For Discussion on the Formation of Mashi Tongbei's Biangan Wu Yin and Qi Shou and its Technical Characteristics Part 1, click here.

Period of Accelerated Dissemination

After the 1990s, Professor Ma Mingda moved his family south and settled in Guangzhou, gradually becoming the essential base for disseminating Mashi Tongbei martial arts. In the new century, the Lingnan region, centered in Guangzhou, echoed the northwest part and together with the Tongbei inheritance bases across the country, opened the prelude to the standardized and systematic dissemination of Mashi Tongbei martial arts. In particular, since the late 1990s, Tongbei scholars represented by Professor Ma Mingda began to disseminate and teach Tongbei martial arts at Jinan University, South China Normal University, South China Agricultural University, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou Institute of Physical Education, and other universities. They successively published dozens of articles on the history and culture of Chinese martial arts and Mashi Tongbei martial arts in journals and magazines such as Wulin, Chinese Martial Arts, Hui Studies, Journal of Sports, Sports Culture Guide, and others. The essential papers on the history and culture of Chinese martial arts and Mashi martial arts have been published in dozens of journals and magazines, promoting the contemporary development of martial arts from both theoretical and technical aspects. In his daily teaching, the Whip Pole Wu Yin Qi Shou is one of the essential teaching elements.

In early 2016, Professor Ma Mingda and his son, Professor Ma Lianzhen, founded the Jian Gong Academy in Guangzhou, advocating the revival of the national martial arts. Since then, Jian Gong Academy has become one of the leaders in the resurrection of the national competitive martial arts in China, as well as the leading institution for the dissemination and research of Mashi Tongbei martial arts in the new era[[i]]. At the beginning of 2022, the first online teaching of Mashi Tongbei Whip Pole was held, and nearly 200 people participated in the training and examination.

Important Representative of Mashi Tongbei Biangan

It is well known that Mr. Ma Fengtu is the soul of the formation and dissemination of Mashi Tongbei martial arts. He was born in 1888 in Cangzhou County, Hebei Province, and practiced martial arts since childhood; when he was young, he studied under Huang Linbiao in Yanshan and systematically accepted the doctrine of general preparation advocated by Li Yunbiao, Xiao Hecheng, and Huang Linbiao.In 1909, he entered the Beiyang College of Higher Education in Tianjin and participated in the founding of the Chinese Warrior Association; after 1912, he went to Northeast China with his younger brother and the Bajiquan practitioner Han Huiqing and became close friends with the "three old men of Fengtian" (Hao Mingjiu, Hu Fongsan, and Yang Junfeng) and the Shandong Mantis practitioner Cheng Dongge, who lived in Northeast China and made a friendship with them. In 1920, he joined Feng Yuxiang's army in Henan with his brother Yingtu and eldest son Guangda. In 1924, he and Zhang Zhijiang founded the New Martial Arts Research Association of Feng's Ministry in Zhangjiakou, edited the "White Blade Tactics Course," and, with his brother Ma Yingtu, created the "Feng Mo Stick" and the "White Blade Tactics Course." In 1926, he entered the Northwest with the Nationalist Army and served in both the military and political sectors. He was also the deputy director of both museums. After the outbreak of the war, he left politics and concentrated on martial arts and Chinese medicine. After 1945 he became a part-time associate professor in the Department of Physical Education of the Northwest Normal College.[[ii]]

Mr. Ma Fengtu inherited the art of splitting and hanging from Huang Linbiao, the two branches of Bajiquan from Mengcun and Luotong, the Liuhe Dagong from Luotong, and the art of flipping and foot poking from Xu Zhaoxiong through Hao Mingjiu and others, and then picked up the essence of the stick and whip methods from the northwest. Through years of research and fusion, he finally formed the "Tong Bei Jin" school. The core of this series is the "Tong Bei Jin" series of fist and armament. In theory, this series started with Li Yunbiao, Xiao He Cheng, and Huang Linbiao, and in practice, it was mainly completed by Ma Fengtu and his brother Ma Yingtu. This series includes long and short fists, such as splitting and hanging, Baji, flipping, foot poking, and long-established guns, sticks, swords, and other instruments. It is of the exact origin and different streams as the Hebei split-hanging and Baji and the northeastern flipping and poking kicks, with distinct differences in the quality of strength and style of practice. In his later years, he lived in the northwest. After decades of training and promotion, the kung fu styles of splitting and hanging, Baji, flipping, and foot poking, as well as the apparatus styles of strange guns, Feng Mo sticks and splitting. Hanging swords, shaving swords, and wrapping sea whip poles, were widely popular in the northwest provinces and became the representative kung fu styles for the northwest provinces to participate in national martial arts activities after liberation. Fist types and routines. His sons Ma Guangda, Ma Xianda, and Ma Mingda are famous martial artists in modern and contemporary times. Ma Fengtu taught many disciples throughout his life, and some of his representative disciples include Wang Guilin, Sha Zixiang, Wang Tianpeng, Bian Gu, Liu Ren, Luo Wenyuan, etc. [[iii]].

