DISCLAIMER: This is an extremely bad translation; we (myself and a university-educated cantonese friend from Hong Kong) have done the best we can, but some of the terms, especially for the qualifications under the Qing imperial examination system and shorthand synonyms for place names, left us baffled. Please do not view this as a ‘reliable’ source; I would encourage anyone who is interested in taiji and the chinese martial arts to learn chinese so that they can investigate the source material for themselves. The following profiles are taken from a book by Wu Wenhan, a Hao style taiji teacher in Beijing, called “Wu pai taijiquan tiyong quanshu” (Complete Book of the Wu school of taijiquan with applications). I have not included his profiles of Wu Yuxiang, Li Yiyu, Hao Weizhen etc as quite a lot (relatively) is known about them in the west already. ------ Jon Nicklin
Short Profiles of Hao Style Inheritors (Chuanren)
Li Qixuan (1834-1896), born Li Chenglun, the oldest of Li Yiyu’s younger brothers. In 1875 (Guangxu reign, yihai year), he was a special provincial candidate (enke juren). In the jichou (?) exams of 1889, he was in the second class (datiao erdeng) of the great selection (?), and was a candidate for assistant instructor in Confucian School. He was fond of kaoju [“comparative study of texts of a work”?], didn’t care about fame, wasn’t keen on a career, he and his brother (Li Yiyu) learned taijiquan from his uncle Wu Yuxiang, he spent his whole life investigating taijiquan, he wrote 2 things, the “Yi zi jue” (1 character secret) and the “Taijiquan Xinggong Ge” (Song of Taijiquan Practice); both he and his brother Yiyu became famous. Yang Banhou was at one time a student of Wu Yuxiang, and Li Qixuan was the same age, so they practiced together, he gave Yang Banhou copies of Wang Zongyue’s and Wu Yuxiang’s manuals as a gift. His disciples included Ge Shuncheng from Qinghe and Ma Jingbo from Nangong. He had 3 sons: Li Baoshen, Li Baozhen and Li Baohuan. Baoshen (1865-1922) was the head of discipline in Ren county school. He was good at Traditional Chinese Medicine, cured a lot of people, people from his hometown gave him a plaque with “Xianshou Foxin” (xian [= taoist immortal/’fairy’] hand, buddha heart) to put above his door. He followed his father from the age of 7, decades passed like one day, his skill was good. In the 24th year of Guangxu reign, a government officer invited Baoshen and his brother Baohuan (styled Xinfu) to teach his son and nephew taijiquan.
Li Xunzhi, born Li Baorang (1882-1944) was Li Yiyu’s second son. When his father passed away, Xunzhi was still pretty young, so most of his skill came from Hao Weizhen. Since he was diligent, his skill became terrific. Since he came from a well-educated family, he didn’t need to teach taijiquan for a living. He first began as a school teacher in Yongnian, then worked as a shuwuyuan (lit. “assorted things person”?) and then a quanxueyuan (lit. “advisor of studies”?). He then moved into business. In Yongnian’s East Street he established a publishing company called “Xinhua Publishing Company”. After the “7 7 Event” (when Japan invaded China in 1931), he closed his business, didn’t accept any visitors, and passed his time reading calligraphy and practicing taijiquan. But later, Yao Jizu and Wei Peilin were introduced to him and he taught them taijiquan. Since society was undergoing a great upheaval during his lifetime, he had a harsh life, and in July 1943 he was struck down by disease and died in June the next year; he was 62. His son Li Chiyin also learned taijiquan from him.
Wang Yanjiu (1880-1955) aka Wang Pengnian was a Hui (Chinese Moslem) from Xingtai in Hebei. He learned Wu pai taijiquan from Hao Weizhen. All his life he was involved in business, taijiquan was only his hobby, so he rarely took on students. Because he liked to right wrongs, and liked to help the poor, he had many friends, when friends from Yongnian and other places came to Xingtai, Wang helped them financially or organised somewhere for them to teach taijiquan, therefore he played a part in taijiquan’s development and knew taijiquan in detail. He was very good friends with my [i.e. Wu Wenhan’s] father, I often went to his house, apart from asking for instruction, I liked to listen to him talking about stories about past masters of taijiquan, indeed he was my first teacher of taijiquan history. His disciples included Liu Yuxiang, Zhao Yulin, his second son Wang Zonggui, etc..
