Zhao Jianying
Lineage & School of Heritage
In 1980 she received the authentic transmission of Jin Zitao, becoming a legitimate direct inheritor of Wudang Taiyi Wuxing Quan (Wudang Taiyi Five-Elements Boxing) of the Wudang Mountains.
Mastery, Signature Works & Repertoire
Wudang Taiyi Wuxing Quan (Wudang Taiyi Five-Elements Boxing), originally called Wudang Taiyi Wuxing Qinpu Twenty-Three Forms, is based on the principle of the mutual generation and conquest of the five elements. Its aims are to cultivate qi and build health and to subdue opponents in self-defense; it values intention over force and prizes transforming an opponent's energy rather than resisting it stiffly. It emphasizes ease in movement and stillness, the interdependence of mind and breath, discerning positions by fractions of an inch, and subduing opponents through grappling and sealing techniques. Zhao Jianying was an eighteenth-generation disciple of the Quanzhen Longmen lineage of the Wudang internal martial arts. She began studying under renowned masters in 1932 and, from childhood, learned numerous martial arts routines such as Xiao Hongquan (Small Hong Boxing), Da Hongquan (Large Hong Boxing), Yanqing Quan (Yanqing Boxing), and Shierlu Tantui (Twelve-Road Springing Leg), laying a solid foundation. In 1941 Zhao Jianying took part in propaganda work for resistance against Japan and national salvation and was once appointed martial arts instructor for the Fifth War Zone. Zhao Jianying long devoted herself to the organization, excavation, and promotion of this boxing style. She published more than one hundred thousand characters of material on Wudang Taiyi Wuxing Quan, released three sets of instructional discs, established a website, taught more than a thousand disciples, and had more than one hundred thousand students, her influence extending at home and abroad.
Honors & Recognition
Female, of Han ethnicity, born in 1926, died in 2011, a native of Danjiangkou, Hubei. A representative bearer of Wudang Martial Arts, a first-batch national intangible cultural heritage project; head coach of Taoist martial arts of the Wudang Mountains and director of the Zhao Jianying Guoshu Hall on Mount Wudang.
References & Archival Sources
Representative Items of This Bearer
Profile
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, organized by topic and translated into English. 阅读中文版。