BIOGRAPHY, LIFE OF WANG XIANGZHAI

THE BIOGRAPHY / LIFE OF WANG XIANGZHAI

The following article is taken from the ‘Tao of Yiquan’ book by Jan Diepersloot.

In the history of Chinese martial arts, the name Wang Xiangzhai stands out as one of the greatest twentieth-century Chinese geniuses who redefined the nature and possibilities of the art. A poet and formidable martial artist, his life’s major accomplishment consisted of reinterpreting, from a 20^th century perspective, the strict martial arts training he received in his youth from his uncle. Based upon the extensive historical research he conducted throughout his life, Wang Xiangzhai redefined the roots and essence of his art with poetic elegance and scientific simplicity.

Wang Xiangzhai’s conceptual and developmental breakthroughs led him to a revolution redefinition of the conventional relationship of stillness to movement in the martial arts by making stillness primary and movement secondary, He rejected the traditional patterned sequences of movement as the primary method of training. Reaching back to the historical roots of Chinese Buddhism and Vedic India, he advocated the practice of stillness and the cultivation of the mind and intent as the primary practice.

As we will see, this was not mere empty and pretty theorizing. Wang Xiangzhai's martial capabilities and reputation were proof that his theories were correct. In his heyday, Wang Xiangzhai took on and beat all challengers.

The Apprenticeship

Wang Xiangzhai was born in 1885 in the Shenxian district of Hebei province. He was given the name of Ni Libao, was later named Yuseng, and yet later in life adopted the name of Wang Xiangzhai. Whe he was 8 years old, in order to remedy his illness and help him regain his health and strength, his father made him take up the practice of Xingyiquan with his Elder Uncle, the famous Guo Yunshen in the neighboring village of Majong.

Actually, the old Master did not really want to take on young Wang Xiangzhai as his apprentice, because he was old and suffered from “sickness in his legs” such that he could barely walk. But two things changed his mind. First, his own son and heir to the lineage had an accident; he fell from a horse and died. Also, Wang Xiangzhai had come with excellent recommendations from another relative. Thus Guo Yunshen, relented and agreed to accept Wang Xiangzhai as his live-in student.

It was not long before a profound rapport developed between the two. Young Wang Xiangzhai was highly intelligent in his perception and very diligent in his practice. This earned him the respect and affection of his Elder Uncle who recognized in his nephew the qualities necessary for him to become a worthy successor in the lineage of transmission of his Art. As Wang Xiangzhai expressed later in his life, his uncle felt that “if the student is not the right person, he cannot learn and the right person cannot teach him. In other words, progress requires the right combination of student, teacher and Art”

But in his nephew Guo found the right student. Thus, as Wang Xiangzhai later wrote himself, his uncle “… from time to time, would show me his specialties and advised me to show his Art great respect and not follow the habits of my peers.” The “habits of my peers”, Wang Xiangzhai is talking about refers to the preoccupation of martial artists with the superficial intricacies of form, as opposed to the deep simplicity of essence. Again in Wang Xiangzhai’s own words: “When Mr. Guo taught Xingyiquan, the fundamental practice was Zhan Zhuang, or standing meditation. This was the essence of his teaching.”

The reader may recall that this technique of standing Zen meditation, the historical basis and essence of Xingyiquan, was developed to new heights of achievement by Guo Yunshen during his prison years, when he was shackled and forcibly immobilized. Young Wang Xiangzhai took his uncle’s teachings seriously and within a few years of study and practice he had not only regained his health, but understood and internalized Xingyiquan’s essence. Thus, he developed into a formidable boxer while still only in his teens.

It must have been a source of bittersweet pride for Guo Yunshen to see his nephew growing and maturing in the art even as his own advancing age increasingly began to take its toll on him. Already in his mid 70s, he soon no longer had the strength to even stand up while practicing ‘tui shou’ or pushing hands, with Wang Xiangzhai.