ZHANG ZHENZONG
Zhang Zhenzong (1882-1956), styled Yuxian, was from Xiyangzhuang (West Yang farm) in Yongnian county. When young, he wasn’t very healthy, so he followed Hao Weizhen to learn taijiquan. His understanding was very profound, and his skills supreme. When Hao Yueru and Su Lutang were teaching in Nanjing and many other places, they invited him to the south, but he politely declined. Zhang was very respectful towards his teacher, he was once in Yongnian city in Yingchun Jie (Welcome Spring Street) and bought a house there for Hao Weizhen. Every year in spring and autumn he would send some food to Hao Weizhen. When his teacher passed away, Zhang and Sun Lutang, along with their other shixiongs (kungfu brothers) prepared for the setting up of Hao Weizhen’s grave, so it can really be said about Hao Weizhen that “Yang lao song zhong, si er hou yi” [something like “he supported his teacher until the end, his teacher died happy”], which is still heavily praised in Yongnian nowadays. Zhang was good at Traditional Chinese Medicine, and he established a pharmacy in Dongyangzhuang (East Yang farm) market, he gave away a lot of medicine, saved a lot of people’s lives. He had no sons, but his art was inherited by his nephew Zhang Shixing(?). His disciples included Zhang Shiqi, Zhang Yan’gu (?), Du Xuanzhi, Qi Congzhou, Yao Jizu, Wei Peilin, Jia Pu etc..
HAN QINXIAN
Han Qinxian (1885-1958), aka Han Wenming, was from Guangfu town in Yongnian county. When he was 16, he followed Hao Weizhen to learn taijiquan, later on he went into business. Though he was kept busy by his work, he still made time to practice taijiquan, so his skill became really pure and he became famous from that time. In 1929 he was made president of the Yongnian Guoshu Guan (Martial arts training centre); in 1935 he was invited by a certain man named Yue to teach in Jun county?. After 1936, he taught at the Handan Yifeng Flour Company, the Asia Petroleum Company, a school for orphans, etc..In 1941 he was invited to Quzhou county to teach. He treated all of his student equally, irrespective of how rich or poor they were, and he had a very personalised method of teaching [i.e. according to each student’s needs]. He even provided financial support for some of his students who were very poor. In 1945, Handan was liberated, so he came to Handan and stayed in Ximenli [lit. “West Gate Inside”] in Handan. He wrote the “Taijiquan Zoujia Dashou Baihua Ge” (Colloquial song of Taijiquan Form and Push-hands). He had two sons, Ruying and Ruxiang. His disciples included: Ma Rong (Chairman of Handan Martial Arts Association), Chen Gu’an, Zhai Wenzhang, Mi Mengjiu, Ma Shouquan, Jia Pu etc…
LI SHENGDUAN
Li Shengduan (1888-1948), aka Li Bin, Hui minority (Chinese Moslem), was from Xingtai in Hebei. His family was rich and his father passed away when he was young, so he lived with his mother, he did not like academic work, instead liked to fight for justice. Then he met Hao Weizhen, Hao thought Li was very clever, so he taught him taijiquan. Li learnt and practiced very diligently, practicing the forms up to 30 times a day. The bricks in his garden had grooves because of his practice, his skill reached a high level, his form and push-hands quite resembled his teacher’s, people always called him “Taiji Li”. In 1928 he formed the Xingtai Guoshu Yanjiu She (Xingtai Martial Arts Research Association) with his friends Wang Yanjiu, Hao Zhongtian. He was the president, over a period of many years they nourished a lot of talented students and thus established a good foundation for the spread of Wu Pai taijiquan in Xingtai. In 1995, his students and grandstudents (several hundred people) erected a monument, his disciple Wu Wenhan wrote the inscription, describing Li Shengduan’s achievements in teaching taijiquan and nourishing people. His students included Ma Rong, Wang Dechun, Wang Degui, Wang Wanqing, Wang Xuezheng, Wang Dianwu, Chen Gu’an, Chen Enlu, Yang Jie, Yang Zixiu, Zhang Delu, Wu Wenhan etc; out of these, Ma Rong and Chen Gu’an were the best. He had three sons, Fengzhou, Pengzhou and Ezhou; only Pengzhou inherited the art. He (Pengzhou) has been the Xingtai city vice-president of the “Erqing”[lit. “2 light”??] bureau, secretary of the “Qiaodong Region working committee” and regional chief, had a busy working life, thus didn’t have time to teach, he practices taijiquan only for his own enjoyment.
