Qingcheng Martial Arts
01 · Historical Records
It dates back to the Han dynasty and has a long history of nearly 2,000 years to the present. Its main areas of transmission are now the Chengdu region, Wenchuan County, Luzhou, and Kaixian in Chongqing, radiating to many other regions and countries in China and abroad.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Qingcheng Martial Arts is the collective name for the boxing styles that originated in and are transmitted through the Mount Qingcheng area of Dujiangyan City, Sichuan Province, and it is one of the four great schools of ancient Chinese martial arts. Qingcheng Martial Arts upholds the concept of the Dao following nature and the unity of heaven and humanity. Integrating the Daoist 'dynamic exercise methods' with the ancient Qiang culture and absorbing the finest points of the various martial arts schools, it developed into a martial system with profound principles and methods, integrating both form and application, and complete as a system. Influenced by the mountainous terrain, it uses hand techniques more than leg techniques and employs mostly short weapons, and is represented by swordplay, the whisk (fuchen), and the whip staff (biangan). Among its sword methods, the Seven-Star Sword, Eight Immortals Sword, and Sky-Whistling Sword are famous throughout the world. Technical training proceeds from shallow to deep, from simple to complex, and from the external to the internal, progressing from solo practice and paired practice to armed practice and then to live combat, and makes use of 'entangling hands' (chanshou) and seizing techniques. The basic skills include internal work, external work, soft work, hard work, and light-body skill (qinggong). Qingcheng Martial Arts cultivates both interior and exterior and combines hardness with softness. It takes the body as the furnace, essence and qi as the medicine, and the primordial spirit as the fire, so that essence and qi coalesce within the body without dispersing, thereby achieving free movement of the limbs and the breath. It gives equal weight to breath-nurturing health preservation and practical combat, and overall presents a unique style of overcoming hardness with softness, defeating strength with weakness, employing both long and short ranges, combining soft and hard techniques, being able to attack and skilled at defending, with inexhaustible variations. It also has the typical characteristics of compact movements, refined techniques, and many small hand methods. The former excels in boxing methods, exercise methods, and sword methods, with the boxing methods distinguished by surging motion, mudra-forming (jieyin), and tendon-pulling. The latter consists mainly of methods such as the Thirteen Elixir Exercises, the Five Elements Health Exercises, Iron Sand Palm, Cinnabar Palm, and Cotton Palm. Qingcheng Martial Arts has a long history and is profound and extensive, drawing on the strengths of many schools and forming a method of its own; it intermingles with elixir Daoism, qigong, the Yi studies, and medicine, and has rich and profound cultural connotations.
Seven stars, eight immortals and cloud-calling swords
The school's signature sword forms, the clearest expression of its preference for short weapons.
The whisk and the staff
Two representative short weapons: the Daoist whisk and the carrying staff, both suited to mountain terrain.
Thirteen elixir and five-phase health arts
Health-oriented exercises among the school's conditioning arts, alongside iron-sand, cinnabar and cotton palms.
Surging, sealing and tendon stretching
The three core features of the school's boxing, used with breath work to make the body a crucible for essence and spirit.
Coiling hands and seizing
Techniques used in the transition from solo and paired practice to combat, grounded in internal, external, soft, hard and light training.
The Liu and He transmission lines
Transmitted master to disciple through two principal lines, the Liu and the He, taught at dedicated halls.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Qingcheng Martial Arts is the collective name for the boxing styles that originated in and are transmitted through the Mount Qingcheng area of Dujiangyan City, Sichuan Province; together with Shaolin, Wudang, and Emei, it is known as one of the four great schools of ancient Chinese martial arts. Its main areas of transmission are now the Chengdu region, Wenchuan County, Luzhou, and Kaixian in Chongqing. Influenced by the mountainous terrain, it uses hand techniques more than leg techniques and employs mostly short weapons; among its sword methods, the Seven-Star Sword, Eight Immortals Sword, and Sky-Whistling Sword are especially renowned. In transmission there are two main forces, the Liu and He branches. The Qingcheng Martial Arts Hall and the Daojing Jingwu Hall are the main venues of teaching, and the Dujiangyan Cultural Center is the project protection unit.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Qingcheng Martial Arts is passed down through master-to-disciple transmission, with the Liu and He branches as the two main forces of transmission. The Qingcheng Martial Arts Hall and the Daojing Jingwu Hall are its main venues of teaching. In recent years, the government has attached great importance to its protection and transmission: it has organized the establishment of research societies to carry out excavation, collation, and research; helped inheritors open martial arts halls and teach disciples; actively promoted Qingcheng Martial Arts fitness activities to raise public participation; and actively carried out exchange and exhibition activities to strengthen publicity and promotion. Today, the transmission environment for Qingcheng Martial Arts is continually improving; it has established transmission cooperation with more than a dozen schools in China and abroad, the number of practitioners exceeds 200,000, covering all age groups and more than 80 regions and countries at home and abroad. It has a style of overcoming hardness with softness, light and elegant, open and poised, displaying the beauty of human strength and bearing, and thus has considerable ornamental and aesthetic value. In practice, it requires the unity of form and spirit, nurturing the temperament internally and training the tendons and bones externally, and pursues harmonious coexistence between humanity and nature, giving it good health-preserving efficacy and social value.
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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