Research on Gong Baotian
These writings are to be respectfully read aloud on the 64th anniversary
of Mr. Gong Baotian’s demise.
Wuhun Magazine 2007.4 # 226
By Huang Zhicheng
Translated and edited by Joseph Crandall
At
the end of the reign of Qing Daoguang, Dong Haichuan, the founder of the Bagua
Quan system, taught his art to many closed-door students in Beijing. One of
those students was Yin Fu, who inherited all of Dong’s teachings on Bagua Quan.
When Yin Fu taught students, he also completely transmitted Master Dong’s
style. Because people are different and because their abilities are many,
therefore the students that became famous are also many, such as Ma Gui, Yang
Junfeng, He Jinkui, Yin Yuzhang, Li Yongqing, Jin Liuhui, Cao Zhongsheng, Men
Baozhen, Gong Baotian, etc. Later people commemorate the tremendous
contributions that Grandmaster Yin Fu made to the art of Bagua Quan by calling
his Bagua Quan “Yin Branch Bagua Quan.” And when Master Gong Baotian inherited
this art, people called it “Yin Style Gong Branch Bagua Quan.” Afterwards, when
Gong Baotian’s “top student”, Sun Ruwen, inherited this martial art, he called
it “Qianzi Men”. Its full name is “Yin Style Gong Branch Qian Gua Bagua Quan
(Inner Eight Trigrams – Qian Character School).” The author studied with Sun
Ruwen for thirty years from June 1953 through February 1984 and deeply got
these transmissions. He underwent innumerable hardships, progressing deeper
into the art and doing investigative research. Finally we have a clear picture
of the development and history of Yin Style Gong Branch Bagua Quan.
1.
Gong Baotian’s Teacher – Yin Fu
Yin
Fu (1841 – 1910), styled De’an, and also called Shoupeng. He was commonly
called “Shou Yin” [Thin Yin], or “Mahua Yin” [Fired Dough Twist Yin]. He was
from Zhangtan village, Ji County, Hebei Province. In his youth he studied Lohan
Quan and Tan Tui. He was skilled in the art of jumping vertically, and was very
good with the judge’s pens. After he arrived in Beijing, he lived in Jishikou
outside the Chaoyang Gate. He had a business selling fried dough twists
[mahui], deep fried dough twists [youbing] and deep fired dough cakes
[youtiao]. He venerated Dong Gong’s awesome reputation
and asked Master Dong to be his teacher. They were constantly
together for over 10 years. Under Dong Gong’s painstaking guidance, he got the
essence of these studies. He gradually created his own special style. His
specialties were the ox tongue palm, and hard fierce actions with lots of
piercing, testing, and dotting. He set great store in straight energy with
springing and shaking strength. His outgoing hands were cold, crisp, quick, and
hard. When his studies were completed, he became a teacher in the Shanpu
Barracks. Later he was brought into the palace of Prince Su. After Dong Gong
passed away, he was also assigned to be a teacher in the Inner Palace. Besides
teaching the Emperor Guangzhe, he also taught the palace bodyguards, eunuchs,
maids, etc. To make it suitable for the Inner Palace personnel to practice, he
taught Yin Style Bagua Quan to be soft, small, continuous, light, clever, but
still have a real functional nature. Yin Fu also began teaching his art in
Beijing outside the Chaoyang Gate area and his Bagua Quan became known as
“North City Bagua.” Later he took a post in civil administration as a customs
officer and tax collector. Still more, he had for a time a home protection
business. According to tradition his finger skills were unparalleled. In the
area where he practiced, there was a signboard made up of birch wood five
centimeters thick. The rough surface of the board was completely bare. He used
his middle finger to dot the board three times leaving three holes in the board
about 3 centimeters deep. Therefore he earned the name “Iron Bracelet Thin Yin
[Tie Zhuozi Shou Yin].” The author has a book, A Simple Edition on
Baguazhang. Inside it states that there were two Yin’s practicing
Bagua. Both were named Yin Fu but one was “Thin Yin” and the other was “Fat
Yin”. “Thin Yin” was a better martial artist than “Fat Yin”. “Fat Yin” was
skilled at writing. He was a better writer than “Thin Yin.” Together they
established the 16 characters used in the Yin Style Bagua Quan transmission.