LI XIANGYUAN
Li Xiangyuan (1889-1961), styled Baoyu, aka Li Jingqing was from Xihuining village in Xingtai city in Hebei province. His father Li Deheng was a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine. From young he liked martial arts, he followed Ren county’s Liu Yingzhou (a famous bodyguard) to learn Sanhuang Paochui (3 Emperors Cannon Fist); he later followed Yang Zhenyuan (Yang Fenghou’s son) to learn taijiquan, and after that changed to learn “Kaihe taijiquan” (nowadays called Wu Pai Taijiquan) from Hao Weizhen, he got Hao Weizhen’s true teachings, so he became one of the best people in the taiji world, very famous, people called him “Taiji Shengshou” (“divine hand of taiji”). In 1929 he went south to Suzhou, Nanjing, he was the first person to introduce taiji south of the Chang Jiang (the Yangtse). Afterwards he taught for a long time in Shanxi province and other places. His disciples included Dong Yingjie, Guang Bukong, Shi Fengchun etc..
HAO ZHONGTIAN
Hao Zhongtian (1891-1968), styled Jingyun, was from Xingtai in Hebei. Although he was a businessman, he loved martial arts, he travelled to Yongnian to learn from Hao Weizhen. Because he was tall and strong, and he was both talented, clever and diligent, so his skill became excellent, he was one of Hao Weizhen’s best students. He was quite rich, in 1928 he helped his shixiong Li Shengduan found the Xingtai Guoshu Yanjiu She, which was responsible for managing and teaching boxing and other stuff. He did not have a lot of students of his own. He and Chen Gu’an were very good friends, he was highly valued by his teacher, so he got a lot of good teachings from Hao Weizhen.
ZHENG YUE’NAN
Zheng Yue-nan, styled Tinghua, was from Xingtai in Hebei province. At this time (the end of the Qing dynasty), there was a very famous bodyguard named Guo Fengkui from Baoding who was good at Liuhequan (6 Harmonies Boxing) and Ditanggong (ground tumbling boxing), his nickname was “One Lantern”. In his later years, he was invited to Xingtai to teach taijiquan, only two people got his teachings, Zhou Ting’ai and Zheng Tinghua (nothing to do with bagua’s Cheng Tinghua – different characters!). Zheng Tinghua was swift as a monkey, good at ditang whip, his skill with the whip was supreme, but since he came from a poor family, his skill went undiscovered and he spent his life in obscurity. Zheng Yuenan studied taijiquan when he was middle-aged, but he was still famous for his ditang dao (broadsword) and ditang 9-section whip etc. In his later life he was Xingtai Agricultural School’s martial arts teacher and he contributed quite a lot to the spread of taijiquan and other martial arts.
