Wang zi ping
From Mw
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Wang Zi Ping (1881-1973) nicknamed Yon An, a Muslim from the town of Cangzhou in the province of Hebei. Was of a family of WU SHU masters, trained from his childhood under the guidance of older relatives. Later learnt HUA QUAN from Sha Bao Xing and Ma Yun Long, then CHA QUAN from Yang Hong Xiu. In 1928, after foundation of the Central Institute of National Martial Art in Nanking, became the dean of the Shaolin faculty.
[edit] Early Life
Like many Hui, Ziping's parents were poor. His father was a formidable pugilist, but was wise enough to know that Wushu would bring no fortune to the young boy. European guns were increasingly making the art obsolete, enticing even the Chinese army into procuring them and training in their use. Elder Wang thus dreamt of the day when his son would leave hardship and work in the Forbidden City as an official.
Ziping was adamant about learning Wushu, however. Wushu was the Hui identity. No Hui worth his salt would dare go through life without the rudiments of the "eighteen fist fighting exercise" and "eight diagram boxing" etched in his mind and body.
Besides Wushu, Hui were also steeped in Sufi teachings. They belonged almost overwhelmingly to the Naqshbandiyya school. Hui life was thus a mixture of pitiless labor, harsh training and deep spirituality. Their astonishing ability in Wushu is hardly an accident.
Amidst traditional lessons in Koran reading, Ziping lifted rocks to build up his strength and dug ditches that got progressively wider as his leaps improved. Fine balance was honed on dangerously narrow stakes that Ziping planted into the ground. Even as he memorized Dikhr(invocations), his strength and balance increased exponentially. The concentration that Sufism demands became the rock-solid backbone of Wushu's fluid movements.
Cangzhou's climate is mild in the summer and cold in the winter. In winter months, snow is not uncommon. Ziping trained in all the elements, toughening his body. By the time he was fourteen years old, he could already leap more than three meters from a standing position. The precocious boy had all the qualities of a pugilist, but no teacher. His father's stubborn refusal to initiate him must have stung. Searching desperately for companionship, he fell under the sway of a secret society that called themselves "The Righteous and Harmonious Fists". Their stated aim was to overthrow the Ch'ing government and expel all "foreign devils" from China.
Because Ziping lived most of his life in semi-colonialism, he knew firsthand the humiliation that was heaped on the Chinese by Europeans. Austria, France, Germany, Britain, Italy, Japan and Russia all claimed exclusive trading rights to different parts of the China. They "carved up the Chinese melon" into "spheres of influence", claiming that they owned the territory within their spheres.
Empress Ci'xi hated the European presence as much as any member of the secret society did, and plotted to remove them as quickly as possible. She became aware of the "The Righteous and Harmonious Fists", a group that the Europeans casually dismissed as "Boxers" because most of them were Wushu fighters. In a fit of inspiration, she devised a way to use them for her own ends. Through her ministers, she began to woo and finance the Boxers. It wasn't long before a new slogan appeared on the Boxers' banners: "Support the Ch'ing. Destroy the foreigner!"
The Boxers roamed across China, attacking lone European settlements and emptying churches of their congregations and priests. When they closed in on the Forbidden City, where many of the European embassies were located, Empress Ci'xi made a great show of deploying troops, but secretly allowed the Boxers to enter. The Europeans were ready with far more advanced weapons than just 'fists and legs', though. Rifles quickly decimated the invaders. The rebellion collapsed. Empress Ci'xi was forced to outlaw the secret society and imprison all surviving Boxers.
Wang Ziping thus became a fugitive. He fled to South Jinan, where he took refuge in the Large Mosque. As soldiers hunted the remnants of the secret society, Ziping prayed for succor. Events passed him by. In the relative quiet of the mosque's prayer hall, Ziping met a man who was like him, a Boxer on the run. This was Yang Hongxiu, a Grandmaster of Wushu. At last! The one thing his father had refused him was within reach. Excited, Ziping discarded his loyalty to the fallen Boxers and swore allegiance to Yang instead.
Armed with an intense fondness for life outdoors, Ziping traveled all over the countryside, allowing himself to be inspired by the grace and beauty of nature. Sufis are particularly sensitive to the beauty of creation. A verse from the Qu'ran that is particularly beloved by Sufis reads: "Wherever you turn, there is the face of God." They complement this with a well-known hadith of the Prophet: "God is beautiful, and He loves beauty."
Ziping hence studied with great care the movements of the birds and mammals- such as an eagle descending on its prey, a rabbit moving quickly across a prairie, a dog leaping skillfully to put itself out of danger. He absorbed all these characteristics to create a unique style of his own. His strength and reflexes allowed him to be both strong and quick- a deadly combination in Wushu.
A Grandmaster is able to use any implement or tool as a weapon. Improvising is as much an art as it is a necessity in Wushu. Ziping came to be extremely well-versed in all the major weapons. He was particularly adept at qinna, which could lock the joints and muscles of opponents in preparation for a devastating attack; shuaijiao, a bare-handed fighting style incorporating principles of Tai Chi; hard qigong and light body technique.
He was acclaimed as a well-rounded martial artist. At the same time, he was also a specialist in bone trauma. He combined his adept knowledge of qinna with his bone setting skills and invented a system of treatment for sports and Wushu-related injuries in Northern China.
[edit] Legends
During his medical tenure in Jiaozhou, the Germans were commissioned to build a railroad from there to Jinan. Such expensive projects- to extend and solidify European contol over Chinese land- were the price extracted from Empress Ci'xi after the failed Boxer rebellion.
Ziping's reputation was not unknown to the Germans. Being shrewder than most of their colleagues, they were anxious to put him out of favor. A German military officer arranged for a great mill stone to be placed in front of the railroad station and challenged anyone to raise it. Ziping, who tolerated no humiliation to the Chinese people, was naturally furious. As the Germans expected, Ziping walked right into their trap.
"What happens if I lift it?" he asked.
"Then the stone is yours," the Germans replied in glee.
"What happens if it falls?"
"Then you will pay for it."
Ziping lifted the stone, leaving the Germans aghast. One of those who witnessed the feat was an American who worked as a physical education teacher in a missionary school. He challenged Ziping to a duel. In the handshake that preceded the encounter, the American strongly grasped Ziping's hand and attempted to throw him to the ground. Ziping promptly swept the legs from under him.
I suppose this story appealed to me because of its underdog-triumphs-over-white master theme.
Later in his life, Ziping was appointed the head of the Shaolin Division at the Central Martial Arts Institute. He was also the vice chairman of the Chinese Wushu Association, the highest Wushu organization in China. He held many other titles and responsibilities, including being an advisor to major hospitals across China. His career is also distinguished by the many duels he fought with foreigners, including Japanese experts in Akido. Always, he wanted to prove the point that the Chinese was not an inferior race.
