Following the National Day Golden Week in October 2014, Beijing welcomed a special group of friends from the United States. This fourteen-member delegation were members of the Chinese Traditional Martial Arts and Cultural Exchange Association (CTMACEA 中华传统武术与文化交流促进会), led by Grandmaster Jia Shu Sen (贾树森). A native of Beijing, Grandmaster Jia is an esteemed member of the Chinese Wushu community. The fifth generation direct lineage successor of Baguazhang (八卦掌) under Great Grandmaster Sun Zhi Jun (孙志君) and eleventh generation direct lineage holder of Chen Style Taijiquan (陈式太极拳) under the late Great Grandmaster Feng Zhi Qiang (冯志强), Grandmaster Jia is Commissioner and Director of the Beijing Wushu Association (北京武术协会) and, from 2004 to 2008, served as President of the Beijing Baguazhang Research Institute (北京八卦掌研究会). He is also a highly skilled doctor of traditional Chinese medicine, having studied extensively under famed Beijing acupuncturist Professor He Pu Ren (贺普仁). Upon immigrating to the United States in December 2008, Grandmaster Jia founded CTMACEA to preserve and promote the education, dissemination, and research of Chinese traditional martial arts and culture.
In line with its mission, this trip – which lasted from October 9 through October 20, 2014 – marked CTMACEA’s inaugural cultural exchange tour of Beijing, the first of many more to come. It was a fun-filled adventure, exploring Beijing’s folk cultures, beautiful scenery, and historical landmarks. Even the hotel accommodations were a cultural experience of their own: the CTMACEA group stayed at the Rong Yuan, a courtyard house-style hotel in Huguosi, an ancient street area located in Xicheng District known for its traditional architecture and local street vendors serving up both ancient and contemporary Beijing delicacies.
Beijing Style Training
The trip’s itinerary was filled with many of Beijing’s staple tourist sites, such as the Summer Palace, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City and, of course, the Great Wall. In addition to these landmarks, a considerable portion of the trip involved tours of Beijing’s ancient parks. Architectural masterpieces and monuments of Chinese imperial culture, parks have for many decades been the center of traditional martial arts culture in Beijing, where lifetimes of knowledge have been passed on from generation to generation and where Wushu aficionados continue to gather and train today.
For a group of Americans accustomed to indoor training facilities with professional-grade matting, mirrors, and the works, this was indeed a treat. Guided by Grandmaster Jia, the CTMACEA team visited Bei Hai Park, Temple of Heaven Park, and Temple of Earth Park, meeting and training alongside other Wushu and Taiji groups in true Beijing spirit.
Located in the center of Beijing, Bei Hai Park is one of Beijing’s ancient imperial gardens with a history tracing back thousands of years. After a nice stroll through the park, Grandmaster Jia stopped the group at Bei Hai’s Nine Dragon Wall (one of only three of its kind in all of China) for a workout. To his students, this was simply a breathtaking monument, but to Grandmaster Jia it held a more personal significance. As the group snapped photos and marveled at the expansive wall, Grandmaster reminisced about his good ol’ San Shou days when he would meet up with his training brothers at this very location and spar together for hours. He then led his students through his Bagua 99 Rejuvenation Qigong (八卦九九回春功) form, after which the team worked on tangnibu (趟泥步), the characteristic mud-wading step of Baguazhang.
Spanning 2,700,000 square meters, the Temple of Heaven Park is China’s most representative architectural masterpiece, having served as the venue for the Heaven Worship Ceremonies during the Ming and Qing dynasties. It is also the most expansive among China’s ancient sacrificial buildings, larger than the Forbidden City.
The CTMACEA team spent its morning touring the Park and meeting local martial arts practitioners who came to greet Grandmaster Jia, before stopping midway at an open courtyard near the west gate. It was at this location and the restaurant nearby that the Beijing Baguazhang Research Institute hosted many banquets during Grandmaster Jia’s tenure as President. After warming up with Grandmaster’s Bagua 99 Rejuvenation Qigong, students practiced the Bagua Eight Turning Palms (八卦传掌) in the “old school” traditional manner of circle walking around the large park tree trunks. After a hard workout, everyone was treated to a demonstration of the traditional Beijing Chen style Taijiquan First Form (传统北京陈式太极拳一路) by Grandmaster Jia, Master Hu Ya Li (Stella 胡雅丽), and Master Mike Ng (伍伟杰). Even park goers stopped to enjoy the performance.
