''Wujiquan'' (Chinese "無極拳";
Pinyin
Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese for ...
"Wujiquan";
Wade-Giles "Wu Chi Chuan" ), known as the "Ultimate Void Boxing" or "A Rare and Secret Ultimate Void Boxing Skill" and "Mother Art of Tai Chi," is a
Chinese martial art. It is a traditional system composed of 36 "Characters" divided into 18 kinds of natural climatic phenomena and 18 of
Qi applications.
One of the rarest of traditional
Shaolin kung fu systems, ''wujiquan'' is also one of the purest of traditional Chinese soft-internal boxing systems (''
neijia
''Neijia'' ( 內家) is a term in Chinese martial arts, grouping those styles that practice ''neijing'', usually translated as internal martial arts, occupied with spiritual, mental or qi-related aspects, as opposed to an "external" approach ...
''): being taught to very few in its entirety and only after years of rigorous training and testing for aptitude; it never became widely known, which meant that unlike the better known
tai chi, there was no opportunity for the system to undergo the experimentation and mixing with other systems and arts which during recent centuries led to the variety of styles which characterize tai chi.
''Wujiquan'' is an ancient system known in the Three Kingdoms age of the renowned legendary Chinese physician,
Hua Tuo (c 208), and with origins reputedly much older (2,000 BCE).
As its name and the names of its individual 36 Characters indicate, it is derived from ancient Chinese,
Daoist and pre-Daoist (shamanic ancient Chinese) concepts such as
Yin-Yang
Yin and yang ( and ) is a Chinese philosophical concept that describes opposite but interconnected forces. In Chinese cosmology, the universe creates itself out of a primary chaos of material energy, organized into the cycles of yin and ya ...
, and also from natural climatic phenomena. The name of its creator(s) is unknown, but it is understood to have been originally taught at and included amongst the ancient systems taught at the
Shaolin Temple
Shaolin Monastery (少林寺 ''Shàolínsì''), also known as Shaolin Temple, is a renowned monastic institution recognized as the birthplace of Chan Buddhism and the cradle of Shaolin Kung Fu. It is located at the foot of Wuru Peak of the So ...
(Songshan, Henan Province, China) from its early centuries until at least as late as the
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) or War of Resistance (Chinese term) was a military conflict that was primarily waged between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. The war made up the Chinese theater of the wider Pacific Th ...
.
The authority for the assertion of the ancient origins and teaching within the original historical Shaolin Temple System from very early times is derived from one of the last Abbots of the Putian, Nan Pu Tuo (also formerly known as ‘Quanlin Yuan’), Southern Shaolin Temple (Fujian Province). The Abbot of this historic temple, the Very Reverend Yik Cha’an Cha’an Sze taught this system (and Luohan Ru Yi Quan, and 18 Arhat Boxing) over the course of 3 years to his disciple,
Chee Kim Thong
Chee Kim Thong (; 1920–2001) was a Shaolin martial arts grandmaster.
Chee was born on 19 May 1920 in a village near Putian, Fujian, China. The son of You Yuan, a Fujianese merchant, Grandmaster Chee Kim Thong's apprenticeship to Chinese martial ...
prior to the fall of the temple and invasion of Fujian by the Japanese – Chee gave the system the nickname of ‘Shaolin Tai-Ji’.
Another form of ''Wujiquan'' is said to originate from
Zhang Sanfeng. It is said that after he created tai chi, Zhang Sanfeng created ''wujiquan''. This form of ''wujiquan'' is passed down by Shouyu Liang in Vancouver.
Articles about ''wujiquan'' have also been provided in the Chee Kim Thong Pugilistic and Health Society Yearbooks of 1979, 1976, and in much more recent times about
primordial qigong by a renowned qigong specialist.
References
External links
Video footage of Wujiquan can be seen below:
*
*{{Cite web, url=https://qi-tube.com/videos/131, title=Shifu Alan Tinnion Infinity/Void Boxing - Wujiquan 無 極 拳 section 2
qi-tube.com
Chinese martial arts