Yet nothing was allowed to intervene in the transmission of the art and they continued their pushing practice with Guo sitting “on the northern bed”, a term denoting a little brick bench that was part of the hearth in which Wang Xiangzhai always kept a fire going to keep his teacher warm and comfortable.

As Guo’s health continued to decline over the next five to six years, Wang Xiangzhai began to care for his Uncle day and night as if he were his own son, always being there when needed. Thus, an extraordinary closeness developed between the two, and Guo continued to instruct Wang Xiangzhai verbally until his dying day. Finally, when the time came in 1898, Master Guo said on his deathbed, that among his many disciples, Wang Xiangzhai was the only who could inherit his legacy and carry it forward.

The skeptic might argue that only after five years of training as a child, and being only 13 years old, Wang Xiangzhai could hardly have progressed enough to have gotten so good as to be able to merit the distinction of inheriting the lineage of transmission. But old Master Guo Yunshen recognized the innate genius and self-discipline of Wang Xiangzhai. He was confident that the rigorous training he exacted of him would in time produce the desired results and make him a worthy successor to the secrets of his art.

Just how demanding he was of Wang Xiangzhai in his training is illustrated in this story. The first thing young Wang Xiangzhai wa to do upon getting up in the morning was to practice his Zhan Zhuang standing meditation. When Guo Yunshen would get up later, the first thing he would do was to examine the mark of dampness around the place Wang Xiangzhai was standing. If the floor was not sufficiently wet from perspiration, Wang Xiangzhai would have to stand again until the old Master was satisfied that the floor was wet enough.

Early 1900s: The Quest

After the death of Guo Yunshen, young Wang Xiangzhai moved back into his parents’ house for a few years. Several incidents during this time proved that he had indeed developed considerable martial arts skill. Once, in 1901 when he was 16 years old, Wang Xiangzhai accompanied his father to Yunyuang village for additional training and practice. On the road, they were ambushed by a group of ten bandits, most of them armed who tried to rob them. But empty-handed as they were, Wang Xiangzhai and his father defeated the whole bunch, causing them to flee in utter terror and amazement. When he would recount the story later on, Wang Xiangzhai’s father would always recount with paternal pride the exclamation of one of the fleeing robbers that “this boy is really powerful.”

In another incident, when he was accompanying his father to another village, he observed two young monks practicing in the great hall of a Buddhist temple. They seemed very advanced in their development to Wang Xiangzhai because of the way they walked, almost skating-like, with curious long steps, each one leaving the ground for almost ten feet before touching down again. Naturally, he wanted to test skills with them and invited them to do so.

They accepted the offer and engaged in several bouts. But to the monks’ surprise, and probably even his own, every time Wang Xiangzhai made contact with them, the monks wound up sprawling on the floor. These two incidents and others, boosted young Wang Xiangzhai’s morale immensely for, having tested his skills, he knew that he had developed something very special.

In 1907, when he was 22 years old, Wang Xiangzhai left his parents’ home and village under disharmonious circumstances. He had been befriended by a young relative with whom he had gotten into the bad habit of gambling. Disliking the punishment his mother meted out to him, he and his relative ran away to Beijing to make a living. In Beijing, Wang Xiangzhai joined the army as a cook’s helper with the job of cutting word and carrying water. Once he was carrying water, a soldier, not knowing Wang Xiangzhai’s martial arts abilities, tried to trip him but instead, wound up on the ground himself, amazing the other soldiers.

When the captain in charge heard about the incident, he summoned Wang Xiangzhai for an explanation. Wang Xiangzhai explained that he had studied Xingyiquan with the famed Guo Yunshen. This pleased the captain, himself a martial arts champion, so much that he gave his daughter as his wife and gave him a new job as a martial arts instructor to the soldiers. Wang Xiangzhai had the time to improve his education and study things besides the martial arts.

He turned out to be equally gifted in poetry and calligraphy as in the martial arts. His wife was also an avid martial arts practitioner, and studying Xingyiquan with her husband, also became highly skilled in the Art. She also gave birth to their three children, two girls and a boy. The second daughter, Wang Yufang taught her father’s art of Zhan Zhuang, standing meditation, in Bejing.

