B1. Wudang Liangyi Fist – Taiyi Five Elements Boxing (4 months)
This boxing was created by Zhang Shouxing, the 8th Master of Longmen of Wudang Mountain during Ming Dynasty (1488-1504). It combines Taichi 13 Postures of Grand Master Zhang Sanfeng with the Five Animals Movement of Huatuo, the famous ancient medical doctor of Han Dynasty, and Taoist’s breathing, Dao-yin (exercise) and fighting techniques.
In 1929, the 24-year old Aisin Gioro Puhuan (Chinese name: Jin Zitao, the younger brother of the last Emperor of Qing Dynasty) stayed in Zixiao Temple for more than seven months. During this period, Jin accidentally saw Priest Li Heling practicing this boxing, so he asked Priest Li to teach him. Due to the Taoist rule of passing on Kungfu to no outsider and Jin’s special background, Priest Li refused.
But Jin was sincere. He knelt in front of the statue of Emperor Xuanwu and swore that he would never pass it on to other people if he could learn this fist. Finally, Priest Li was touched and taught Jin the boxing. Jin practiced it for the rest of his life and managed to realise the true essence of the boxing.
During the National Wushu (Martial Arts) Demonstration Convention in 1980-1981, Jin performed this boxing for the first time in the public. With the consent of Jin, the Wuhan Sports Commission established a special team to learn it from Jin. Since then, the boxing is circulated broadly.
The boxing styles with circling movements toward all directions. It has outstanding health preservation and fighting functions with special effect to the muscles, bones and joints. It has absorbed the pictographic motions of Huatuo’s Five Animals Movement: tiger shape strengthens the lung, monkey shape strengthens the kidney, deer shape strengthens the liver and the crane shape strengthens the heart.
Practicing this boxing is good to the systems of central nervous, cardiovascular, respiration, bone and digestion, so the practitioners can improve their organs, eliminate disease and prolong life. The learners must possess basic Taichi techniques.