These are: “shi, qing, jian, dou …” Yin Style’s martial arts uses “Thin Yin” as
its core and “Fat Yin” should not be discussed at the same time. Yin Style
Bagua is comprised of the teachings of “Thin Yin”. In 1908 Yin Fu became ill
and finally died in 1910.
(Authors note: The
above facts about Thin Yin and Fat Yin were written down in accord with the
original manuscripts. I hope you can see that it has a bearing on each aspect
of advancing historical material.)
2.
Concerning all the textual research on Gong Baotian’s life.
1.
Gong Baotian’s names.
Gong
Baotian (1870 – 1943) was also called Ziying. The martial arts community called
him Gong Houzi [Monkey Gong], Yanyi [Swallow Tail] (“wei” [tail] according to
Shandong Yantai regional is pronounced like “Yī”), Xiao Shandong [Little
Shandong], etc. He studied with Yin Fu, and was close friends with his
classmates Ma Gui, Men Baozhen, etc. In the martial arts world, many people
knew who Gong Baotian was, but his name was often transmitted incorrectly, so
people know the sound of it, but they do not know how it was written, so they
sometimes used an incorrect character for the Bao or the tian parts of his
name.
2. Where was
Gong Baotian from?
Today a large
portion of the material records that Master Gong was from Mouping, Shandong.
There are also people who say that he was from Haiyang, Shandong and some who
say that he was from Yantai. The author in the 1980’s was a member of the
Liaoning Provincial Excavation and Arrangement Group. I received instructions
from the great Seven Stars Praying Mantis master, Mr. Chí Xueyuan to gather
material in the Qingdao Lao Mountain area to correct the historical record.
While I was on the train going to Qingdao, I met and chatted with a fellow
traveler (this man was from Rushan.) In our conversations he inadvertently
mentioned that his hometown boasted of a famous man named Gong Baotian and
offered us the detailed address of Gong Baotian’s family home. It is precisely
these sequences of coincidental meetings that caused us to be certain of a
definite location of Gong Baotian’s family home.
We continued our
journey and arrived at Qingshan village in Rushan. In the village we asked if
there happened to be any old folks who would like to chat. We asked about Gong
Baotian. One old person, Ma Shangyou, told us, “I will take you there. He was
my teacher.” Thereupon a person called Gong Fulin guided us. We met Gong
Baotian’s grandson, Gong Chaoyue and Chaoyue’s mother (Master Gong’s
daughter-in-law.) Chaoyue also lead us up the mountain to offer prayers at
Master Gong’s tomb – a bare mound without a tombstone. I, as Gong Baotian’s
grand student, did not think that this was a good thing. (After I returned to
Dalian, I approached my junior classmates Cui Changfa, Yu Shengli, to discuss
and agree to launch a project among the classmates in the Dalian and Yantai
regions on behalf of Teacher Sun Ruwen and Teacher’s younger brothers etc. to
erect a tombstone for Master Gong.) While we were in the village we also asked
about Gong Baoshan, Gong Dianchun, Gong Zuo, and other teachers who love good
martial arts. After this was resolved, the overseas students of Shanghai
teacher Wang Zhuangfei’s son, Wang Hanzhi, also helped out. We stayed in
Qingshan village for about ten days. When we left we took with us the only
known photograph of Master Gong.
At the time of
our business in Qingshan village, we were forced to give up our previous
arguments that Gong Baotian’s birthplace was in Mouping, Haiyang, or Yantai. We
interviewed people and checked to confirm the above narration and everything
indicates that it is true, only none are exact. According to the March 1988
publication of the Rushan documents and records, Rushan County is situated in
the southern end of the Shandong peninsula. To the east is Wendeng. To the west
is Haiyang. To the north is Mouping. To the south is the Yellow Sea. From east
to west it is 60 km long and from north to south it is 47 km wide. Qingshan
village has common boundaries with Weihai, Mouping, and Haiyang.
