Welcome to
Beijing ZongXun
WuGuan
Translated
by Kalisz. Revised
by Yves.
Famous
Wu Shu master, representative of 3rd generation of Yiquan - Yao Chengguang
started learning Yiquan from his father when he was 8 years old, and
gradually learned its essence. For 40 years of his life he has practiced
Yiquan in its purest form, something that he has been nurturing and
developing everyday further. He has brought this art in many places,
in the north and in the south of China but also abroad. When fighting,
his opponents were impressed by his skill and at the same time by his
combat ethics. Yao is very open-minded. He maintains that "the
science of fist should be for everybody, if it belongs only to one person,
this person should be the only to benefit from it". So with
the intention serve people and his country through his art , in may
1994 he created ZongXun WuGuan school which is affiliated with the Beijing
Wushu Association. So it is through this way, that Late Master Yao Zongxun
enter in the age of promoting and developing Yiquan - the gem
of Chinese martial culture. It demanded from him such a great amount
of efforts and commitments to bring to its today development. But later,
Late Master Yao was admired for this new age of development by his Chinese
and overseas friends from all wushu circles.
The training place of ZongXun WuGuan is traditionally inside NanGuan
park. This is a place where local people come to have some rest and
pleasant time. But because Yao Chengguang is teaching here, wushu practitioners
from all over world keep also coming in this park. There is grass and
flowers, there are beautiful Chinese pavilions. Students practice everyday
Zhan Zhuang among trees like "standing on earth and supporting
heaven, controlling yin and yang". They are carefully listening
to Yao's explanations and remarks. This is a great place to nurture
health and learn martial art.
The dormitory of ZongXun WuGuan is in Dafangjia hotong, quite close
to NanGuan park. It is a typical Beijing siheyuan
(3). Inside there
is an old tree. There is an office room here, student's rooms, a kitchen
and a library. Everyday, letters of Yiquan students are arriving from
all over the world but also phone calls. There is a worker responsible
for cleaning. The students get 3 meals every day, both meat and vegetables,
very nourishing (and balanced). After supper they take bath, relaxing
after whole day practice. They can watch TV, read books and magazines
or exchange their point of view in Yiquan but also in life.
Yao Chengguang - the director and main instructor of ZongXun WuGuan
is using the principle of "scientific, systematic, rigorous and
standard" pedagogy. He maintains science is the core of his martial
art. All principles which are directly opposed to science will lead
directly to astray. Having this scientific basis we should seek for
systematization. In this way students can progress in the fastest way,
learning systematically and methodically. Then the theory must be closely
connected with practice. This way, students will develop proper techniques
and reaction. Yao Chengguang, inspired by his father is maintaining
the attitude of "Seeking truth". Having strong basis coming
from his considerable amount of practice, he is using knowledge of psychology,
physics, philosophy, anatomy, biology and other fields, to linking most
relevant theories and practice. Through this way he has developed
his specific pedagogy system of training Yiquan. He maintains that "one
must be responsible for the student, and responsible for Yiquan".
He uses "Confucian way of teaching", he enables his students
to learn gradually, step by step. He stresses the importance of relation
between teacher and students. He also adjusts teaching methods according
to each of his student. He is teaching with passion, hoping that his
students will achieve great results.
Yao Chengguang rejects the principle of "practicing zhan zhuang
for 3 years, before you learn anything else". He maintains that
jing (stillness) of Zhan Zhuang, huan (slowness) of Shi Li and Ji (rapidness)
of Fa Li are just different states and aspects of seeking Hunyuan Li
(holistic force). The most important is using mind in seeking Hunyuan
Li. The basic methods of Zhan Zhuang, shi li and fa li are practiced
simultaneously. After students have learned basic methods, they should
link them with fighting practice, so the two aspects complement and
help each other. This helps students all round their martial development.
Long time ago Yao Zongxun just after 3 years of learning Yiquan achieved
such high level that Wang Xiangzhai let him fight on behalf of
himself in challenges and also in animating Yiquan courses. What we
just said is the real secret of such fast progress. Practice proves
that his teaching method is very effective and still absolutely relevant.
In ZongXun WuGuang, students after just 2-3 months of intensive study
achieve agility of body and steps, the skill of issuing force in the
moment of contact - first results of training can be seen. Thanks to
this method: Yao's students seldom loose fights. Among them there are
winners of first Yiquan San Shou competition and first Yiquan Tui Shou
competition
(4).
Yao always maintains that in martial art practical power is important.
It comes from the principle of "scientific, systematic, rigorous,
standard". Yiquan is not mysterious. Those artificial concepts
making Yiquan something mysterious and mystic are wrong. Learning Yiquan
you should choose first a wise teacher. Only wise teacher is able to
"transmit the meaning, transmit the teaching, remove doubts".
Also the student should have ability of understanding, and also should
be ready to invest in studious training. But this involvement should
be based on scientific principles and methods, otherwise student will
not achieve results or even encounter physical second effects.
After establishing ZongXun WuGuan in 1994 thousands of students were
participating in classes or using correspondence course materials. Xu
Lu from Beijing is one of successors of full teachings of Yao. Liu Zhongchun
from Shandong opened a school there. Bu Yi from Dongbei (North East
of China) learned with Yao intensively for 7 years. Kubo Isato is now
one of the main yiquan teachers in Japan. Andrzej Kalisz from Poland
opened Academy of Yiquan. There are also other students, Maurizio Trotti
and Vittorio Botazzi in Italy, Karel Koskuba in UK, Chen Jumin in Austria
...
Stefano Agostini from Italy studied Yiquan before. In 2001 he came to
Beijing, and after one week of study with Yao Chengguang he said: "Comparing
what I learned before with what Yao Chengguang teaches me, it is difference
between small teaching and great teaching". Walter Marek from Austria
came for 20 days, but then he decided to prolong the time of study for
one more month. Zhong from Hong Kong studied Yiquan for 10 years. When
he compared his skill with a student of Yao, who learned only for 1
year, he pointed his thumb upward and said: "Wise teacher has good
students". Cheng - a martial arts instructor form US, after he
saw demonstration of skill of one of Yao's students, he said: "I
traveled all over China and met so called Yiquan masters, but only
today for first time I had the chance to see real Yiquan".
Yao Chengguang went through a long and difficult way. His approach is
scientific, systematic and rigorous. So that all martial arts fans are
welcome to come to compare their skills and exchange their experiences!
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