method of fist gloves and shielding masks to guarantee the regularity of the training of real combats; it organically integrated the method of punching sandbag with the training of Yiquan and made it an effective way to test the effectiveness of punching. In Master Yao's view, as long as these training methods were really advanced, there's no fault to adopt them into our training. In order to better absorb the essence of other boxing divisions, Master Yao did a lot of research and grasped the knowledge of various boxing activities. From Joe Luis to Wang Shouxin, he could clearly tell their styles and their strong points and weakness. In the practical teaching, the first book that Master Yao asked beginners to read as a must was called First Performance in the Boxing Ring of Young People published by the Soviet Union . Of course, it was to ask them to change their purpose and learn boxing. It was for the purpose of informing them the route of self-study and of cultivation of mentality that an excellent boxing player must take. To absorb the reasonable factors of other boxing schools into the training of Yiquan is an important part of Master Yao boxing practice.

The trial of integrating traditional physical culture and modern physical culture

In the early 1980s, Master Yao founded Yiquan Research Team in Research Institute of Beijing Municipal Commission for Physical Culture and Sports in Xiannong Tan, to conduct researches on the integration of traditional martial arts and modern physical culture and sports. He was successively invited to give lessons by the National Football Team, Beijing Shooting Team, Beijing Weight-lifting Team and so on. With his profound knowledge on physical culture and scientific training theories, Master Yao gave an in-depth illustration of the training on Fa Li (exerting force), opposing fight and mental state in various sports activities, and won acclaim from the audience. He once asked a weight-lifting player how long his training time was everyday. The latter said that the training was harsh and they had to practice three units for six to seven hours everyday. Master Yao said this was not enough and they should keep on practice in their dreams. That is what is called "every punch is guided by the mind". No matter what martial arts you are engaged in, this principle has been followed since the ancient time both in home and abroad.

Yiquan has its unique method in the training of mental state. Master Yao often told stories to his students as a way to instill the contents of the mental training into their mind and to cultivate their mental force. The story he often told was like this: there was a Japanese knight who practiced swords a long time ago. After he finished his apprenticeship, he visited famous martial artists everywhere to exchange skills of swords, but got defeated every time. Finally he was so ashamed and depressed that he looked forward to death. He thought he had never tasted any sweetness of swords arts though he had practiced it all his life, so why not find a renowned expert to have a contest and die under his sword. Not only this could earn him some fame, but it could enable him to see clearly before his death how a great master would make his moves. With such thoughts, he came to the most famous sword master in Japan to challenge for a contest. This caused a great stir in the circle of swords arts. On the day of the contest, swords players from every part of the country came here to watch the contest. When the contest began, both parties stood in opposition with their swords in hand, allowing no hair between them. After a moment of stand-off, the well-known master dropped his sword to admit his defeat, and the whole audience burst into an uproar. That knight didn't know the reason either. It was until having heard the knight's words that the great master realized that his opponent had come to court death. The master said that the reason for his admission of defeat was that he found the knight was "completely concentrated and leaving no loopholes for others to attack". Simple as it is, this story has its deep meaning, displaying how important it is to keep a normal state of mind in any fighting contest. Master Yao possessed large amounts of various books and magazines on martial arts both from home and abroad, particularly some on modern physical culture theories, on biological anatomy, on sports medicine and sports psychology. This was rare among the martial artists in our country of the last generation. No wonder when interviewed by Beijing Martial Arts Association, Master Yao was so eloquent that he elaborated on every detail about the relationship between traditional martial arts and modern physical culture.

Great improvements in traditional teaching method

In order to modernize the training of Yiquan, Master Yao made some bold but reasonable readjustments of the original training methods, greatly contributing to the popularization and better development of Yiquan.