According to
historical records, the Rushan region’s jurisdiction, from Western Han times
until today, has pretty much been in this location without changes. Only from
Qing Yongzheng’s 30th year (1735) do records start to speak of this area being
divided into Ninghai Prefecture and Haiyang County. In the Republican era, it
was changed back to
Mouping
County and Haiyang County. In September 1945, it was named Rushan County. In
October 1958, it was divided into three sections. One section went to Wendeng,
one section went to Haiyang, and one section went to Yantai. In January 1962,
it went back to being a county under the jurisdiction of the Yantai Prefectural
Commissioner’s Office. In November 1983, it became part of Yantai City. In
October 1987, it was made a part of the Weihai City, Xia County. It is
currently Shandong Weihai City’s County ranked city - Rushan City.
Master Gong was
born in December 1870 and died in November 1943. Master Gong passed away two
years before 1945 when Rushan County was named. When we arrive at the present
day, the author believes Gong Baotian’s exact birthplace should be “Shandong
Province, Rushan County, Qingshan City.”
Master Gong was
a resident of Qingshan village. How did Qingshan village get its name? At the
end of the Jin and beginning of the Yuan dynasties, Gong Wenzhang of Zhuo
Village, Laiyang County, moved to this area and established a village. He named
it Qingshan after a local mountain. The name for the location of Qingshan
village has remained unchanged to the present time.
3. Gong
Baotian’s Early Years
Was Gong Baotian
born in 1870 or 1871? When I first got to Qingshan, I asked this of Gong Baotian’s
grandson, Gong Chaoyue. He affirmed this and said that his grandfather died the
year before he was born. Chaoyue was born in 1944, so the previous year would
be 1943. There are people who say that Gong Baotian was 72 years old when he
died and there are people who say he was 73. Later I again went to Qingshan. I
interviewed two elderly people, Zhang Guoying and Sun Liuying. The first person
said 73 years old. The other said that he was born in the year of the horse.
This means that both were saying that he was 73 years old when he died. (This
is the nominal age – reckoned by the traditional method i.e. considering a
person one year old at birth and adding a year each lunar new year.) It looks
as if we made an error by one year when we set up his monument. Master Gong
must have been born in the 9th year of Tongzhi (1870) and died in the 32nd year
of the Republic (1943); that is 73 years.
3. Gong Baotian
leaves Qingshan to study the arts?
In the spring of
1879, Master Gong’s paternal grandaunt came from the capitol city to do some
small business with the family. This person saw that Gong Baotian was very
clever, his eyes shown with spirit, and he was very happy. Right away she said
that she would take the boy to the capitol to learn a trade. Then, just after
the 15th day
of the New Year, little Baotian followed his grandaunt to the capitol. At that
time, the grandaunt was living outside the Chaoyang Gate near Jishikou. After
they arrived in the capitol city, Gong Baotian began to attend school. Later he
also worked in a nearby grain shop where he worked with the small children
helping the adults carrying and distributing grain. After half a year, the
grandaunt discovered that every day for half the night Gong Baotian was jumping
around and being vivacious inside their small courtyard. When she asked him why
he was doing this, he said that as he was carrying grain through the eastern
part of the city he passed a martial arts school. By degrees he was watching
and studying and was now beginning to train what he saw.