For the final park training session of the trip, Grandmaster Jia took his students to his old teaching site inside the Temple of Earth Park. Strolling through the park, one had no doubt that the Temple of Earth was a hub for health, fitness, and wellness; the park was filled with Beijing locals of all ages dancing, singing, playing musical instruments, and exercising on the landscape structures. It was clearly also a popular practice location for many martial artists, with numerous groups wielding swords, fans and spears, and others practicing the Simplified 24 Taiji (简化二十四式太极拳) and Combined 42 Compulsory forms (四十二式太极拳). In fact, it was at this very park that Grandmaster Jia’s own teacher, Great Grandmaster Feng, taught Taijiquan for many years.
Cultural Exchange through Martial Arts
On the morning of Wednesday, October 15, 2014, Grandmaster Jia and CTMACEA hosted a Martial Arts and Cultural Exchange Performance at the Tai Yuan Fang Tea House. After being treated to a traditional Chinese tea ceremony demonstration, members of both the United States and China branches of CTMACEA took to the floor to share their martial arts with everyone. The performance began with a group demonstration of Bagua 99 Rejuvenation Qigong. Created by Grandmaster Jia in the early 1990s, Bagua 99 Rejuvenation Qigong integrates physical movements, stretching, and breathing techniques into a comprehensive psychosomatic health regimen designed to improve health, soothe bodily aches and pains, increase strength and flexibility, and promote longevity.
After the Qigong demonstration, Master Hu – originally from Beijing, but now based in Vancouver, B.C. – led students in a group performance of the Simplified 24 Tai Chi Form. Master Hu, a disciple of Bagua Great Grandmaster Sun and Chen Taiji Grandmaster Tian Qiu Xin (田秋信), also later performed Xingyi Five Elements Linking Fist (形意五行连环拳) and Bagua Swimming Body Linking Palms (游身八卦连环掌).
Representing the USA, Master Mike Ng from San Francisco, CA, performed traditional Chen style Taijiquan and Cheng style Baguazhang (程派八卦掌). Adam Atman and Stephen Eggleston from Santa Cruz, CA, along with Yiming Chung from Sunnyvale, CA, each performed Bagua Eight Turning Palms.
Representing Beijing were Grandmaster Jia’s daughter, Master Jia Zhen Zhen (贾珍臻), and Master Zhang Feng Bao (张风宝). Master Jia – a former China national champion in Baguazhang – performed Cheng style Bagua 64 Linking Palms (程派八卦掌六十四掌), the pinnacle form in the Sun Zhi Jun line of Bagua. Master Zhang performed traditional Yang style Taiji empty hand and saber forms (传统杨式太极拳与刀), as well as sections of the Bagua Eight Mother Palms (八卦母掌).
Paying Respects to Past Master Dong Hai Chuan
Following the Cultural Exchange Performance, Grandmaster Jia and the CTMACEA delegation packed into taxis and ventured to Chaoyang District where they visited the monument of Great Grandmaster Dong Hai Chuan (1799–1882 董海川 师祖), a famous Qing Dynasty martial artist and the founder and original disseminator of Baguazhang.
Born in Zhu Jia Wu of Wen’an County in Hebei Province, Dong Hai Chuan began studying the martial arts at a very young age. Once an adult, Dong traveled all over China, fascinated by Daoism and exploring all it facets. It was during this time that Dong created what is now regarded as the signature of Baguazhang – the Circle Walking Palms – based on theories and principles extracted from the Yi Jing (易经) or Book of Changes.
After developing the Circle Walking Palms, Dong relocated to Beijing to assume a post in the mansion of Prince Su. It was there that he began openly teaching the art of Baguazhang. Many top martial artists from throughout Beijing, Tianjin, and other parts of Hebei province came to exchange hands and measure themselves against Dong. Convinced of his mastery in both martial skill and ethics, each challenger without exception became Dong’s disciple. By the end of the 19th century, Dong already had over fifty indoor disciples. Because most of these disciples were already masters of other martial arts styles, Great Grandmaster Dong adapted his teaching to the individual backgrounds and skill sets of his students; as such, each student’s method of training and expression of the palm changes differed significantly from the others. This, in turn, resulted in the emergence of numerous sub-styles of Bagua, most notably the Yin style developed by Yin Fu (尹福), and the Cheng style developed by Cheng Ting Hua (程廷華). It is the Cheng style of Baguazhang that is taught, promoted, and transmitted by Grandmaster Jia through the CTMACEA today.
