Fujian Bai He Quan: White Crane |
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| Prior to to learning taiji, Master Haung was a renowned exponent of White Crane. This art was also passed down to Wee Kee Jin, as it was seen to be an aid to developing the elusive 'relaxed force' of taiji. [ White Crane scheduled classes ] |
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| Although predominately propagating Taijiquan throughout South-east Asia, with schools all over Malaysia and Singapore, to the inner disciples Huang Sheng-Shyan passed on his Fujian White Crane. |
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| White Crane is an internal art, i.e. muscular strength is not used, it is less refined than Taiji and therefore is practiced faster and is more forgiving of inaccuracies. This can assist the student to gain a 'basic' understanding of the relaxed force in a shorter time than by training only in Taiji. | |
Origin: |
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| It is most widely believed that one day while washing her clothes at the rivers edge a white crane became overly inquisitive. To discourage the bird Fang Chee-Niang attempted to ward it off with a stick. To her surprise the crane did not retreat and effortlessly deflected all her attacks. Over the next few days the crane persisted and the scene repeated itself. Her father Fang Wei-Shi, a disciple of Shaolin Gongfu who had fled to Fujiou to escape persecution from the Manchu government, had taught her martial arts from an early age. Eventually she recognised the significance of the crane's movements, and began incorporating them into her training pattern. | |
Research: |
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| Thanks to the many years of painstaking research by historians such as Patrick McCarthy, it has become known that Kanryo Higaonna, whilst in Fujian province, studied with 2 or more teachers. One of these was a man called Xie Zhong Xiang (a.k.a. Ryu Ryu Ko) a renowned master of the Whooping Crane style of Fujian White Crane, with whom he studied for about 4 years. | |
| The Whooping Crane, Feeding Crane, Flying Crane etc are sometimes considered as different styles. According to Master Huang however, they are in fact just different aspects of the one style, and so within his White Crane, all of them may be found. | |
| Fujian White Crane is part of the ancestry of Goju Ryu Karate Do. Although the forms (kata) of White Crane have not been passed down verbatim, it is likely that what Kanryo Higaonna learned from Xie Zhong Xiang was how to develop and apply the fundamental princples of force and movement. | |
Lineage: |
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Of the well known White Crane Masters of this century, Xie Zhong Xiang is perhaps the most famous. Having learnt from Pan Yu Ba, Xie Zhong Xiang became the first generation master of the Whooping Crane.
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| The founder of Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate Do - Chojun Miyagi, was a student of Higashionna Kanryo, who learnt White Crane from Xie Zhong Xiang. Okinawan’s also refer to Xie Zhong Xiang as Ryuruko.
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| Master Huang Sheng-Shyan also learnt White Crane directly from Xie Zhong-Xiang, from the age of 14. After a few years of personal tutorage, Huang Sheng-Shyan still only in his late teens, was sent by Xie Zhong-Xiang to study full-time for two years with his eldest disciple Ch’en Shih Ting. | |
| In 1930 Master Huang went on to train with another famous White Crane exponent P’an Ch’un-Nien, who also began teaching him the use of medicinal herbs, and stimulated an interest in Huang for other Chinese Martial Arts. In pursuit of these Huang Sheng-Shyan moved to Shanghai, where he first began teaching White Crane. He returned to his own village in 1934 at the request of P’an Ch’un-Nien to take part in County competitions. Huang Sheng Shyan not only convincingly won the competition he went on to the finals of the provincials. There he was runner up to Chang Jih-Chang, whom Huang had previously knocked down but drawn with in a preliminary round. | |
| Due to his age and success Huang became known in Fujian as “Young Hero”, and later played an active role in the war with Japan. The recognition of his fighting abilities quickly earning him the rank of colonel. Following the Communist take-over of mainland China, Master Huang emigrated to Taiwan. There he met and knelt before Cheng Man-Ching an outstanding exponent of Taijiquan. For seven years he devoted himself to being a disciple of Cheng and his Art, before moving to Singapore in 1958. | |
| All the 5 forms have 8 main principles listed, the forms are often learnt in the order listed, 'Bā Bú Lián' being the first form and so on. | |
Forms: |
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| • Bā Bú Lián (Eight Continuous Steps) | |
| • Lúohàn Quan (Monk Fist) | |
| • Huā Bā Bú (Flower Eight Steps) | |
| • Zhōng Quān ( Middle Circle) | |
| • With an additional form simply called 'Walking Stick Form' | |
Principles: |
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| • Floating | |
| • Sinking | |
| • Spitting | |
| • Swallowing | |
| • Springing | |
| • Lifting | |
| • Bursting | |
| • Rebounding | |
This site is maintained by students of the Tàijíquán School of Central Equilibrium UK |
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