The teacher at
this martial arts school was none other than Yin Fu (Yin Shoupeng). Yin Fu
happy with this because even though he had no money for practicing martial arts
the boy had natural talent. He forgave the expense and took him on as a
student. One day, Yin Fu took Gong Baotian with him to see his teacher, Dong
Haichuan. He demonstrated the fist methods and palm methods. When Dong Haichuan
saw this he was pleased and said, “This is rare; he truly has the talent to
practice martial arts!” Dong Haichuan had Gong Baotian stay with him for
several days and then had him return to Yin Fu’s place to train more. Later
Gong Baotian frequently went to Dong Haichuan’s place to get pointers. (Ten
years later, Gong Baotian’s foundational skills were solid pure and deep. His
body was light like a swallow. In the Bagua School, he was the person with the
most exquisite light skills. The martial community called him “Swallow tail”
and “Monkey Gong”. This will be spoken of later.) Three years later, in the
Spring of 1882 (when Gong was 13 years old), the grandaunt took Gong Baotian
back to the family for a visit. While he was at his old home, each day, as
before, he practiced his skills. The people of the village all knew that he was
only 13 or 14 years old when he went to the capitol to haul grain for his
grandaunt.
3. Stories of
his life in the Capitol City
After he
returned to the capitol, Gong Baotian whole-heartedly followed Teacher Yin and
practiced his skills. He never again hauled grain. He spent his time taking
care of Yin Fu’s school. At this time there were two schools teaching Bagua in
Beijing which were designated by their location. One was in the north, started
by Yin Fu and the other was in the south, started by Cheng Tinghua. Therefore
people called them North City Bagua and South City Bagua (that is Yin Style
Bagua and Cheng Style Bagua.) In 1893, Gong Baotian’s skills were already at
their peak, especially his light skills, red sand palm, and walking on a wicker
basket. People said that ‘Shandong’ Gong was matchless in these three things.
Yin Fu recommended Gong Baotian as a bodyguard to the generals of the Eight
Banners. The generals invited Gong to demonstrate his skills. First he took a
flying bird. He asked a person to toss a dove into the air, so that the dove
would have to open his wings in midair in order to fly. At that time Gong
leaped into the air, stretched out his hand and grabbed the dove out of the
air. Then he lightly dropped down like a tree leaf. To demonstrate his finger
skills, he pulled some green beans from his pocket and held them loosely in his
hand. Using his fingers he rubbed and twisted them all down and then tossed
them into the air. All that one could see was powder floating all around. Then
he also asked someone to take a small stool. He took off his shoes and jumped
up bare-foot. Both big toes landed simultaneously on two spots on the stool as
he squatted on the top. When they saw all of these skills, the generals were
pleased and they asked him to be a bodyguard who was permitted a saber. (That
the first class rank was not allowed to Han Chinese is an error.) Ten years
later, he took over Yin Fu’s duties and also entered the palace as a “fourth
rank saber holding palace guard” and martial arts teacher for the inner palace.
In 1900 he followed Cixi and the Emperor Guangzhe as they fled to the Imperial
Palace
in Si’an. On the road, his skills as a bodyguard were noted many times. He was
granted the right to wear the yellow jacket. In the spring of 1905, he asked
for leave to return to his village. Then he responded to a request by Sun
Xiangshan of Mouping County (whom the martial arts community called “Iron Arms
Sun”) to come to the Sun family and teach his son Sun Ruwen (the author’s
teacher.) At the end of 1908, he returned to the capitol.
When the Qing
dynasty ended, Gong Baotian decided to leave Beijing for Jilin. Just before
leaving he went to see Yin Fu. At this time Yin Fu was already incurably sick.
Gong Baotian made a vow to his teacher. In the future he would definitely
return to his old home in Shandong and teach Bagua Quan. With tears in his
eyes, he left his beloved teacher. He arrived in Jilin and assumed the alias
Zhong Baotian (styled Xiaolan) and taught Shaolin Quan (this really was Lohan
Quan.) Two years later he returned to Beijing. He went to live with the family
of the author’s Shixiong, Mr. Wang Zhimin. At the time two of Yin Fu’s other
disciples, Ma Gui and Men Baozhen, were also living with the Wang family. After
about a year, Gong Baotian left the Wang family and returned to his native
place, Qingshan village in Rushan, Shandong.