LI FUYIN
Li Fuyin, styled Jiwu (1892-1943) was from Yongnian in Hebei. His grandfather Li Qixuan and his father Li Baoshen were both good at taijiquan. In 1913 he graduated from Baoding Teacher’s College as a physics and chemistry teacher. He first worked as a secondary school teacher in Luan county. After a year there, he returned home and became a physics and maths teacher in No.13 secondary school in Yongnian, later on, he became the director for personal tutors, he contributed a lot to the establishment of that school and to the reform of education. He was very honest, liked to help people and so was especially respected by local people. Fuyin started studying taijiquan at the age of 7 and also baishi’d under Hao Weizhen, for a period of nearly 20 years he went to Hao Weizhen’s house every day to learn taijiquan. In 1929, he edited and published (for the first time) Li Yiyu’s hand-written manual “Li shi taijiquan pu” (Li family taijiquan manual) and sent it off as a gift to members of the Yongnian Guoshuguan (MA training centre). In the period prior to 1936, he wrote many articles and published them by youyin (mimeography) and shiyin (lit. “stone publishing”?), sending them as gifts to taijiquan learners in many different places. In 1934 he helped his cousin Li Huaiyin (eldest grandson of Li Yiyu) to re-edit the family boxing manuals, in 1935 it (the Li shi taijiquan pu) was published by the Shanxi Taiyuan Yuanyin publishing company. Qiu Yangjun (from Qin county in Shanxi) wrote the foreword, as well as writing the calligraphy for the cover of the book. In his preface to the book, Ma Libo wrote: “Contemporary taijiquan is divided into 3 branches: that of the Chen family of Henan, the second of Yongnian’s Yang Luchan, and the third the Hao pai of Yongnian…”, this being one of the first classifications of taijiquan into different branches. The formal publication of the Li shi taijiquan pu contributed an indispensable impetus to the development of taijiquan, Li Fuyin not only contributed to the editing and publishing of the Li shi taijiquan pu but was also a teacher in the Yongnian Guoshuguan, where his students included Huo Mengkui and others. After the “7 7 Event”, and after the schools in Yongnian had gotten back to normal and classes had resumed, they invited him to return to teaching, but he was reluctant. In 1940 the head of Wei county, a certain man named He, invited him to teach taijiquan, but Li Fuyin declined, saying he had a foot injury. Behind closed doors Li taught his relatives both academic things and taijiquan, and he also indulged his love of poems, books and paintings. Later on, the family started to deteriorate, and he was also worried about the state of the whole country, and he fell ill and passed away in 1943 at the age of 52. Although Li Fuyin didn’t teach taijiquan for a living, he never slackened in his practice. He wrote down his understanding of taiji, but the documents were hand-written and they were lost in the war. He had three sons: Zhongfan, Zhengfan and Gongfan. Zhengfan (1928- ) studied taijiquan from a young age and is able to pass on his family’s art. After he graduated from Qinghua University, worked in a research centre in Chengdu. After he retired, he taught students part-time, those who studied from him included: Shi Lei (declared a “Taiji Mingjia” [famous person of taiji] at the 1999 Yongnian International Taijiquan Conference), Wang Wanshen (Sichuan), Tang Chengshi (Hunan) etc…
FAN SHUPU
Fan Shupu (?-1948), born Fan Nianzu, was from Yongnian county in Hebei. His family was very rich, Hao Weizhen often stayed in his house and taught him taijiquan. Fan had a high level of education, his specialities were taijiquan history, principles and theory. After he grew up, he ran a Traditional Chinese Medicine pharmacy and earned his living as a doctor. Apart from a short period of a few months in 1938, when he went to Xingtai’s Niushi Shuitai (lit. “Cattle City Water Platform” – area in Xingtai??) in order to teach Wang Wanqing and a few others at the request of Wang Yanjiu, he very rarely discussed taijiquan with other people, so most outsiders did not know that he was so good at taijiquan. In 1940, he invited ? ?-quan [don’t know pronunciation of characters for this guy’s name, sorry] to Xingtai to teach his two sons, Zhizhong (Changgeng) and Zhiqin (Changling), I also followed teacher ? ?-quan to learn academic stuff. In times past, I liked to watch Fan practice taijiquan, listen to him introducing the theories and the origin of taijiquan, I received a lot of benefit from him. He had 3 sons (Zhizhong, Zhiqin and Zhixiao) and one daughter, none of whom learned taijiquan.
