Taijiquan
01 · Historical Records
Wang Qihe Taijiquan took shape in the late Qing dynasty. It was created by Wang Qihe, a native of Ren County, Xingtai, Hebei, who synthesized the finest points of Wu-style and Yang-style Taijiquan together with the strengths of numerous other boxing arts, producing a school of Taijiquan with complete theory and method that unites practice and application. Since its founding, the style has attracted numerous practitioners because of its practical character and the cultural ideas it embodies, and it has been transmitted mainly through succession from master to disciple, by oral instruction and personal demonstration.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Historically, Wang Qihe Taijiquan was distributed across Ren County and the surrounding counties of Hebei Province, and it later spread to many parts of China. Wang Qihe successively took the renowned Taijiquan masters Hao Weizhen and Yang Chengfu as his teachers, studying deeply and practicing with refinement. Taking the Wu-style Taijiquan frame as his foundation — with its agile footwork, compact and neat structure, and abundant internal strength — he absorbed the qualities of Yang-style Taijiquan, which is open and generous, supple, lively and graceful, and created Wang Qihe Taijiquan. Its core theoretical system comprises the four-character tenets of cultivation (virtue, authenticity, enlightenment, and perseverance); the ten-character essentials (uprightness, stillness, smoothness, lightness, looseness, softness, roundness, liveliness, sensitivity, and emptiness); the cultivation of the realm of hunyuan jin, or rounded-arc force; the strategy and tactics of sanshou free-hand fighting; the explanations of opening, closing, gathering and releasing; the methods of internal cultivation; and the skills of looseness and softness, perceptual awareness, and internal strength. The routine sets of Wang Qihe Taijiquan include traditional routines, newly compiled routines, and weapon routines with the saber, spear, and sword. Auxiliary training mainly consists of the Wuji standing stance, Taiji standing stance, single-leg stance, lowered-posture stance, Four Symbols stance, stationary-step balance exercise, stationary-step rotation exercise, and moving-step dynamic exercise. It emphasizes stationary practice, moving practice, reverse practice, slow practice, fast practice, free practice, and internal practice. Wang Qihe Taijiquan is characterized by a lower frame with a rigorous structure — light and agile, steady, compact and neat, and filled with internal strength — and an upper frame that is open and generous, even-paced and gentle, supple, lively and graceful. In performing the form, one follows the principle of natural stepping, moving qi with the mind and guiding movement with intent, so that internal qi arises from the dantian, passes through the meridians link by link, reaches the four extremities, and allows the breath to flow through the whole body. In application, the movements are light and agile: outwardly soft but inwardly hard, with soft and continuous hand techniques, while the emission of force is crisp and piercing. Through the exchanges and dissemination of the third- and fourth-generation inheritors, the community of practitioners has steadily expanded. The style upholds the maxim that one must first cultivate virtue before learning boxing and first train smoothness before practicing the form, and its four-character tenets likewise place virtue first — something of positive significance for nurturing moral character and building a harmonious society.
Four characters and ten essentials
Its core theory is the four characters — virtue, truth, insight, perseverance — the ten essentials of uprightness, quiet, smoothness, lightness, relaxation, softness, roundness, liveliness and emptiness, and the training of the round force.
Eight standing posts and seven ways of practising
Auxiliary training uses the limitless, taiji, single-leg, sinking and four-image posts with fixed-step balance and rotation drills, practised still, moving, reversed, slow, fast, loose and inward.
The union of two masters' teaching
Formed in the late Qing, the style rests on the Wu frame's nimble compact steps and solid inner force while absorbing the Yang frame's expansive, floating softness.
Firm below, expansive above
Its lower body is firm, light and compact with solid inner force, the upper body expansive and soft; natural stepping leads energy from the elixir field along the meridians to the limbs.
Cultivate virtue before the fist
The maxim “learn virtue before the fist, learn smoothness before the form” puts virtue first, and the moderate frame suits all ages for health.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Wang Qihe Taijiquan originated in Ren County, Xingtai, Hebei. In its early period, teaching and practice were centered on the boxing grounds of Ren County town and the surrounding villages, extending also to counties such as Nanhe, Pingxiang, and Xingtai. After the third- and fourth-generation inheritors left home to make a living and teach boxing, the style gradually spread to places such as Shijiazhuang, Handan, Shanxi, and the Beijing and Tianjin area, establishing teaching-and-practice sites in parks, government offices, schools, and martial arts halls, so that the community of practitioners kept growing.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan · Taijiquan.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The transmission lineage has produced noted masters in every generation. Wang Qihe Taijiquan is distinguished by the unity of practice and application: its frame may be high or low and its tempo fast or slow as appropriate, internal and external training are combined, and it is suitable for both the young and the old, giving it practical value for strengthening the body and preserving health.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Yang Zhenhe 01-0041
- Han Huiming 01-0042
- Wang Xian 01-0043
- Zhu Tiancai 01-0044
- Yang Zhenguo 03-1207
- Chen Zhenglei 03-1209
- Diweichuan 05-2537
- He Youlu 05-2538
- Sun Wanrong
- Chen Peiju
- Chen Xiaoxing
- Luan Xinchun
- Li Jianfang
- Yao Zhiping
- Chen Bing
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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