5. Stories about
the Great Teacher’s Residence
In 1922, Old
Marshall Zhang Zuolin, the head of the Northeastern Army, in order to
strengthen the quality of his soldiers, set up a self-defense and martial arts
school. Gong Baotian was invited to come in this time of national effort. He
decided then to leave the mountain. They saw that his stature was small and
slight, only his hands went past his knees. His body was light like a swallow.
He turned and changed like a monkey. His skills were extraordinary. At this
time he had already fought and beat many famous fighters. He was commonly
called, “Jiao dong di yi ba jin jiaoyi” [#1 in the East].
During the
second four months, each locality would gather the fighters together and go to
the Old Marshall’s palace in Fengtian [Mukden] to have competitions all day
long. Gong Baotian had a well thought out plan. He held a water pipe in his
hand and slowly touched his pocket. He strolled around the lake. Suddenly a big
burley fellow came up behind him like a cat pouncing on a rat. His hands
reached out to grab Master Gong’s waist in order to pick him up and throw him.
At that moment, Gong Baotian used Bagua’s Monkey Contracts its Body, Turn
Around, Two Snakes Leave the Cave, reverse insertions to the ribs. Immediately
the other person’s ribs swelled, and lumps about the size of fists rose up.
Standing face to face, both men laughed. The burly guy said, “Gong Laoshi, your
body method is very quick, your skills are good, you are worthy to be called a
master!” Gong Baotian said, “Jiang Laoshi’s qigong is the best. It is most
admirable!” This burly person was none other than the great Praying Mantis
master, Jiang Hualong of Yantai. Mr. Jiang also said, “This time Gong Laoshi
has it, other people are just not as good.” That night Mr. Jiang Hualong left
Fengtian and returned to Yantai.
After several
days there was a contest and Gong Baotian was the champion. Zhang Zuolin then
named him to be the chief bodyguard. It is said that there are many anecdotes
related to this time. According to tradition, there was one time the Japanese consul
in Shenyang asked Zhang Zuolin to come by to discuss official business. After
he arrived at the consulate, the Japanese courteously asked Old Marshall Zhang
to sit down. As soon as Zhang Zuolin started to sit, Gong Baotian stepped up
and pulled Old Marshall Zhang back. He kicked over the chair and at the same
time cried out, “peng!” He took a dagger and inserted it into the ceiling
above. For a long time the Japanese had been plotting to kill Old Marshall
Zhang but he was always protected by Imperial bodyguard Gong Baotian. There was
another time when Zhang Zuolin wanted to test Gong Baotian’s body method. He
suddenly said, “I know that your skills are really good, but you have never had
to evade my marksmanship.” Zhang then picked up a gun to fire it. But before it
could be fired, Gong was already behind Zhang and had a grip on Zhang’s gun
hand. Old Marshall Zhang praised him again and again.
Several months
later, Li Cunyi’s disciple, Fu Jianqiu arrived in Fengtian. In Fengtian Jian
defeated a Japanese kendo master named Sheng Dazhen. Gong Baotian heard of this
and went to meet him. In getting to know Fu, he found out that Fu was younger
than he was by 12 years. (At this time Fu was 44 years old and Gong was 56
years old.) Both of them were born in the year of the horse. (Gong was born in
1870 and Fu was born in 1882.) When he delved into Fu’s martial skills, he
discovered that Fu was very good. Thereupon he went to Zhang Zuolin and said,
“This man’s martial skills are pretty good, on par with mine. Also I am getting
old. Please give him a post in your household.” After Gong Baotian’s gracious
recommendation of this worthy person, Fu Jianqiu was taken into the household.
After this his reputation spread through the three eastern provinces. At this
time the Young Marshall Zhang Xueliang was in Beijing. Zhang Zuolin appointed
Gong Baotian to be the Young Marshall Zhang Xueliang’s bodyguard. In June 1928,
Zhang Zuolin was killed in Huanggu Village. Gong Baotian was shocked. He felt
bad about national affairs, family affairs and the world in general. He decided
to leave the capitol and return to his hometown to teach Bagua Quan. He never
again returned to Beijing. At this time he was 58 years old.