Master Wang Xiangzhai was very strict with his students during the training. No matter how difficult the skill was, he demanded a instant mastery. Thus, many of those who hadn't achieved some level were frightened and intimidated away. Some people said that Master Wang's words were beyond understanding, just like double Dutch. For example, sentences like "once having got a direction for your force, you are wrong", "one move of the hands means you are wrong" and "you should not practice by following what I have said, nor not following what I have said" are often seen in his works. Yet, take full consideration of the practical situations of the practitioners, applying the principles of modern teaching methods, comprehensive analysis, step by step and teaching students in accordance with their aptitude, Master Yao made the traditional training simple and easy to understand and practice. This is a great contribution of Master Yao. Take the practice of Liu Mian Li Mojin (searching force in six directions simultaneously) in Zhan Zhuang, Master Wang demanded the six forces should be possessed all at once, otherwise, they would just be partial forces. Whereas Master Yao divided the training into several stages, first searching force up and down (Fu'an-press), then searching left and right (Kaihe-opening and closing), and then searching forward and backward (Tuila-push and pull). Finally break down the order and practice the six forces simultaneously, either with all or with none. Though his approach was different from Master Wang's, but the result was equally satisfactory. Another example. Master Wang required "every point of the body acts like a spring", while Master Yao said "the whole body is like a huge spring", which made it much easier to follow in the practice. Fa Li in Master Wang's words was explosive forces without directions, while in Master Yao's teaching, it is divided into exerting force upward, downward, sideward and so on. Finally, these methods of Fa Li are incorporated into Shi Li of Zhan Zhuang. Obviously, this is much convenient for learners to learn and master Fa Li. In Master Yao's modest words, he was not a bright person, thus he could only use these "stupid ways of practice", and certainly it would be much better if some one could master it all at once. On the whole, the training by Master Yao is more like the one of a modern sports team than one by a traditional martial instructor. In the training of Yiquan, he added some physique training methods that were not emphasized in the traditional martial arts training, such as running, gyms and so on. This is one example of Master Yao's absorption of the advanced training methods of modern physical sports into the training of Yiquan.

Scientific attitudes in the research of Yiquan

In his academic research, Master Yao always insisted on the scientific and practical feature of Yiquan. He had never done anything against his conscience for the purpose of following others blindly. He was called the Great Master of Yiquan by some people, but he said, "I haven't had a contest with others since several decades ago, so I can be called a fan of Yiquan." The State Commission of Physical Culture and Sports once invited him to join the research work on Qigong, but he politely declined the offer. He said, "I know nothing about Qigong, even without knowing its definition. So I can't do such work." In his teaching, he told his students that one needed to stand steadily both in the practice of Yiquan and research of it. What he meant was that in the practice, one needed to practice diligently with a down-to-earth attitude, never to be opportunistic; while in the research, one should not indulge in empty talks without getting down to specific problems. So called research was to faithfully record one own experiences and feelings in the practice so as to benefit people, rather than cheating others for the mere purpose of gaining fame, which would do harm both to other people and oneself. You could never hear groundless words like god, ghost, or extra-sensory perception from Master Yao. During his teaching of Yangsheng, he always stressed that Yiquan was just a scientific way of health cultivation. Besides this, it had no other significances. In his teaching of Jiji, he emphasized the training of real combats. He believed that without the training of real combats, any mastered skill was not reliable.

Some one once asked Master Yao who was the best in Yiquan since Master Wang Xiangzhai. Normally, people would answer "I'm the best." But Master Yao gave a very brilliant reply. He said, "Though all of us had been students of Master Wang, none of us have mastered his skills. It is just the story about some blind people feeling the elephant. Everyone touched one part of the elephant, thus everyone got a different feeling. So, things mastered by one people are different from those by others, and the same with the perspectives of research." Master Yao's comments on the developing stage of Yiquan were apropos and to the point. It was with the same principle that he taught his students. He said to them, "None of you have mastered everything of Yiquan. So I just wish that you would join your efforts in gradually bringing together what you have learned." Such entrustment to his students demonstrated how hard Master Yao had thought over the cause of Yiquan.

This March will be the 85th anniversary of Master Yao's birth. While in commemoration of him, as his students, we should also learn hard his spirit in conducting scholarly researches, so as to carry forward Yiquan into a even brighter future along the right path.