XU ZHEN
Xu Zhen (1898-1967), styled Zhedong, was from Changzhou in Jiangsu province. He was a famous scholar of Chinese Literature, being a student of Zhang Taiyan. He was a professor in Chinese literature in Guanghua University, Zhongyang (Central) University, the Guoxue Zhuanxiuguan (lit. “chinese literature specialised study hall”?), Wuhan University and Jinan University; he was also principal of Changzhou High School in Shanghai. After liberation, he taught chinese in the Northwest People’s Institute (Xibei Minzu Xueyuan) and was also president of the Gansu Wushu Association. Apart from Chinese Literature, he was also good at wushu, he learned chaquan from Yu Zhensheng and Ma Jinbiao, xingyiquan from Zhou Xiufeng, ziranmen from Du Xinwu and taijiquan from Yang Shaohou. In 1931 he was gained an introduction through Zhang Shiyi to Hao Yueru to learn Wu pai taijiquan, and from that point onwards he gave up his studies of other martial arts and focussed all his energies on investigating Wu pai taijiquan. His greatest achievements were in the field of research into the history and theory; specifically, he made many discoveries in taijiquan history and became a famous pioneer in taijiquan history and theory research. He wrote “Guoji Lunlue” (“summary of chinese martial arts”), “Chang shi wuji shu” (“Chang clan boxing book”, “Taijiquan kaoxinlu” (“study of truth in research on taijiquan”), “Taijiquan pu lidong bianwei” (“distinguishing the false from true in taijiquan manuals”) (all published before liberation); his unpublished works included “Taijiquan yuanliu” (“the origins of taijiquan”), “Taijiquan pu hechao” (“compendium (?) of taijiquan manuals”), “Taijiquan fawei” (lit. “taijiquan growth little”??) (published in Taiwan), “Taijiquan xinlun” (“a new discussion of taijiquan”), etc..During the cultural revolution, Xu came under strong attack, and his unpublished books and collections of information on wushu were all lost. Later on he had a stroke and was escorted back to Changzhou by his student Ma Guoyao and others; he passed away in October 1967 aged 71. Although Xu spent his whole life investigating taijiquan, he did not teach it for a living as he was a university professor, and therefore most of the people who learned taijiquan from him were his friends, colleagues and university students. He had one daughter called Xu Yunshang, I do not know if she learnt taijiquan.
MA RONG
Ma Rong (1912-1965), Hui minority (Chinese moslem), was from Xingtai in Hebei province, later he moved to Handan city, worked as a businessman.. From a young age he loved martial arts, at one time he studied Wu pai taijiquan under Li Shengduan at the Xingtai Guoshu Yanjiu She, after he moved to Handan, he continued his studies with Han Qinxian and Zhang Zhenzong. The way he practiced his postures was old-fashioned and simple, he was adept at dashou (pushing hands), his skills were supreme, before the cultural revolution he was nominated president of Handan Wushu Association by people in the martial arts world. While in Handan, apart from his work, he put a lot of effort into spreading wushu there. Since he had a heavy workload, he became exhausted and fell ill, he passed away at a young age, people felt very sorry for him. His disciples included: Ding Jintang, Ren Fulin, Ma Zhensheng, Wen Yuxian and others. His grandson Ma Jianqiu, apart from studying the art as it had been passed down within the family, also baishi’d under Jia Pu to continue his studies, he continued his grandfather’s inherited ambition, and he has made an indispensable contribution to the spread of Wu pai taijiquan. His disciples include: Li Yulong, Dan Yong, etc..