The classics always claim that if studied in their true essence, the practice of martial arts will result in the refinement of one’s personality and character. As illustrated in the following story, this was certainly the case with Wang Xiangzhai, who was a perfect gentleman and paid the proper respect in dealing with his peers and elders. In 1913, when he was 28 and his reputation as a martial artist already well-established in Beijing a prominent politician invited Wang Xiangzhai to a banquet that would also be attended by the prominent martial arts instructor, Mr. Li Ruidong.

When Mr. Li Ruidong arrived, Wang Xiangzhai went over to meet him and introduce himself. When they shook hands, it appeared to all around as if they were just greeting each other, but in reality they were testing each other’s inner strength. It turned out Mr. Li could not match Wang Xiangzhai’s inner strength. His leg became soft and buckled, causing him to have to kneel down. Wang Xiangzhai, observing this, immediately relented and pulled him up, thus saving him from embarrassment and loss of face. Smiling in appreciation, the older gentleman, simply turned and left.

The audience was highly disappointed and surprised at this behavior and pressed Wang Xiangzhai for an explanation, asking, “This guy who came to visit you is a very big name in martial arts. Nobody can compete with him. Why would he just touch you and leave laughing without doing anything?” In reply, Wang Xiangzhai said, “For those who have self-realized as martial artists, when they just touch they know each other’s skill and ability. If you really know, there is no need to fight it out.

In 1918 when Wang was 33 years old, he had to stop his teaching in Beijing on account of the political climate there. He took the opportunity to embark on a ten-year quest throughout China to seek out other renowned masters to broaden his martial arts horizons. Testing bad being tested he left his footprints in many places both north and south of the great Yangtze River.

His encounters during this time of exploration with the representative masters of many different martial art systems greatly enhanced his field of experience, enabling him to obtain insight into their methods and principles. In this process of enriching his knowledge of the spectrum of traditional Chinese martial arts, Wang Xiangzhai was laying the foundation for his own unique synthesis of them that would bring him great fame in future years.

Shaolin Monastery

Of great importance to Wang Xiangzhai’s further development was his stay with the monks at the Shaolin Monastery and Temple in Hunan. Here he met Monk Henglin, an outstanding boxer of the Shaolin School. Henglin was large in stature and famous for his strength and power. In contrast to him, Wang Xiangzhai was thin and looked fragile and unimpressive in appearance. However, the large monk soon found out that appearances can be misleading, for Wang Xiangzhai could discharge a tremendously explosive power from his small body within a split second. This earned him the respect of the huge monk and the two became very good friends during Wang Xiangzhai’s stay at the monastery. They incessantly exchanged views and learned much from each other through discussions and competitions.

Monk Henglin’s superior, Abbot Benhong, also known as Benjiao also took kindly to Wang Xiangzhai. Despite his advanced age of 90 years, Abbot Benhong imparted a lot of valuable boxing theory to young Wang Xiangzhai, from which he received immeasurable benefit. As a matter of fact, Wang Xiangzhai’s purpose had been precisely to investigate the nature and principles of Xingyiquan boxing art practiced there.

Thus Wang Xiangzhai learned that Xinyiquan (Heart/Mind and Intent Boxing) and Xingyiquan (Form and Intent Boxing) came from the same historical source, and he learned to appreciate their similarities as well as differences. After several months’ stay at the Shaolin Temple, Wang Xiangzhai bade goodbye to his friend Henglin and Abbot Benhong and once more started on his road in quest of adventure and truth.

Next, Wang Xiangzhai went to Hunan where he met the great Xinyiquan Grandmaster, Xie Tiefu. Mr. Xie was over 50 years old at the time and considered to be quite an eccentric because he never talked to anyone about his art, and for that matter, never talked much to anyone about anything. Wang Xiangzhai requested a match and Mr. Xie Tiefu obliged. They fought ten rounds and Wang Xiangzhai was defeated soundly in all ten rounds. He had finally met his match.

