Qi Mingsong
01 · Lineage & Regional School
Qi Mingsong, Male, Han, from Cangzhou, Hebei, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Cangzhou Martial Arts (Ⅵ-10). The tradition is documented in Cangzhou, Hebei. Within the regional tradition and school record of Cangzhou Martial Arts in Cangzhou, Hebei: Within Cangzhou, Yanqing quan has Cang County, Qing County, Nanpi, Yanshan and Botou as its centres of transmission. It was brought in during the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty from the Shandong area and thereafter split into several branches; in modern times it spread with martial arts schools and competitive exchanges to Beijing and Tianjin, the Northeast and the regions south of the Yangtze. Yanqing quan is grand, deep and solemn, and in the interplay of cleverness and clumsiness has always been valued by practitioners through the ages. Tradition holds that those who practised it included Zhou Tong, Lin Chong, Lu Junyi, Yan Qing and Yue Fei of the Song dynasty. By the Qing dynasty the martial arts master Sun Tong had brought this boxing style to Cangzhou.
02 · Mastery & Signature Works
The bearer record for Qi Mingsong is anchored in the documented technical standards of Cangzhou Martial Arts in Cangzhou, Hebei. Within the documented technical tradition of Cangzhou Martial Arts in Cangzhou, Hebei: It is transmitted in Cangzhou City, Hebei Province. The system includes bare-hand practice, weapons, solo practice and paired practice, with more than a hundred routines, among them the Mizong quan stance-form, the springing kick, Mizong quan forms one to six, Mizong yi and the Eighteen Flips. Yanqing quan possesses the internal school's method of refining essence into qi and the arc-shaped way of moving and turning, and at the same time the external school's opening, chopping and stretching aspect; above all, its rich variety of movements and nimble bearing have made it dear to a wide range of enthusiasts. This boxing style combines hardness and softness, cultivates both interior and exterior, and its movements open and close on a grand scale with the force of mountains pushed over and seas overturned; it conceals lethal intent within and strikes at the vital points of the body, so that often half a move or half a posture can bring an enemy to the death. In modern times such celebrated martial artists as Huo Yuanjia, Jiang Rongqiao, Guo Xishan and Chen Fengqi all practised Yanqing quan, and their deeds in connection with it have passed into the martial world as fine tales. Its training method embodies the fundamental factors of other boxing styles; in demonstration it loses none of the beauty of the external school, while also containing centred, gentle and yielding qualities that gather qi and marshal strength. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The Mizong frame and the eighteen tumbles": The style includes bare-hand and weapon sets, solo and paired, with over a hundred routines such as the Mizong frame, springing legs, Mizong sets one to six and the eighteen tumbles. "Sun Tong brings the art to Cangzhou": Vigorous and restrained in equal measure, the art is traditionally linked to Song figures such as Zhou Tong and Yue Fei; in the Qing the master Sun Tong brought it to Cangzhou. "Inner and outer family in one": It has the inner school's refining of essence and arcing steps and the outer school's open chops and extensions, hard and soft together, wide in form but lethal within. "Huo Yuanjia and the Yanqing boxing lore": Modern masters from Huo Yuanjia onward practised the style, and the third-batch national inheritor Chen Jingyu merged it with modern wushu and devised his own training method.
Fifty-three boxing styles and eight leading schools
Cangzhou counts fifty-three boxing styles, some forty per cent of the national total; beyond the eight leading schools, weapons such as the frenzied-devil staff and Miao blade are unique to it.
1,937 military degree holders
The prefecture produced 1,937 military examination graduates in Ming and Qing times, became a martial hub under Qianlong and was named one of the first national homes of martial arts in 1992.
The thirteen guardians and jar-snatching drills
Beyond common basics, Liuhe boxing trains the thirteen guardians and five animals sets, sandbag tossing and jar snatching, with its own hand shapes, strikes and kicks.
Ding Faxiang, Huo Yuanjia and Wang Ziping
Centuries of Cangzhou masters include Ding Faxiang, Huo Yuanjia and Wang Ziping, while today's inheritors Shi Tongding and Chen Jingyu run halls and merge traditional styles with modern wushu.
03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status
In 2025, Qi Mingsong was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Cangzhou Martial Arts, with Cangzhou, Hebei as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Cangzhou Martial Arts in Cangzhou, Hebei: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Cangzhou, Hebei as its declared area, and Cangzhou Wu Shu Association as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.
04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier
Historical origin
According to statistics, Cangzhou produced 1,937 military jinshi and military juren degree holders between the Ming and Qing dynasties, and by the Qianlong reign it had already become a major centre of martial arts in North China. In 1992 Cangzhou was officially designated one of the first batch of national 'hometowns of martial arts'.
05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage
National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.
| Bearer | Declared area | Roster code | Relation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shi Tongding | Cangzhou, Hebei | 01-0040 | Same declared area |
| Chen Jingyu | Cangzhou, Hebei | 03-1205 | Same declared area |
| Wu Lianzhi | Cangzhou, Hebei | 03-1206 | Same declared area |
| Guo Guizeng | Cangzhou, Hebei | 05-2536 | Same declared area |
| Qi Mingsong | Cangzhou, Hebei | — | This page |
06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript. Compiled from official national representative bearer archival records and the associated project dossier, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。