CHEN GU-AN
Chen Gu’an (1913-1993), Hui minority (Chinese moslem), was from Xingtai in Hebei province. At the age of 7 he started learning chaquan from his father Chen Fada, , when he was 13 he baishi’d under his uncle Li Shengduan to learn Wu pai taijiquan, he also followed Han Qinxian and Hao Zhongtian, so his skill was of a high level and broad too, he was the best of Li Shengduan’s students. When he grew up, he taught in mosques in Henan’s Zhengzhou, Xuchang and other places, often famous people would visit him to practice and research taijiquan together, as a result he was able to extract many good ideas from those people as well, up to his middle age, he had taijiquan, bagua, xinyi [“heart-mind”, not the more familiar xingyi “form-mind”], chaquan all in his body, among He Lei Xiang Fan [it’s definitely an area, but we don’t know where it is – sorry!], anyone who knows his name will praise it. In his later years, he taught Wu pai taijiquan for a living, he had students in Xingtai, Handan, Xuchang and other places, in total not fewer than several thousand students. In 1989, he was invited to attend the National Taijiquan Mingjia (famous masters) Research and Demonstration Conference in Guangzhou, his skill was deeply appreciated by other taijiquan people and the audience in Guangzhou made complimentary comments, in Guangzhou the “Yangcheng Wanbao” [Yangcheng = Guangzhou, Wanbao = Evening Newspaper], Hong Kong’s “Dagong Newspaper” and other newspapers and magazines ran small articles on him. Thereafter, many young people from Guangzhou, Guangxi, the two Jies, Yungui [“two Jies” and Yungui may be synonyms for other places, but don’t know what those other places are, sorry] and other places moved northwards to Xingtai to be his students, not fewer than two or three hundred people. In order to spread Wu pai taijiquan, he wrote several books, including “Wu shi taijiquan xinjia” (Wu style taijiquan new frame), “Taijiquan Gun [ staff]”, etc.. “Taijiquan Gun” was a beautifully bound and presented book, it was once featured in a Hong Kong book exhibition, it was welcomed by a lot of overseas taijiquan practitioners as they could try to follow the diagrams to practice. He also began to put together books on the 108 posture changquan [long boxing], simplified taijiquan and other things, the first would have been much loved by young people, but Chen Gu-an was unable to finish them before he passed away, it was a great sorrow.. In 1991, his students from various places gathered together in Xingtai in order to guabian (lit. “hang up the sign [above the door] – official retirement from taijiquan teaching??), in 1993 he passed away, his students from various places again returned to Xingtai to set up his grave; they asked his shidi (kungfu brother) Wu Wenhan to create a fitting epitaph, manifesting the good tradition in Wu pai taijiquan of “respect the teacher and respect the art”.
WANG WANQING
Wang Wanqing, Hui minority, was from Xingtai in Hebei. One by one he studied with Li Shengduan, Li Jifeng, Fan Nianzu, his forms and push-hands skill came mostly from Fan. He was witty and sensitive, liked to right wrongs, swift in movement, good sense of humour, he gave people the feeling of “Shenlong jian shou, bu jian wei” [lit. “spirit dragon see head, cannot see tail” – means someone is hard to ‘get a grip’ on, I think], people in his generation called him “Gu Yunfei” [lit. “valley cloud flying”](a character from a martial arts novel called “Xiao Wu Yi”[lit. “small five righteous”!]). In his middle age he hid himself away in the countryside around Xingtai in a place called Puzidao village, he was a doctor, actively spreading Wu pai taijiquan, in Xingtai, Puzidao and Baiquan he had many students.
WANG XUEZHENG
Wang Xuezheng, styled Biqing, Hui minority, was from Xingtai. He was an early student at the Xingtai Guoshu Yanjiu She, he followed Li Shengduan, Hao Zhongtian to learn taiji’s fist sets, weapons and tuishou, his skills were comprehensive. Since his family were pretty well off, although he put a lot of effort into investigating taijiquan, he didn’t have many students. His personality and skills were highly praised by taijiquan people, but he only wrote one small book about his realisations in taijiquan, I don’t know what happened to it after he died.