But not wanting to give up yet, Wang Xiangzhai then asked, “Can I match you in weapons?” At this Mr. Xie Tiefu laughed and said, “Weapons are nothing more than extensions of the human hand. If I can defeat you with my hands, I can defeat you with weapons.” But again, he obliged Wang Xiangzhai, and they fought another ten rounds with weapons. Again, as Mr. Xie Tiefu predicted, Wang Xiangzhai was soundly defeated in all ten rounds.

After that, humbled and embarrassed, Wang Xiangzhai made ready to pack his bags and leave. Seeing this, the eccentric Mr. Xie Tiefu said, “You want to come back in three years? Is that what you want? I’m old and don’t have that many years left. You might as well stay a little longer. Don’t be embarrassed because I have a lot of experience. Throughout my life, I have met a lot of good accomplished people, but I haven’t met anyone as good as you are. Now, why don’t you stay and let us make friends.”

At that invitation, Wang Xiangzhai paid his respects and stayed with Mr. Xie Tiefu for over a year, and during that time, made enormous progress. When the time came to say good-bye, Mr. Xie Tiefu accompanied Wang Xiangzhai to the border and left him with these words, “As far as your accomplishments south of the river are concerned, I dare not say, but north of the river, I don’t think anyone can hurt you.” They bade farewell with tears in their eyes.

Wang Xiangzhai then crossed the Yangtze River into southern China where again he encountered and engaged numerous martial arts specialists in discussion and competition. Among those he engaged in successful contests were Mr. Fang Shizhang in Zhejiang Province, who was famed for his devastating mastery of Wujiliaoshou (five-hand striking skills), and Mr. Liu Peixian from Xi’an, who had mysterious leg attack skills.

Wang Xiangzhai and Dunhuang

Wang Xiangzhai continued his travels in northern China throughout the mid-1920s, seeking always a closer examination of the Buddhist origins and essence of the martial arts and attempting to incorporate that essence into the grand synthesis that was beginning to emerge in his practice and thinking. Of crucial importance to this search were two events.

The first was the discovery, made in the process of excavating caves at Dunhuang, of Buddhist texts, paintings and statuary dating back to the Tang Dynasty circa 750 C.E. This was material, then, that preceded the great outpouring of writings related to Buddhist spiritual and martial arts which occurred over the next five centuries. It gave access, finally, to earlier, purer, unadulterated forms. That the context for these discoveries was religious is not surprising.

The many internal turmoil in Chinese history have meant that there was never any common and consistent source recording its civil and military history, nor the Indian contributions to it. The continuity, we do find is that documented within religious groups, particularly, Buddhism. Monastic records contain accounts of many practices and events. Particularly in the transmission of the health and martial arts, the statuary and painting arts of the monasteries and temples have played an essential role.

Statuary and painting arts give a visible record of the aspect of Buddhist practice that recognizes no dichotomy between movement and stillness in either body or mind. It is this statuary that traces the earliest Quanfa positions and gestures so clearly that they can be recognized today.

For example, the “Protectors of the Doctrine” that often flank entrance door of altars in temples and shrines are frequently depicted as two Vajra kings in the classical defence stances of Quanfa. Their forearms are often held in the traditional protective positions while performing tactically significant mudras or ritualized gestures with their hands. Not many people realize that the praying position we are so familiar with in the West, with hands joined before the chest, is an ancient Vajramukti-based defensive positon.

According to Wang Xuanjie, within Wang XIanghzai’s tradition, Xingyiquan itself was preserved- and transmitted by way of temple art. “A Shanxi native Ji Jike of Ming Dynasty (1386-1644) discovered Illustrated Yueh Fei’s Boxing Manual on the wall of a broken temple on Zhongnan Hill. Ji was a warrior himself. When he got the manual, he studied and practiced it diligently, and thus lay the foundations of Xingyiquan of the later times.

Within this context, the importance of the discoveries at Dunhuang caves cannot be overestimated. Some Dunhuang cave statues represent the Bodhisattva and guardians who are in the on-guard positions of Quanfa. Other wall paintings show many deities and arhats in Quanfa position and stances.

