Fujian folk custom was tough. As early as the mid-Ming Dynasty, Kungfu in Fujian had made a striking figure. Yu Dayou, a well-known general who fought against Japanese aggressors in Jinjiang, Fujian (today’s Quanzhou), was both a fencing and wand technique master, which was rare at the time. Another master of martial arts, Qi Jiguang (1528–1588), led Qi’s family forces to participate in the fighting against the Japanese aggressors, and also in the long garrison in Fujian. Qi was born in Penglai, Shandong, and his Kungfu belonged to the north Shaolin family. He taught the officers and men martial arts, and had some influence on martial arts in Fujian and Guangdong.
Nanquan is characterized by its strict regulation, compact action, smart techniques and lower-center movements. Southerners have relatively short arms and legs, so they pay attention to use of short fists, taking advantage of the, “better use of short instruments than long ones in special cases.” Nanquan boasts mighty and quick movements, characterized by the combination of rigidity and flexibility, and arms and hand forms involve great changes. Its mighty force is fairly unique and natural.
The Nanquan family took shape in the early-to-mid-Qing Dynasty, or from the late 17th century to the late 18th century. It includes hundreds of boxing generics, and they are widely spread in Fujian, Guangdong, Hubei, Hunan, Zhejiang, as well as in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao. They spread to overseas communities early, and were also rooted in Southeast Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. In terms of contributing to the spread of China’s martial arts, the Nanquan family is second to none.
Taijiquan Family
In Chinese martial arts, Taijiquan (shadow boxing) best displays the behavior and way of thinking of the Chinese people.
Taijiquan integrates fighting and health promotion, and is the movement of will and spirit, requiring movement guided by Qi and strength, showing the combination of rigidity and flexibility. Consisting of a series of spiral actions, Taijiquan is different from other boxing families; each action is in the form of a circle.
The application of such boxing techniques requires one’s waist to be the axis, steadily connecting each movement, with internal strength promoting movement. Each movement seems weak, but strong intrinsically, showing the unique fighting style of attack and defense.
Based on the attack and defense principle, Taijiquan focuses on defense, taking defense as attack, and retreating in order to advance, which is the so-called principle, “dare not be host, but be guest, dare not advance one inch, but retreat one foot,” with emphasis placed on wining the strong with the weak, defeating swiftness with slowness, and conquering majority with monitory. The greatest taboo is to fight excessively. It is a kind of boxing generic that contains a profound philosophy and wisdom. It embodies the Chinese people"s attitude: their understanding of life and the universe, and thus it can be called a kind of special form of expression of traditional Chinese culture. Taijiquan is the boxing generic that boasts the greatest wisdom among internal strength boxing. However, its origin has been debated. According to the Li’s family tree in the Tangcun village, Henei (Boai, in today’s Henan province), modified in the 55th year (1716 AD) of Emperor Kangxi of the Qing Dynasty, and found in 2003, it can be inferred Taijiquan originated from the Qianzai Temple in Tangcun village. It was jointly founded by Li’s family in Tangcun and Chen’s family in Chenjiagou, Wenxian county. The specific founders were Li Zhong of Tangcun village (1598–1680), the Li Xin (Yan) (1606–1644) brothers, and Chen Wangting (about 1600–1680) of Chenjiagou, in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties. After the chaos caused by wars in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Taijiquan in Qianzai Temple was forced to evolve into two branches, one was Li’s, and the other was Chen’s.
From the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, Li’s descendants received disciples in many provinces to disseminate boxing techniques. However, due to a long history, there was no historical record, and the inheritance records of Li’s Taiji quan includes no textural research, but Li’s family tree demonstrates that people know about Taijiquan spread by the blood relations of Li’s family of Tangcun village. Chen’s Taijiquan was different. Before the years of Daoguang (1820–1850) of the Qing Dynasty, Chen’s Taijiquan was only taught to following generations of the Chen family, known as Chen’s Taijiquan. It was not until the late Qing Dynasty when Chen’s Taijiquan techniques were taught to people outside Chen’s family. Since then, with Beijing as the center, it evolved into four schools: Yang, Wu, and Sun schools, which were quickly spread nationwide.
Among all the major Chinese boxing families, Taijiquan has always boasted an obvious advantage in cultural level. The works on Taijiquan witness the greatest number of in-depth theories, and are less conservative in the art of attack and defense, and fighting techniques. Again, due to the combination of fighting techniques and health promotion, it is a form suitable to people, old or young, thus making it popular around China over just several decades. It has since become the boxing family with the strongest momentum for development.
Xingyiquan Family
Xingyiquan, and Wudang, Taiji, and Baguaquan are known as the four major boxing schools of internal strength. However, its style relies on fighting and attacking, hard. Like lightning and thunder, it is unique within the internal strength boxing forms.