YAO JIZU
Yao Jizu (1917-1988), from Guangfu town in Yongnian county. He was a graduate of Hebei Institute of Education in languages, after the cultural revolution he was a committee member of Hebei Province Political Association. In his youth he learnt from Hao Yueru and Han Qinxian in the Yongnian Guoshuguan to learn Wu pai taijiquan’s fist sets, weapons and tuishou. After the “7 7 event” (the 7th of July 1931, when Japan invaded China) the Yongnian Guoshuguan closed down and Han Qinxian moved to Handan city, so he followed Han’s shixiong Zhang Zhenzong. In 1940 he was introduced to Li Xunzhi by someone, and baishi’d under him to continue his taijiquan studies. Yao was humble, had a high level of culture and martial skills, he was invited many times to attend taijiquan research conferences where he exchanged skills and theories with many different people; he was also honorary president of the Chinese Yongnian International Taijiquan Luanyi (lit. “keep friendship”) Association, the head of the Yongnian Taijiquan School, he contributed indispensably to the spread of Wu pai taijiquan. He wrote a book called “Wu shi Taijiquan Quanshu” (“Wu style taijiquan Complete Book”). His disciples include: Jin Jingcheng, Hu Fengming, Zhong Zhenshan, etc..
ZHAI WENZHANG
Zhai Wenzhang (1919-1989) from Guangfu town in Yongnian county. His father Zhai Lianchen had at one time studied Wu pai taijiquan from Hao Weizhen. At first Zhai Wenzhang learnt taiji from his father, later on he followed his uncle Han Qinxian for further study, he was good at Wu pai taijiquan’s fist sets, weapons and tuishou. He was especially good at tuishou, his ability in this was praised by many people. During the Sino-Japanese War, he joined the Ba Lu (8 roads) Army, after it was over he taught taijiquan in Ji [=Jinan?], his writings include the “Dashou Wuzi Yaojue” (Important 5-word Secret of Pushing Hands) etc.. His disciples include Lu Junqiang etc..
JIA PU
Jia Pu (1924 - ) is from Handan city in Hebei province, graduated from Tianjin Xinhua Vocational University. At the age of 13 he began to study Wu pai taijiquan (then called “Hao jia[frame]”) with the head of the Yongnian Guoshuguan Han Qinxian, and continued studying with him for 6 years. In 1939 Li Fuyin noticed Jia’s potential and passed the “Li shi taijiquan pu” (one of the “Lao san ben”[3 old copies]) on to him. At that time, Jia Pu and his classmate Yao Jizu copied out the “Li shi taijiquan pu” from Li Fuyin by hand, copying out Han Qinxian’s quanpu (boxing manual(s)) and combining the two books into one, which they called the “Yongnian Li shi jiacang taijiquan mipu quanji” (Complete Collection of Secret Taijiquan Manuals Concealed by the Li clan of Yongnian), Jia was 16 at the time. In 1949 he was introduced to study under Zhang Zhenzong by Han Qinxian. Over a period of more than 60 years he has not stopped practicing. After his middle age, he loved Traditional Chinese Medicine and graduated from “Jiankang Bao” (“Health Magazine”)’s Traditional Chinese Medicine Institute, he once edited the “Cao family shanghan [lit. “wound-cold”??], Jingui Fawei Xinlu [no idea what on earth this is, except it’s some kind of medical journal/textbook]”. From a young age he loved calligraphy, he won many prizes, now he is the vice-president of Handan city Laoganbu Calligraphy & Painting Society, and also a special contract editor for Yongnian’s “Taiji”magazine, at the 5th International Yongnian Taijiquan Luanyi [keep friendship] Conference he was given the title of “Da Shi”(lit. “great teacher”). His disciples include Ma Jianqiu, Huang Jianhua, Wen Yuxian, Zhao Xiaokang, Wang Shuhua, Yin Xianying, Zhang Hongqi, Li Xiuhua, Wei Yumei etc…