For example:

1.     Cave #290 features wrestling scenes;

2.     Cave #195 contains “paired exercises”;

3.     Cave #249 portrays “Hercules Holding Show”; and

4.     Cave #61 depicts scenes of swordmanship.

The creation/transmission of the Xingyiquan system through temple art became a precedent for the reconstruction of Xingyiquan that Wang Xiangzhai himself undertook after gaining the knowledge of the Dunhuang statues and paintings.

In 1926, the second event of crucial importance in this regard occurred when he met the reclusive Xinyi Master Huang Muqiao. Wang Xiangzhai recounted the impact Huang Muqiao made on him in the first draft (1942) of his first book, ‘The True Course of Yiquan’.

“In the Sui and Tang Dynasties (581-907 C.E.), a certain “Health Dance” was very popular at a time. Both scholars and martial artists practiced the art for general health maintenance and martial arts training. Later on that art was lost. Among the contemporary martial artists of our time, Mr. Huang Muqiao has been very active in gathering and interpreting the “Health Dance” from the wall pictures at the the archeological site of Dunhuang. Thus he was able to reconstruct the techniques and recover the shen (spirit) of the ancient “Health Dance.”

“During the time of the North Crusades (before the Communists), I met Mr. Huang Muqiao and I learned the Health Dance from him, and came to understand its essence. I dare not keep it a secret and therefore transmit it to those who study with me. But among all my students, there are only about ten who have really mastered it.”

In celebration of his learning the ancient “Health Dance”, Wang Xiangzhai wrote the following poem:

The body moves like a dance of waves

Like the flowing dragon and the white crane in play

Like the twisting of the frightened snake

The intent and strength move

As if sailing on the waves

Contemporary experts in Dunhuang art and history point to the western wall of Cave #272 built during the Northern Liang period (421-442 C.E.), apparently depicting a series of qigong or martial arts postures, as one of the most likely candidates for Wang Huang Muqiao’s inspirational reconstruction.

Learning the “Health Dance” provided Wang Xiangzhai with the missing link in his search for historical roots and the creation of his own system. It is significant to note that the Sui Dynasty came to power only twenty years after the death of Bodhidharma. Recognizing that the essence of the ancient “Health Dance” was contemporary with, and identical to, the essence of Bodhidharma’s teachings on changing the muscles, ligaments, and tendons (Yijin Jing) and bone washing marrow (Xi Sui Jing), Wang Xiangzhai was convinced he had found the direct historical and essential link he had been searching for.

Naming the Art

The essence Wang Xiangzhai had found was the use of Yi, usually translated as mind or intention, in the cultivation and training of the body for health and martial arts purposes. Wang Xiangzhai wrote that Bodhidharma “combined the five animal frolics, created in the Han Dynasty (206 B.C.E. – 220 C.E.) Hua Tuo the ‘first Chinese Doctor’, with the methods for changing the ligaments (Yijin Jing) and bone washing marrow (Xi Sui Jing) to create the system of “mind or intention boxing”. In deference to Bodhidharma and Buddhist historical tradition, Wang Xiangzhai called the system he created YIQUAN.

To further clarify Wang Xiangzhai’s historical derivation, it must be noted that the Xingyiquan (Form-Intent Boxing) Wang Xiangzhai had been trained in was originally known in Hebei Province as Xinyiquan (Heart-Intent Boxing), while in Henan province it was known as Liuhebu (six direction steps).

Wang Xiangzhai explained this as follows:

“When tracing the origin of Mr. Li Laidong of Henan, you will see that he was the great-grandson of Mr. Li Zhihe who was the teacher of Dai Longbang. The Yuans of Ji Yuan County named the boxing differently (Liuhebu), but it is in fact the same school with Mr. Li as its founder. By changing Xin Yi (heart-intention) into Xing Yi (Form-Intention), Mr. Dai did not betray the original meaning of Xin Yi, because boxing orginated from Liu Fa (six ways).”

