Wang Xiangzhai

Wang Xiangzhai (; November 26, 1885 - July 12, 1963), also known as Nibao, Zhenghe and Yuseng, was a Chinese xingyiquan master, responsible for founding the martial art of Yiquan.

Biography

Wang Xiangzhai was born in Hebei province, China. As he was a very weak child, his parents decided to send him to the famous Xingyiquan master Guo Yunshen to improve his health.

The Wang family had always had connections with the Guo family, horse breeders in the average. Master Guo Yunshen taught him zhanzhuang gong (post standing postures) that the young Xiangzhai had to keep standing for hours. Three times Wang left his teacher and three times he returned finding that traditional training was flawed.

During his young adult life, Wang Xiangzhai became a soldier in Beijing and at the age of 33, he went all around China, studying martial arts with many famous masters including monk Heng Lin, Xinyiquan master Xie Tiefu, southern white crane style masters Fang Yizhuang and Jin Shaofeng, Liuhebafa master Wu Yihui, etc. Learning from his experience and honoring the truly skilled, Wang made a public statement in 1928:

我在國內參學万余里，拜見拳家逾千人，堪稱通家者僅有兩個半人，即湖南解鐵夫，福建方恰庄与上海吳翼翬耳。
''I have traveled across the country in research, engaging over a thousand people in martial combat, there have been only 2.5 people I could not defeat, namely Hunan's Xie Tiefu, Fujian's Fang Yizhuang and Shanghai's Wu Yihui.''

After 7 years of research and study,( with Chen Yen Tong ), Wang established himself in Shanghai. it was Chen Yen Tongs suggestion to name it "Yiquan". At that time Han xing Chiao was already his student. Han was a student of Master Wu Yihui. Wang became friends with Liuhebafa master Wu Yihui who was introduced by his pupil Han xing Chiao in Shanghai, and also later became friends with the Baguazhang master Zhang Zhaodong.

He started to teach many influential martial artists including Hong Lianshun, Zhao Daoxin, the Han brothers, (Shanghai period, Han Xingqiao and Han Xingyuan), and later in beijing Yao Zongxun, Zhang Entong, and others.

He first named his teaching Yiquan, in reference to the Xingyiquan and Xinyiquan styles. Later, in the 1940s, one of his disciples who was a journalist publicly called it ''Dachengquan'', which means "great achievement boxing". It is still known by both these names today.

He received the visit of many Japanese experts during the war. One, Kenichi Sawai was assumed to be his student and created his own school in Japan calling his martial art Taikiken. Sawaii was however solely instructed by Wang's successor Yao Zongxun, and not directly by Wang himself.

At the end of his life he performed research into the healing aspect of Zhanzhuang and worked with different hospitals.

He died in 1963 in Tianjin, from a disease.

He was one of the first Chinese teachers to publicly teach the practice of Zhanzhuang, or 'standing like a tree' methods.

In silence there must be movement, and in motion, there must be silence.

A small movement is better than a big,

no movement is better than a small

silence is all the movement's mother.

In Movement you should be like a dragon or a tiger.

In non Movement you should be like a Buddha.

--Wang Xiangzhai

References

External links

Grandmaster Wang Xiang-Zhai (1885-1963)
neigong.net
Wang Xiangzhai’s directions in verse for Dachengquan
neigong.net
Anecdotes Of Dachengquan Founder Wang Xiangzhai
neigong.net
Wang Xiangzhai – General Principles for Dachengquan
neigong.net
The Paradoxes of Wang Xiangzhai's Standing Meditation

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wang, Xiangzhai
1885 births
1963 deaths
Chinese xingyiquan practitioners
Chinese wushu practitioners
People from Shenzhou City
Sportspeople from Hebei