Liang,
Qiang-Ya
International
WuDang Association
Fu, Zhen Song
WuDang
Boxing: Taiji, Bagua, and
Xing-yi are all internal martial arts.
Grandmaster Fu Zhen Song (I881-1953), whose other name was Fu Chien-Kwan, and
who was a great practitioner of Baguazhang, was the creator of Fu Style WuDang Boxing.
Fu Zhen Song was born in HeNan province, in the district of Xin-Yang, and village of Ma-Po. As a teenager he was very fond of martial arts. There was a martial arts school in Ma-Po Village. In the beginning, in one small town, Chen Ja Go. His Chen style teacher was Chun Yen-Si, whose other name was Chun Hwei-Jia. Chun was a Chen Tai-Chi 8th generation master. Yang Lu-Chan was his KungFu uncle. Fu 's first martial art was Chen Tai Chi, at the local martial arts school. At the same time, Fu studied Bagua Palm from Dong Hai-Chuan's student Jia Chi-Hsan, (Jia Fan-Ming), in Beijing. Fu is the WuDang Grandmaster, considered to be of the highest level in the WuDang society. In addition to his high level martial arts skill, he was also noted for his nobleness of character. Fu was the 3rd generation of Dong Hai-Chuan.
Grandmaster
Fu traveled throughout all of China, sought the
best martial arts instructors, and exchanged information. Fu is world famous for
his martial arts prowest. He learned, practiced, and taught martial arts over the entire
course of his life. Fu was famous for his Tai-Chi, bagua, spear, and sword. He
also excelled in Xing-Yi. His popularity stemmed from always helping people fend off
bullies.
In one incident, he used his spear to kill the chief caetern (China's Liberty Valance), and also worked as a security guard for the bank's business owners.
He became good friends with Yang Chen-Pu, and studied Yang style Tai Chi with him. He took the important concepts from the Yang Tai Chi. Fu wanted to know why the Yang Tai Chi was so soft, and the Chen Tai Chi would gather and explode. In 1925, Fu became the President of Tian Jing Martial Arts Association. Sun LuTang studied WuDang sword with Fu. In exchange, Sun LuTang exchange information with Fu in Tai Chi, Bagua, and Xing-Yi.
In China there
was a General Li
JinLin (photo on left), who when people saw
him, they called him "Number 1 sword in the world." General Li was
famous for his mastery of the sword. He invited Fu to teach this weapon to his army,
as well as other weapons, and martial arts. General Li invited the best martial
artists, and together they discussed effective techniques for combat. This
opportunity provided Fu contact with a lot of other martial artists. As General Li invited Fu, as well as other martial artists, to
teach, Fu was,
therefore, able to learn their separate fields of expertise. From this he was
able to develop his own skills and techniques. With his own background and other
martial artist's added information, he was able to progress and develop more
techniques--hand techniques, and self-defense training. Because Fu was so
intelligent, he was able to develop his own style by distilling the various
techniques from the other masters.
He created Yin Bagua Palm, Yang Bagua palm, Orthodox Bagua
palm and Bagua Dragon Palm, Bagua Push hands, Tai Chi, Liang-Yi Boxing, Tai-Chi
Lightning Palm, Spear, Broadsword and others. Because he contacted so many styles and
masters, the whole martial arts world came to know Fu's unique style. In the
20th century, he is well known all over the world in martial arts
circles. In 1928, he became the Chief Instructor of the China Nanjing Martial
Arts Association.
In 1929, in Guang-Dong state, the governor of that state, Li Ji Hsen, invited Fu and 4 others: Gu Yu-Jiang, Wan Lai Hsen, Wang Shao-Jou, and Kang De-Hai (altogether, the 5 tigers), to go to the southern part of China. This was called "5 Tigers going south." It means that 5 Northern Masters crossed the Yang Tze River.
At this time Northern Styles of martial arts were introduced to Southern China. Fu Zhen Song was the first master to teach Northern styles (Taiji and Bagua) in Guang-Dong.