Luo Wenyuan (1915-1971) was the brother of Ma Fengtu's wife, also of Hui ethnicity, and one of the representative disciples. According to the Dictionary of Chinese Martial Arts, Luo Wenyuan was born in Lanzhou in 1915. As a young boy, his family was poor and lonely, and he loved martial arts; in 1931, he formally took Ma Fengtu as his teacher, learning first the art of splitting and flipping and then the art of stick and sword. He was instructed by Ma Yingtu in the art of splitting and hanging and by his senior brother Yu Boqian in the art of Zui Ba Flipping and Standing Pile Flipping. He loved stick techniques the most in his life and used the concept of integration and integration to blending the Tong Bei Jin method into stick techniques. He was especially good at Biangans, and he painstakingly explored the changing patterns of Biangans. From the late thirties to the forties, under the guidance of Ma Fengtu, he and his senior brother Wang Tianpeng summed up the bare handle of the Biangan and the laws of its application. They created the essence of the Biangan " Wu Yin, Qi Shou, thirteen methods" based on the Biangan inherited from previous generations, which was later widely circulated and became a much sought-after art for Biangan enthusiasts. Wang Tianpeng's practice stick and the technical style of the Biangan focus on momentum, style spirited, and hitting simple. In contrast, Luo Wenyuan concentrates on rhythm, characterized by refined and delicate, changeable. The two are known as the Long Shang "stick king."[[iv]]

Professor Ma Mingda, the youngest son of Ma Fengtu, was born in Lanzhou in 1943 and taught at Northwest Normal University, Lanzhou University, and Jinan University. He studied with his father since his childhood and was the champion of the youth martial arts competition in Gansu Province in 1959; in the same year, he was selected for the fencing team of Gansu Province, and after a short training period, he reached the final of the men's foil. In the early 1990s, his family moved south. In addition to science and education, he focused on the dissemination and development of Mashi Tongbei in the Lingnan area and the construction of Chinese martial arts literature and the national sports system.

To promote the modernization of the traditional Chinese martial arts culture represented by the Chinese martial arts, he founded the Guangdong Bruce Lee Research Association and the Guangdong Martial Arts Cultural Research Association; in 2008, he founded the Hong Kong Chinese Martial Arts Association, and in 2016, he founded the Jian Gong Academy. In 2008, he founded the Hong Kong Chinese Martial Arts Association, and in 2016, he founded the Jian Gong Academy. He has published dozens of papers on martial arts, including the "Sword Talking Series" and "Martial Science Exploring the Truth." He has completed constructing and interpreting the theoretical system of martial arts. In recent years, he and his son, Professor Ma Lianzhen, have devoted themselves to the excavation and collation of ancient Chinese martial arts culture and have completed the construction of the primary academic building necessary for the construction of the Chinese martial arts literature system, including the Ancient Chinese Rare Book Series, the Chinese Archery Dictionary, and Ji Xiao Xin Shu. In addition to academic research, he has always been committed to restoring and developing Chinese short armament, traditional archery, and other national sports. He has generated significant influence and appeal at home and abroad, making outstanding contributions to promoting the transformation of Chinese national sports into modern sports.

His son, Ma Lianzhen, is now a professor at the School of Physical Education and Sports Science of South China Normal University, also focusing on family studies, has published several books such as "Martial Science," "Essays on Martial Science," "Chinese Short Armament," etc. His son has inherited his father's work. He has made further efforts to develop the Jian Gong Academy into a landmark folk institution for experimenting and researching the modernization and transformation of martial arts in China, with a leading and exemplary role in the research and promotion of long and short armament and traditional archery, which has received wide It has received widespread attention and recognition from the industry and has a relatively prominent international influence.

