Pi Gua Quan

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History

Part of a of articles on Islam Muslim Martial Arts
Muslim Wushu
Ba Ji Quan • Pi Gua Quan • TanTui • Liu He Quan • Tong bei Quan
Muslim Wushu Masters
Wang zi ping • Ma Menta • Yang Wan Lu • Chamir • Chang Yuchun Hu Dahai • Mu ying• Lan Yu • Wu Zhong • Zhang Shao Fu • Ma Xianda • Chang tung sheng
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Pigua Quan was once known as armor wearing boxing by General Qi Jiguang ^[1], this type of boxing was described as being practised while wearing armor. He used the words such as "Pi gua heng quan" and "Pao jiazi qiang bu pi gua" as descriptions for this type of martial art. Near the end of the Qing Dynasty some people consider pigua quan to be a sub style of Tong Bei Quan (fist of throwing power through arms, ape? back and fore-lims boxing) and some books called this style "pigua tongbei". Pigua quan is often studied in conjunction with another style Ba Ji Quan (eight extreme boxing).

The history and origin of a kung fu style is generally attributed to one person or one location. For baji and pigua, the original founder can generally be attributed to Wu Zhong, a Chinese Muslim from Mong Village, Cang County, Hebei Province. Wu has initially learned the two styles from two Daoist monks Lai and Pi in 1727. Wu then taught his style to his daugther Wu Rong. She is considered to be the second-generation master of this style. She married and taught her martial art to her husband. Her husband and her taught their style as two separate systems: baji and pigua. They only taught pigua quan to her students in the Luo Tong village and the baji style was taught only at Mong village.

By the end of Qing Dynasty this style was popular in Yanshan, Cang and Nanpi counties of Hebei province. Pan Wenxue was first credited with teaching pigua quan and tongbei quan in Yanshan (Yanshan school civil and military sciences) and Cang. His successors in Yanshan were Li Yunbiao and Xiao Hecheng; after Li and Xiao there were Huang Linbiao and Yu Baolin. The main proponents after Huang and Yu were Ma Fengtu, Ma Yingtu (1898-1956) and Huang Senting (1831-1907). Their teachings of tongbei pigua quan were focused on the ideas that in the rules of using fists and the practice of forms (i.e. outer shapes), one must understand penetration, strength of the body and in the application of techniques by focusing on the spirit. The reputation of both baji and pigua was firmly established but the two styles remained separated until Li Shu Wen (1864-1934) of Zhang Sha village, Cang County recombined the two styles. Li Shu Wen is considered to be the sixth generation of masters after the founder Wu Zhing. Li Shu Wen was taught Bajiquan by Jin Dai Sheng of the Mong Village and Piquazhang by Huang Si Hai of the Luo Tong Village. Li Shu Wen then reunited the two styles by training his future students in both systems.

At the beginnings of the 1900?, Pigua continued to spread north until it reached the Beijing-Tianjing region. The "Zhonghua wushi hui" ("Association of Chinese warriors") was established in Tianjing (1927). Pigua quan became one of the main subject in its program of teaching and spread throughout the northern regions of China. Wang Jing-xiang and Tian Jin-zhong are considered to be the major proponent of this style at that area at the time.

In 1928, the Central guoshu institute was established in Nanjing. Ma Yingtu, and Guo Changsheng (1866-1967) of Hebei, was invited to be the principle instructors. They combined pigua quan, bajiquan, fanziquan and chuojiao into a new 24-form Tongbei. This new form is now one of the more popular styles that are still being practice today and is still considered to be in the pigua style.

Li Shu Wen was also a great promoter of this style. He made a reputation throughout China earning the name the ?od of Spear?because of his superb combat skills with the spear. His students also achieved considerable fame including many generals and famous martial artists of the time. His first student, Hue Dian Ge, was a bodyguard to Fu Yi , the last Emperor of China. Another student, Li Chen Wu was one of Chairman Mao Ze Dong? bodyguard. Li? last closed door disciple was Liu Yun Qiao (1909-1992), who he taught for ten years before his death. Liu trained the personal guards of president Chan Kai-Chek as well as the guards of the following presidents of Taiwan. He later established the Wu-Tang organization and has many students in the west including Adam Hsu (CA), Yang Shu Ton (OH), Su Yu Chang (NY), Ng Choong Fah (Malaysia), Kurt Wong (Alaska) and many others. Many of those students are now teaching both baji and pigua.