Although three different strains of the art developed, they were historically and essentially identical, differing only in outward form. Referring to the ancient temple manual of Zhongnan Hill upon which they were based, Xinyiquan, Xingyiquan and Liuhebu were collectively referred to as the school of Zhongnan Hill Boxing.

In his own synthesis, seeking both to unify and distill both systems to their historical roots and essence, Wang Xiangzhai eliminated both the words Xin (heart-mind) and Xing (form), thereby simply and purely calling it Yiquan, thereby emphasizing the supreme importance of the intentional component of the Mind. What Wang Xiangzhai sought to accomplish with this was to remedy a situation he found highly objectionable – namely, the obsession with many of his students, as well as martial artists in general, had with the intricate forms and patterns, which constituted the practice of almost all martial arts.

Wang Xiangzhai felt they were putting the cart before the horse, in that such obsession with outward form became an insurmountable barrier to the discovery and cultivation of inner essence. This inner essence, he believed, could only grasped and developed with the mind. Only proper training of the mind, he argued, would allow the body to rediscover its’ innate ability for natural movement and thereby develop the capacity to react spontaneously and appropriately to any given situation. Thus Wang Xiangzhai eliminated the Xing or forms from Xingyiquan to create the system of no-form, only Mind: YIQUAN.

The 1930s: Domestic and Foreign Challenges

After learning the ancient “Health Dance,” Wang Xiangzhai again ventured forth and began actively propagating and teaching Yiquan and its tenants everywhere he went. In particular, he stayed for quite a while in Shanghai where there lived a great number of the country’s best martial artist. The better known students of Wang Xiangzhai’s Shanghai period included Han Xingqiao and Han Xingyuan, Yu Pengxi, Wang Shuehe, Mu Jianzhao, Gao Zhendong, Zhu Guolu, Zhu Gouzhen, Bu Enfu, Zhang Changxin and Zhang Changyi.

In Shanghai, an unending stream of domestic and, increasingly, foreign martial artists came to Wang Xiangzhai’s door asking for a challenge bout in the hope of besting the Master. None succeeded. One by one, Wang Xiangzhai successfully and oftentimes unceremoniously, put his opponents in their place – usually on the floor – always emerging the undisputed victor.

Among foreign challengers, there were several high-calibre European boxers as well as several high-ranking Japanese martial artists. While in Shanghai, Wang Xiangzhai met the Director of Boxing of the European YMCA, who arranged a bout with the then World Featherweight Champion, a Hungarian by the name of Inge, who was visiting in Shanghai. When the two had their encounter, the Hungarian champion tried to knock Wang Xiangzhai out with a straight punch. But Wang Xiangzhai, with no more than barely a visible shiver of his left hand, threw the champion on the floor.

After his defeat, Mr. Inge wrote an article in the London Times detailing his understanding of the Chinese martial arts. In general, he spoke very highly of the development of the Chinese martial arts, and in particular, stressed the great respect he had for Wang Xianghzhai’s accomplishment.

After that, in 1939, Wang Xiangzhai had a bout with a very famous Japanese martial artist, Kenichi Sawai, who was a fifth dan in Judo and ninth dan in Kenpo. Again, the challenger was defeated decisively. Each time, the moment they made contact, Wang Xiangzhai bounced him off effortlessly.

The Japanese was so impressed that he decided to stay, and he studied with Wang Xiangzhai for almost 12 years. After completion of his studies with Wang Xiangzhai, Mr. Sawai returned to Japan and began to teach the essence of Wang Xiangzhai’s Yiquan system, embellished with his own variations. Mr. Sawai called his system, TaiKi-Ken. In his book, ‘TaiKi-Ken’, Mr Sawai gave his own personal account of his encounters with Wang Xiangzhai:

Since at that time, I was a fifth dan in Judo, I had a degree of confidence in my abilities in combat techniques. When I had my first opportunity to try myself in a match with Wang Xiangzhai, I gripped his right hand and tried to use a technique. But I at once found myself being hurled through the air. I saw the uselessness of surprise and sudden attacks with this man. Next, I tried grappling. I gripped his left hand and  right lapel and tried the techniques I knew, thinking that, if the first attacked failed, I would be able to move into a grappling technique when we fell.

