Cangzhou Martial Arts
01 · Historical Records
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'. Cangzhou martial arts have a long history: 'originating in the Spring and Autumn period, flourishing in the Ming dynasty, reaching their height in the Qing dynasty, and extremely flourishing in the late Qing and early Republican period'. Cangzhou martial arts are vigorous and awesome and strong in actual combat: they have both the bold, wide-expanding attack of outright valour and the superbly skilful devices of pushing, parrying, catching and locking. Every move embodies the concepts of yin and yang, interior and exterior, hardness and softness, square and circle, heaven and earth, and righteousness and principle, which originate in Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Cangzhou City lies in the southeastern part of Hebei Province, facing the Bohai Sea to the east, adjoining Qilu to the south and leaning against Beijing and Tianjin to the north. Known as the southern gateway of the capital, it was historically a contested place of strategic importance, a gathering place of merchants and a place of exile, and the people practised the arts of attack and defence and grappling in order to survive, so martial arts flourished there. Cangzhou has many martial arts schools. It boasts 53 boxing styles, including Bajiquan, Pigua, Yanqing, Bagua, Liuhe, Chahua, Gongli and Taizu, accounting for 40.3% of the 129 martial arts schools and boxing styles in the country. Each school has its own vigorous and hardy character, with full and abundant power, a combination of long-range and short-range techniques, and simplicity containing subtlety. Over the past several centuries Cangzhou martial arts have brought together outstanding masters and upright gentlemen such as Ding Faxiang, Huo Yuanjia and Wang Ziping, who made enormous contributions to resisting foreign humiliation, enhancing national prestige and carrying forward the Chinese national spirit. Cangzhou martial arts are distinctive in their own right: besides the eight major schools represented by representative boxing styles, weapon and boxing arts such as the Fengmo staff, the miaodao, chuojiao and the yinyang spear are unique to Cangzhou. Practising Cangzhou martial arts can improve physical fitness, cultivate a person's spiritual character, promote all-round development, enrich and perfect Chinese and indeed international martial arts culture, and further drive the development of a variety of related industries such as martial arts training, performance, competition, exchange, festival exhibitions and the manufacture and trade of equipment.
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.
A contested frontier fond of arms
Facing the Bohai sea and guarding the southern gate of Beijing and Tianjin, Cangzhou was a contested, commercial and penal frontier where fighting skills meant survival.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Cangzhou martial arts are concentrated in Cangzhou city proper and in Botou, Mengcun, Yanshan, Qing County, Nanpi, Xian County, Renqiu and Hejian, where boxing-society networks have formed along both sides of the Grand Canal and the Jinpu Railway. Mengcun is renowned for Bajiquan and Botou for Liuhe quan, while Pigua, Yanqing and other schools also have their own transmitters.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Cangzhou Martial Arts · Cangzhou Martial Arts · Cangzhou Martial Arts · Cangzhou Martial Arts.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Cangzhou martial arts are also eclectic, having accumulated a rich store of traditional martial arts resources, and in recent years have absorbed positive elements such as taekwondo and standardized wushu routines, achieving new development. However, the techniques of Cangzhou martial arts are transmitted mainly by oral instruction and imitation. Old masters have had little formal schooling, 'all their learning is locked inside them', and they are now advanced in age, so many superb skills and ingenious devices are on the verge of being lost and urgently need protection and rescue. Shi Tongding (as recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): male, of Hui ethnicity, born in 1961, a native of Botou, Hebei. The Liuhe quan practised by Shi Tongding is characterised by movements that are extended, light and agile, by hand techniques that flow in unbroken sequence, by stillness containing movement and movement containing stillness, by clear footwork, by a balance of hardness and softness, by a marked contrast of movement and stillness, and by a free-flowing and practical character. It lays stress on yin and yang and demands that the rising and falling, the moving and the still, be coordinated and matched: mind accords with intention, breath with power, hands with feet, elbows with knees and shoulders with hips. Besides the basic skills common to all schools, there are also training methods for foundation work and special techniques, such as the routine 'Thirteen Guardians', the Five Animals, Xiantianjing, catching and tossing sandbags, and fancy jar-grabbing. The principal hand forms of Liuhe quan are the fist, the palm, the hook, the open and the concealed hand; the principal striking methods are chopping, smashing and thrusting; and the principal leg methods are flicking, kicking, pushing off, hooking and spinning. In 2002 Shi Tongding founded 'Liuhe Wu', using the club as its vehicle and the Liuhe name as its medium, jointly promoting the development of Liuhe quan. A representative inheritor of Cangzhou martial arts, a project of the first batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. Since taking up the post of coach in 1985, Shi Tongding has trained disciples of whom new talents have repeatedly emerged, and they have won prizes many times in various national martial arts competitions. Chen Jingyu (as recorded in the official archive of the associated inheritor): male, of Han ethnicity, born in June 1959, a native of Cangzhou City, Hebei Province. He was trained at the same time by two modern martial arts coaches, Hu Zhengshun and Liu Hongchang, organically combining Yanqing quan with modern martial arts and summarising unique training methods and teaching experience. His performance style is graceful in posture, well modulated in fast and slow, and free and unconstrained. A representative inheritor for Cangzhou martial arts (Yanqing quan), a project of the third batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage. He takes the protection and transmission of Yanqing quan as his own task, accepts disciples widely, and has successively trained and taught a large number of pupils free of charge.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Shi Tongding 01-0040
- Chen Jingyu 03-1205
- Wu Lianzhi 03-1206
- Guo Guizeng 05-2536
- Qi Mingsong
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回 英文名录。