Most of the Wu Yin and Qi Shou practiced in society are disseminated and promoted through the Jian Gong Academy. Their names and structures, practice methods, and technical styles are all standardized by Professor Ma Mingda and represent the standardized teaching of Mashi Tongbei martial arts.

Technical Characteristics of Mashi Tongbei Biangan (Wu Yin and Qi Shou)

Technical Characteristics of the Wu Yin

On each hand, one hand is a "Yin hand," hence the name " Wu Yin."[[v]] Wu Yin（Figure 2） combines five technical movements: moving, smashing, sweeping, flying, and pumping. Progressive learning and practice can be divided into three forms of exercise: fixed momentum, fixed-step, and live step.

At the early stage of Biangans learning, it is required to practice left and right together to improve the movement proficiency and coordination, as well as the arm and wrist control ability of the Biangans. And the fixed-step practice, when the left and right tandem requires the right to go back to the left, two round routines each time, four ways at a time.

The Biangan presents different characteristics according to other exercises and has an additional requirement for body, footwork, and rhythm. First, in the fixed-position Wu Yin, the movement is regular, horizontal, and vertical, similar to the standard script. The movement route mainly revolves around the metering pattern's four diagonal upper, lower, left, and right lines. The movements are simple, but the rhythm of the activities is very demanding. Although practiced in situ, the fixed-stance Wu Yin still needs to accurately express the ups and downs of the body and the twisting and turning of the feet, which are the characteristics of the strength of this pass. Secondly, the fixed-step Wu Yin, on the other hand, must be practiced according to fixed footwork, similar to the running script. In addition to the lightness of the footwork and the skill of the wrist, the undulation and twisting of the body, the steepness and swiftness of the turn, the rhythm of the movement, and the long and dull cold draw of the power release all need to be expressed.

Finally, the difference between the Wu Yin of the living step and the first two are firstly reflected in the change of the step and body technique, the action is light and fast, walking without stopping, and the evolution of the wrist and the movement of the step are highly coordinated. The body movements show the undulation and twisting, steep and swift. In contrast, the signs are highly coherent, the power is precisely expressed, and it is collected and released freely, reaching the state of following the heart and not exceeding the rules.

Wu Yin, the position change, and wrist activities may seem complicated. Still, there are clear rules to follow, summarized explicitly as follows: First, the position of the Biangan holding and the distance between the head and the tip should always leave two classes. Second, in the Wu Yin of the fixed part, all movements follow the principle of the middle line; the force points to the body in the central line, and at the end of the action when the tip of the stick to the body in the middle line that stops. Third, the grip of both hands follows the hold of one yin and one yang. Fourth, the tightness of the grip of the two hands follows the state of one loose and one tight, and the hand close to the head or tip of the stick is the tight grip, and the other hand is the loose grip. Fifth, each Wu Yin movement requires the body structure to stretch in the combined force's direction and strike long and far.

Mr. Ma Fengtu's three verses graphically express his style: "The Wu Yin Hands, the feet walk on the seven stars. The turn is quick, and the stance is steep. Hold the lute in your arms and look upward.”

The technical characteristics of Wu Yin are mainly reflected in: First, the movement range is extensive, which is similar to the Mashi Tong Bei martial art of prominent open and large force characteristics; it requires the practitioner to coordinate body movements and breathing, have a sudden momentum to extend the length of the attack, to grasp the dual advantages of time and space efficiently. Secondly, due to the large amplitude of the five movements, the primary use of immense strength requires the practitioner to achieve the purpose of large opening and closing through the contraction and stretching of large muscle groups. The third is to focus on displacement; as the meaning of the song "Walking on the seven stars," there are two ways to move: fixed-step and live step. The route is to twist and turn the feet around and in and out, and the number of steps can be flexibly adjusted as the practitioner becomes more skilled. In the process of displacement, the body's weight undulates and stretches, and the potential is steep and dangerous.

For Discussion on the Formation of Mashi Tongbei's Biangan Wu Yin and Qi Shou and its Technical Characteristics Part 3, click here.