Cangzhou Martial Arts
01 · Historical Records
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 · Core Techniques & Process
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.
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.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
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.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Cangzhou Martial Arts · Cangzhou Martial Arts · Cangzhou Martial Arts · Cangzhou Martial Arts.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Yanqing quan can strengthen the body, cultivate a tenacious character, and plays an important role in carrying forward the national spirit and enriching the art of health preservation. Yanqing quan is highly pleasing to watch but difficult to master. With the development of the market economy, martial arts activity has fallen into a periodic trough; accomplished masters have passed away one after another, and young martial artists with outstanding command are few and far between, so that Yanqing quan and its weapons have been lost and its transmission is worrying. 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)
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