But at the moment we came together, Wang Xiangzhai instantaneously gained complete control of my hand and thrust it out and away from himself. No matter how many times I tried to get the better of him, the results were always the same. Each time I was thrown, he tapped me lightly on my chest just over my heart. When he did this, I experienced a strange and frightening pain, that was like a heart tremor.

Still I did not give up. I requested that he pit himself against me in fencing. We used sticks instead of swords; and even though the stick he used was short, he successfully parried all my attacks and prevented my making a single point. At the end of the match, he said quietely, “The sword-or the staff-both are extensions of the hand.”

The experience robbed me of all confidence in my own abilities. My outlook, I thought, would be very dark indeed, unless I managed to obtain instruction from Wang Xiangzai. I did succeed in studying with him; and, acting on his advice, I instituted a daily course in Zen training. Gradually, I began to feel as if I had gained a little bit of the expansive Chinese martial spirit.

The 1940s: Beijing and Dachengquan

In 1937, Wang Xiangzhai was persuaded by friends to return to Beijing to make his home there and establish a martial arts training center. As part of his program to propagate Yiquan, he wrote a series of articles and gave a series of interviews that were published in the Beijing newspaper ‘Shibao (Truth Daily)’. In these sometimes quite polemical writings and no-holds-barred interviews, Wang Xiangzhai expressed his observations and criticisms concerning Chinese martial arts. At the same time, he delineated how the theory and practice of his own system of Yiquan corrected the inadequacies he perceived in the traditional methods of Chinese health and martial arts training.

The thrust of his critical arguments against traditional theory and practice was twofold. The first, alluded to previously, was the obsessive preoccupation with forms and patterns of movement on the parts of the adherents of traditional martial arts. The rote learning of such traditional practice routines, he argued, actually prevents students from penetrating to the essence of martial art ability. This essence, as he defined it, consists of the body’s innate and natural ability to respond spontaneously and appropriately, to the demands of any given situation.

Such response can be developed only by training the Yi (mind or intention) to such an extent that it achieves complete mastery over one’s Qi (vital force). And this can only be accomplished in the stillness of Zhan Zhuang, his method of formless standing meditation, never in the movement of traditional structured forms. Wang Xiangzhai taught that the acme of martial arts ability lies in the paradox that only the movement (of Qi, or energy) cultivated in stillness can produce stillness (of mind) in physical movement.

The second major impediment to a true renaissance of the martial arts in China, Wang Xiangzhai argued, was the traditional method of transmission. In particular, he issued a blistering critique of the traditional aspects of secrecy and selectivity in transmission, as well as of the traditional authoritarian teacher-student relationship. Wang Xiangzhai noted that secrecy and selectivity in transmission lead to excessive and neurotic competition and thereby to lack of cooperative research between differing schools of martial arts.

He therefore regarded these practices of the hoarding of secrets and their carefully selected transmission by the Master to one or two students, usually in the family lineage, one of the main contributing factors in the decline and impoverishment of Chinese martial arts. As he wrote in his preface to ‘The True Course of Yiquan’:

“If the people have these kinds of thoughts of secrecy, there is no more fortune left in mankind. That is why in our country, we have so many weaklings and we cannot compare with the other countries because of this sickness that exists. In other words, knowledge should not be kept a secret because it belongs to all mankind.

Knowledge does not belong to any one country or nation or group, because all knowledge exists under the sun, and anything under the sun cannot be kept a secret. I take up to teach martial arts as a profession. I have never refused anyone who came to study with me. Anyone, who has a desire to learn, I will teach. What I teach, I will teach with all my might. Whenever asked, I will answer, and I will answer to the fullest.”

As to the other target of his criticism, the traditional authoritarian master-disciple relationship, Wang Xiangzhai was no less scathing in his indictment. Like the secrecy issue, he pinpointed it as one of the major contributing factors to the sorry state of affairs he perceived in the decline of the martial arts.

