Cailifu Boxing
01 · Historical Records
Choy Li Fut is one of the Lingnan (southern Chinese) martial arts schools, founded in the sixteenth year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty (1836) by Chen He of Jingmei Village, Yaxi, Xinhui, Guangdong. Chen He, the founder of Choy Li Fut, did not seek to make his own name famous; instead, he named the art after the surnames of his beloved teachers and artfully arranged its movements and techniques to commemorate them.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
The Choy Li Fut system is vast: it comprises 39 fist routines, 54 paired drill (duichai) sets, 64 weapon sets (including 14 staff sets), 18 stance practice methods (commonly known as the "eighteen wooden dummies"), 9 lion dance routines, and internal power practice routines — 193 sets in all. It includes 30 combat hand techniques, 28 palm methods, 29 bridging (qiao) methods, 35 hammer (fist) methods, 14 body methods, 16 leg methods, and 18 footwork methods. It takes the five sounds wik (domain), dik (of), yik (benefit), haak (frighten), and hok (crane) as its markers; there is a saying that if one hears the three sounds yik, dik, and wik, one may recognize the practitioner as belonging to the Choy Li Fut school. Overall, Choy Li Fut has a great variety of routines and rich content. Its hand techniques stress the coordination of attack and defense, its footwork is agile yet steady, and its power is issued hard yet softened. It pays attention to coordinating vocalizations with movement, requiring the voice to bolster might and support momentum. The movements are open and generous, and the routines are full of imposing momentum. "Remembering the source when drinking water is the foundation of Choy Li Fut; perseverance is the spirit of Choy Li Fut." Chen He strove to break down the barriers of surname-based schools, promoting martial style and virtue, and upheld the principle of "all rivers gathering into one sea, meeting friends through martial arts," so that Choy Li Fut would "come from the people and go to the people." As a result, in the more than 170 years since its founding, Choy Li Fut has spread its inheritors across dozens of countries and regions, and in the international dissemination of martial arts there is the saying "Tai Chi in the north, Choy Li Fut in the south." This art is one of the most widely spread Southern Fist styles in the history of Guangdong martial arts; through more than a century of trials it remains deeply rooted and ever-vigorous.
Chen Xiang and the name
Chen Xiang named the art after his three teachers rather than himself, arranging techniques as a memorial to them.
The scale of the system
A vast system of 193 sets, from thirty-nine boxing routines to eighteen dummy-post drills and nine lion-dance sets.
Dummy posts and lion routines
Eighteen post drills and nine lion sets complement the boxing and weapons work.
The five sound markers
Five vocal markers accompany the techniques, so that hearing the calls identifies the school.
Zhang Yan and the Foshan hall
Chen Xiang's pupil Zhang Yan opened the Hongsheng hall in Foshan, a key step in spreading the art to dozens of countries.
Remember the source, never give up
The school's motto of remembering one's source and persisting broke down clan limits and opened the art to all.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
The birthplace of Choy Li Fut is Jingmei Village, Yaxi, Xinhui, in Guangdong. In the sixteenth year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing dynasty (1836), Chen He opened a school in the village to teach disciples, and the art spread from there along the Xijiang and Pearl rivers to Foshan, Guangzhou, Zhaoqing, Jiangmen, Zhongshan, and other places; it was also carried by Cantonese emigrants to Southeast Asia, the Americas, and beyond. His disciple Zhang Yan (Zhang Hongsheng) founded the Hongsheng Hall in Foshan, and several other branches opened schools in Hong Kong, Macau, and overseas, forming the pattern of "Tai Chi in the north, Choy Li Fut in the south." In Xinhui itself, the Xinhui Choy Li Fut Founding Ancestors' Association serves as the local transmission organization, also keeping up the tradition of lion troupes and orthopedic (dieda) medicine.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Cailifu Boxing.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Choy Li Fut not only builds physical fitness but also emphasizes the character formation of its inheritors; its distinctive humanistic concern — "remember the source when drinking water, and persevere" — carries universal cultural value. At present the development of martial arts as a whole has fallen into a slump, making it difficult for Choy Li Fut to regain its former prosperity; many of its routines are on the verge of being lost and urgently await protection.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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