History of Dachengquan Part 2: Healing a Nation
In the 1940's Wang XiangZhai moved to Beijing and was deeply influenced by the political ferver of the time. During the Japanese invasion of China, Wang personally witnessed soldiers beating Chinese civilians for fun, even after they had fallen to the ground. Outraged, Wang exclaimed during a newspaper interview,"We are a great nation! Why should we endure such insults!" He resolved to take wushu to a higher level by extracting the best elements of each of the boxing styles he had studied and thus founded the Great Achievement Fist Shadow Boxing (Dachengquan ). He further stated that with this new form he would challenge anyone, especially foreignors. His remarks angered Kenichi Sawai, a renowned Japanese martial artist living in Beijing. He showed up at Wang's school one day unannounced and challenged him. Wang accepted the challenge and beat him in several matches. These matches were chronicled in the book Anecdotes of Dachengquan Founder Wang XiangZhai by Wang Xuanjie. Soon after, several other foreign masters came to challenge this new style of kungfu, yet no one could beat it. Master Wang did not want to be glorified, but wanted China to see that as a whole they could be invincible. He wanted to heal the wounds of a nation through this great art that not only provided for excellent self-defense, but had tremendous health benefits as well. Master Wang traveled extensively throughout China to spread Dachengquan to all types of people: young and old, healthy and sick. He had many students, but no disciple to pass the lineage of Dachengquan. Just as he had spent his earlier years in a furtive search for a master, he spent his latter years searching for a successor. He finally found one worthy enough to inherit the Dachengquan legacy: his last student...Wang XuanJie .
To be continued...