As the direct-line successor to Dong Hai Chuan, Grandmaster Jia held a long-cherished wish to erect a statue in tribute to Bagua’s founder. As such, during his term as Chairman of the Beijing Baguazhang Research Institute, he collaborated with his colleagues to build a monument of Great Grandmaster Dong on the site of his original tomb. The statue was completed in 2008, the 208th anniversary of Dong’s birth, and has since become a cultural landmark.
It was a great honor for Grandmaster Jia’s American students to witness this masterpiece in person. Before departing, Grandmaster Jia and the CTMACEA delegation kneeled before the monument and bowed forehead-to-ground three times, a sign of ultimate respect to their past master and a martial hero.
Meeting the Legend, Great Grandmaster Sun Zhi Jun
Sunday, October 19, 2014, was a day to remember for Grandmaster Jia’s American Baguazhang students. After spending the morning traversing the Forbidden City, Grandmaster Jia and his students, along with Master Hu and Master Jia Zhen Zhen, returned to Chaoyang District – this time by subway – to meet and pay homage to a living legend, the fourth generation direct-line successor of Baguazhang and teacher to Grandmaster Jia, Great Grandmaster Sun.
Born in 1933 in the Cheng village in Shen county of Hebei province – the hometown of Cheng Ting Hua, founder of Cheng style Baguazhang – Great Grandmaster received his Bagua training from three primary teachers: Liu Zi Yang (刘子扬 senior disciple of Cheng Dian Hua, younger brother of Cheng Ting Hua), Cheng You Sheng (程有生 Cheng Dian Hua’s son and Cheng Ting Hua‘s nephew), and Cheng You Xin (程有信 Cheng Ting Hua’s son). As a child and young teenager, Great Grandmaster Sun would spend days and evenings studying with his teachers, continuing his practice well into the night after everyone else had long gone home. It was through this unwavering tenacity that Sun excelled amongst his training brothers, becoming the favorite disciple of Cheng You Sheng who taught him the Xia Pan (下盘), or lower basin walking and stances, the most advanced level of Baguazhang training.
In 2012, in recognition of over sixty years of dedication to the martial arts and more than three decades of teaching both in China and abroad, the Ministry of Culture of the People’s Republic of China conferred upon Great Grandmaster Sun the Chinese National Cultural Heritage Award, making him the official National Representative Successor of Baguazhang (八卦掌代表性传承人).
Needless to say, this was a tremendous honor for the CTMACEA group. At 81 years young, Great Grandmaster Sun was in high spirits and great health, warmly welcoming his students and grand-students into his “calligraphy wall”-clad Beijing apartment. As Grandmaster Jia introduced his students to his teacher, each student bowed and presented gifts to the Great Grandmaster, a sign of respect and appreciation to the knowledge he has passed down to them through his disciple and their teacher, Grandmaster Jia.
After the formalities, Great Grandmaster Sun invited everyone to relax and enjoy a cup of tea. He then took the opportunity to reiterate that, in the martial arts, the most important components of one’s training are not the complex empty-hand forms or elaborate weapons, but rather the basics. Without a strong foundation, there is nothing. In Baguazhang, the fundamentals are found in the mud-wading circle walking, much like stance work in other styles. Without a strong and stable yet relaxed and agile mud-wading step, it is impossible for a Baguazhang practitioner to excel and correctly execute the more advanced forms such as the Eight Mother Palms (also known as the Old Eight Palms 老八掌). Great Grandmaster Sun encouraged his grand-students to persevere and be patient. He also reassured them that Baguazhang is a very complete system and, once they had developed a strong foundation in the circle walking, they would have the opportunity to learn advanced material such as the intricate 64 Linking Palms and a plethora of different short, long, and double weapons such as the saber (八卦刀), straight sword (八卦剑), battle-body spear (八卦战身枪), double-headed spear (八卦双头枪), double hooks (八卦双钺), judge’s pens (八卦判官笔), chicken feet (八卦鸡爪), and much more. To further motivate his American guests, Great Grandmaster Sun proudly showed everyone his certificate and awards naming him the official National Representative of Baguazhang. He did this not to gloat, but rather to inspire his grand-students that, with diligence, determination, and strong moral ethics, anything is possible.
With that, the CTMACEA delegation bowed and gave thanks once again to Great Grandmaster Sun Zhi Jun, as he bid them farewell. With smiles on their faces and warmth in their hearts, the group departed, energized to reach greater heights in their training and to return to Beijing soon again. This was the perfect conclusion to an already amazing trip. Thank you, Grandmaster Jia Shu Sen, for this unforgettable experience. The memories and friendships will endure forever. Until we meet again!