This awful, ugly tradition produces basically masters and slaves. It sets up a neurotic competitive dynamic between students of differing systems that ‘my teacher is better than yours, yours is not as good as mine’, while at the same time creating an exploitative relationship between teacher and student. Therefore, Wang Xiangzhai wrote:

“If we continue with this kind of system, the Way (Tao) of Martial Arts will never become great. It is only when someone has something to teach and someone wants to learn, that the proper situation for teaching exists. Kowtowing 3,000 times and calling the teacher ‘Great Sifu’ does not make him a teacher, nor does it make the student a student, for that has really nothing to do with what you’re teaching. Knowledge is the most sacred thing in the universe. That is the reason I so forcefully emphasize breaking down the master-disciple relationship.”

It is understandable that Wang Xiangzhai’s writings became extremely controversial. On the one hand, they were welcomed with great enthusiasm by the devotees of Yiquan. On the other hand, they were perceived by many members of the greater martial arts community as an insult to their traditions. This was only to be expected of course, for like in any other field of knowledge, a great discovery cannot avoid conflict with the forces of conservatism and tradition.

To add fuel to the fire, Wang Xiangzhai issued a standing invitation in the newspaper to all martial artists to come and join him in discussions and/or competition, setting aside every Sunday afternoon for this purpose. Predictably, he was taken up on his offer by numerous practitioners from every conceivable martial arts discipline, and an unending stream of contestants knocked on Mr. Wang Xiangzhai’s door to investigate the principles of Yiquan and experience the truth of it at the hands of the Master.

One of these is worth recounting, as it shows the extraordinary degree of control Wang Xiangzhai had developed in his art. There was a very prominent Xingyiquan Master by the name of Hong Lianshun who was very big and strong. His famous act was to take a little brick from the Great Wall and smash it to powder using only a single palm. Wang Xiangzhai accepted his challenge with a smile and when Hong Lianshun, using all his power tried to chop Wang Xiangzhai, he merely raised his arm, and discharging only slightly, threw Hong Lianshun just so that he landed on the sofa.

Hong Lianshun couldn’t believed what happened, so Wang Xiangzhai aid, “Come up and try it again, this time I will have you sit down in the same place again.” Hong Lianshun tried several more times, but no matter how hard he tried to evade and not land back on the sofa, every time he wound up sitting back on the sofa.

He later told someone “I tried to land on any place except the sofa, but Wang Xiangzhai lifted his hand, went to the right and left, and when he found the right place, discharged and again, I fell on the sofa”. Only one time did Wang Xiangzhai misjudge slightly. He discharged using a little bit too much energy, and threw Hong Lianshun on the sofa with so much force that its wooden frame shattered.

Mr. Hong Lianshun, being a man of great integrity, was shamed by his defeats. Immediately, he humbled himself and requested instruction from Wang Xiangzhai. They talked for a long period of time, and as Wang Xiangzhai explained to him the principles and theory of Yiquan. Mr. Hong was enlightened as to its superiority. He then brought all his own students to study with Wang Xiangzhai.

In this and subsequent encounters, Wang Xiangzhai defeated all comers. As a result, his fame and that of Yiquan began to assume such legendary proportions that the more zealous of his followers, following the lead of a newspaper editor who first coined the phrase, began to call Wang Xiangzhai’s system DACHENGQUAN, meaning “Great Achievement Boxing”. At first, Wang Xiangzhai felt he could not decline the honor his followers bestowed on him with this change of name. He wrote:

“After they tried the practice of Yiquan, my friends and students found it as sweet as honey and were overjoyed. That is why they gave me the two words DaCheng (Great Achievement) to name my system. At the time, I felt I could not decline their respect and therefore allowed it to be called that way”

But later on Wang Xiangzhai had second thoughts on the matter. In his own words:

“Knowledge really has no end. How then can we call it ‘Great Accomplishment’? There is no finishing point.”