6. Hometown
Anecdotes
When Gong
Baotian returned to his home village, he acquired a two story wooden house. The
house did not have any stairs. When he needed to move between floors he used a
wooden plank. It was five centimeters thick. It was 30 centimeters wide. It was
2.4 meters long. When he wanted to go to the upper floor, he would grab the
plank and haul himself up. When he wanted to go down, he would slide down.
Around 1913, Gong Baotian was in Mouping. Sun Xiangshan, the father of Gong’s
student Sun Ruwen helped to set up halls to teach Bagua Quan in areas around
Yantai: Nanwutai, Shinei, Hongkou, etc. and have the Bagua Quan art taught on
the eastern peninsula. At that time, people in Mouping, Yantai, Laiyang,
Penglai, Qingdao, Jinan, and surrounding areas knew that Gong was in Jiatan,
Mouping and many came to study the arts with him. At that time Gong had a lot
of famous students such as Hou Tianguo, Ting Shankong, Sun Fuying, Liu Qingfu,
Sun Ruwen, Gong Tuzi, etc. (There were famous people in are area at that time
that we have no record of.)
People
have preserved many anecdotes about Gong Baotian when he was in his hometown
(Qingshan village), such as the “Three Big Consumate Skills”. These were:
1. Walking on a
wicker basket. Using an empty round wicker basket, with a diameter of about 2
meters. He would jump up on the rim and walk around in a circle without
knocking it over. He was incredibly stable.
2. Grabbing a
flying bird. A small swallow leaves its nest from below the eaves flying hard.
He would leap up and grab the bird, then letting the bird go to fly away again.
3. Using his
palm to grind green beans into flour.
Still more has
the skill of ‘1000 pounds descending.” (He would use his middle finger to pull
a hoe as four or five people opposite him would pull on the hoe. He would use
Bagua’s 1000 pounds descending in a squatting horse stance to remain absolutely
unmoving.)
Gong Baotian was
about 30 years old when he first returned to his village. The second time he
started to teach martial arts. Many people came to study with him. A great many
students in the course of practicing the art, use the palm to make the core
teaching of fighting skills of Bagua Quan. Its objective is application. About
this time, there was a popular saying, “There are people who wants it but not
accustomed to play.” (This is the idea of starting to work.) Those that were
studying the art at this time were: Zhang Jifu, Wang Zhuangfei, Zhang Guoying
(his only female student), Liu Yunqiao, Gao Ziying, Sun Liuying, Sun Ruwen, Sha
Guozheng (Sha Shimu), Jiang Xingwu, etc. Still more, in Qingshan village, there
were Gong Baozhai, Gong Baoshan, Gong Zuo, Gong Dianchun, etc. In addition,
Master Gong, in the course of undertaking the transmitting of his art,
especially paid attention to martial virtue. In the early stage, there was a
student called Ding Shankong. After his studies were completed, he was living
in Yantai where he would visit the local martial arts areas (formerly called
cai changzi.) Gong Baotian forbade him to do this and he immediately had to
give up his martial skills.
Gong Baotian had
three sons and one daughter. The oldest son was called Gong Benyi (Benjie). He
had one son, Gong Chaoyue, and one daughter, Gong Chaoying. Chaoyue has two
sons, one named Zaiping and one named Zaijun. Zaiping’s birth name is Pengfei.
Zaijun’s birth name is Zhenyu. Gong Baotian’s second son was called Gong
Luzhai. (His baby name was Little Rock Head.) He died relatively young. He had
a talent for martial skill. He was very bright. With martial skills, once he
saw it, he could do it. However, Gong Baotian discovered that even though this
son’s hands were fierce, he did not study deeply. He was afraid that someday he
would stir up trouble. Gong Baotian’s third son was called Gong Jintang. He
never married.
