Fu Style Baguazhang - History

History

Fu Zhen Song (name also translated as Fu Chen Sung) began learning Chen-style Taijiquan at age 16 from the famous Chen Family master, Chen Yan Xi. Three years later, Fu began learning Baguazhang from Jia Qi Shan (also known as Jia Feng Ming). Fu was one of the first to learn these arts, as the Chen Family had only started teaching their art to outsiders a few decades earlier; Dong Hai Chuan had only revealed Baguazhang a few decades earlier, and only took on a handful of students, one of them being Jia Qi Shan. Although Fu did not receive the formal schooling of his urban countrymen, Fu was very bright, learned the two arts well, and practiced very hard.

At the age of 26, Fu had become very famous for single-handedly defeating a large mob of bandits, a story that appears in a number of versions.

Fu traveled to Beijing where he met the other great Baguazhang masters of that period. He learned from them and exchanged information about the art. In 1928, three military generals organized the first nation-wide martial arts competition in Nanjing. Fu Zhen Song was one of the five judges of the competition. When the generals wanted to test the true skill of the top winner, a young man by the name of Wang, all the judges "nominated" Fu to do the "testing." Fu had no choice but to respect the commands of his seniors and fought with the winner, Wang. According to those present, the battle went on for a long time, and at the end, Fu hit Wang off the stage with one single blow. This was to be one of the three high-profile battles Fu was famous for, the other two being the fight with Li Shu-Wen, an older and established master of Bajiquan, and with a large group of Muslims who practiced Cha Quan back in Fu's home village.

During this time, Fu met, befriended and exchanged information with the top Baguazhang masters of China. He became close friends with Sun Lu-t'ang, and taught him the Baguazhang "mud-walking step (tang ni bu)." Fu studied Yang-style taiji from Yang Cheng Fu, and one day beat him in a match of "push hands." Yang said, "You only won because you switched to Baguazhang." Fu also studied swordsmanship with Li Jing Lin .

Fu Zhen Song and four other winners of the competition were invited to the south to teach their arts. Because of this historic event, they were called, "The Five Northern Tigers." These five men were constantly challenged by martial artists in the south, as the southern martial artists were very proud of their arts and refuted the arts of the north. Fu Zhen Song never lost a fight or a challenge.

Fu Zhen Song moved to Guangzhao in the Guangdong Province, and headed a school there. By this time, Fu had synthesized his own system by learning various family styles of taiji; the differing styles of baguazhang; the Wudang Sword from Sung Wei Yi (likely learned from Li Jing Lin, though Fu did study under Song for a time); Xingyiquan and Bajiquan; by emphasizing the most important principles and techniques from each, and by eliminating all of the parts he thought were not valuable or of no substance. Fu's style of Baguazhang would include such methods as the yin and yang palm changes, the famous Dragon Baguazhang, the Si Xiang form, the Liang Yi synthesis of Baguazhang and Taijiquan and his own version of Taijiquan. Many of the names used were likely inspired by the I Ching, and the forms and progressions inspired by both that work and by the martial philosophies of Sun Lu Tang.