7. The Great
Master Passes Away
During the time
that Gong Baotian was in the palace, he got into the habit of smoking opium. At
the beginning of his thirty years in Shandong, his opium addiction was very
heavy. Therefore they quickly sent him to the Sun Family, to teach marital arts
to Sun Xiangshan’s grandson, Sun Liuying (Sun Ruwen’s son). At the end of the
thirty years, Gong Baotian’s body was not good. Each night he would sit in his
chair or perhaps on a heatable brick bed. He seldom ate food. Because of this,
he considered returning to his old family in Qingshan. His students Zhang Jifu
and Sun Liuying, talked it over, they hired a “shanzi” (two matched horses, one
in front and one in back carrying space between.) and Sun Liuying took him back
to Qingshan to take care of him. He liked this a lot. So they returned to
Jiatan to stay with the Sun family. At that time, the political situation was
critical. This was the period of overall resistance to the Japanese. The whole
area was turbulent and unstable. Gong Baotian already appeared extremely aged.
He lost the vitality that he had had in his former days. He looked as if he
could die at any time. Sun Liuying used the “shanzi” to take him to his
hometown. That was in the beginning of the summer in 1942. At that time, Gong
Baotian’s mind was clear. This time he was with his grand disciple Sun Liuying
(also is the last person to study with him.) and was getting ready to bid world
farewell. He fervently wished that Bagua would continue to be transmitted. He
took all of his martial arts manuals and a sword he received upon leaving the
Imperial Palace and gave them to Liuying. Deep in the autumn of 1943, one night
one of the local villagers came inside the Gong Baotian family home. He had
just come back from Laiyang. He said that there were Japanese soldiers sweeping
the area. Gong Baotian’s third son, Gong Jintang, was being held in Laiyang.
They tried to help him; but young Jintang had been killed by the Japanese. The
old man was deeply saddened and his qi was used up. He died when he was 73
years old.
8. Successors
It has already
been 64 years since Great Master Gong Baotian left us. With the passage of
time, most of the third generation students are entering into old age. It has
been written, “There are no successors to Gong Style Bagua.” The person that
wrote those words was not being very responsible. This makes the author very
angry because this is not true. According to the author’s knowledge, the
successors of “Yin Style Gong Branch” spread throughout the world in order to
expand and promote “Yin Style Gong Branch” Bagua Quan. They all use different
patterns of progression and diligence. Mr. Sun Ruwen of Dalian, Liaoning
Province and his students make one branch. (Dong Haichuan – Yin Fu – Gong
Baotian – Sun Ruwen). Uncle Mr. Zhang Jifu of Yantai teaches another branch.
(Dong Haichuan – Yin Fu – Gong Baotian – Zhang Jifu) Shishu Mr. Wang Zhuanfei
of Shanghai’s son Wang Hanzi teaches students in Singapore, Shanghai, Henan,
and other places. He also calls his branch “Imperial Palace Bagua.” (Dong Haichuan
– Yin Fu – Gong Baotian – Wang Zhuangfei) Shishu Mr. Liu Yunqiao of Taiwan’s
student and inheritor Mr. Xu Ji (Adam Hsu) represents one branch. (Dong
Haichuan – Yin Fu – Gong Baotian – Liu Yunqiao) Shishu Mr. Gong Baozhai of
America teaches one branch. (Dong Haichuan – Yin Fu – Gong Baotian – Gong
Baozhai), etc. Today, our branch in Dalian and Wanghai has established the
“Chinese Yin Style Gong Branch Bagua Quan Cultural Exchange Center.” Its
purpose is “To expand and promote the art of Gong Style Bagua Quan and to
spread excellent quality of Imperial Palace cultivation and fighting.” There
truly are successors to “Yin Style Gong Branch Bagua.” They are just
presenting a new appearance to the public.
Translators
notes: All translating mistakes are solely mine. Some of the original
information may be in error but I did not attempt to change any information
that the author is presenting in this article if I suspected that it was in
error.
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Learn Internal Kung Fu - Xingyi, Tai Chi & Bagua at Boulder Internal Arts
Learn Internal Kung Fu - Xingyi, Tai Chi & Bagua at Boulder Internal Arts
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