Inheritance of Yanghu Boxing in Jiangsu Province

Whenever the twilight is getting darker and the lights are on, a juvenile Wushu team with more than 10 people will practice martial arts on the Lanling Bridge in Changzhou. Although the practitioners are all dolls under the age of 13, all of them have extraordinary skills. However, when we saw that the roaring stick, the glittering sword, the quick fist pecking rice and the long snake swinging its tail could transform countless moves such as vertical, jumping, jumping, hitting, hooking and chopping, all the onlookers applauded. Mr. Yang, the head coach who led the team, said that this is "Yanghu Boxing", also known as Changzhou Nanquan and Sunan Nanquan, the only local boxing in Jiangsu.

According to legend, in the Song Dynasty, people in Changwu area were keen on martial arts, which has been passed down to this day. People who practice this boxing are all based on Zhan Zhao, the "Southern Xia" in Wujin. When Zhan Daxia was named a "cat-king" by the King of Song Dynasty, several sets of boxing routines he practiced were almost the same as today's "Yanghu Boxing". Later, Tang Jingchuan, Bai Taiguan and other Wujin celebrities became outstanding figures in their inheritance.

According to the Records of Wujin County, "unarmed and instrumental martial arts spread very early in the county, especially Changzhou Nanquan, which originated from family martial arts, originated in the late Song Dynasty and early Yuan Dynasty, with a history of more than 700 years and more than 500 routines. Popular in rural areas, affecting Wuxi, Suzhou, Shanghai and other places. " At the beginning of Qing Dynasty, Yang in Fengnan Township initiated Xiqiao Boxing Club, which inherited and developed Nanquan, including 36 routines such as knife, gun, sword and stick. During Guangxu period, Furong Xu Zhou Maolin and others continued to develop and trained more than 0/00 disciples/kloc, forming the Hengshan School, which was called "Yanghu Boxing" in history. His disciples Zhou Senlin and Zhang Fengchi are both masters of Yanghu Boxing. In the 14th year of Guangxu reign in Qing Dynasty (1888), more than 20 people practiced this martial arts in Dalu Village, Lihe Township, and it was spread to neighboring villages by later generations, which was called "Dalu Boxing". Luoyang, Yaoguan and other places perform martial arts when they hold temple fairs every spring. Because they sing boxing tactics when they punch, they are called "boxing". Daixi, Jiaoxi, Taicun, Jiaze, Dong 'an, Lucheng and Beigang are also popular in martial arts. Therefore, Wujin Wushu, with Yanghu Boxing as the main boxing type, has attracted much attention both inside and outside the province. It was once known as the two "hometown of martial arts" in Jiangsu together with Pixian county in Xuzhou.

After liberation, Changwu area still attaches importance to and advocates Wushu. In Changwu area, Shen Quan, a famous boxer in Dong Qing Township, Wujin, is recognized as a master of Yanghu Boxing. He taught boxing with his apprentice in Changzhou city, with more than 0/000 disciples/kloc. Among them, contemporary famous martial artists such as Shamingxi learned Yanghu Boxing from Shen Shi. At the same time, Liu Desheng and Zhang Fengchi, famous Yanghu boxers in Changwu area, went out to teach boxing, so Yanghu boxing spread to Shanghai, Zhejiang, Fujian and other places.

In the early 1980s, Wushu was once again taken seriously, and the whole country carried out the excavation and rescue work of Wushu. 1984 According to the requirements of Jiangsu Wushu Association, Changzhou established the excavation and sorting group of folk traditional Wushu to investigate the origin and present situation of Yanghu Boxing. In order to avoid any ambiguity with "Nanquan" in Guangdong and Fujian, the excavation team officially named "Changzhou Nanquan" as "Yanghu Boxing" and submitted it to the superior for approval, which was designated as the key boxing in Jiangsu Province, and was included in Changzhou Boxing Machinery Record, Jiangsu Traditional Wushu and Dictionary of Chinese Wushu. 199 1 year, Changzhou Yanghu Boxing Research Association was established, with Yanghu boxer Yang Ren as the president and head coach.

Mr. Yang, a famous folk martial artist and head coach of Yanghu Boxing, is 58 years old this year. After he became the president of Changzhou Yanghu Boxing Research Association, he started Yanghu Boxing Martial Arts Training Course, with more than 0/00 students, distributed in Changzhou, Wujin and Liyang. Among them, after studying in Changzhou, Aoki Kajiao, a young Japanese martial artist, opened Yanghu Boxing Martial Arts Hall and workshops in Japan, and promoted Yanghu Boxing in Japanese martial arts and other books and periodicals. From August 28th to 30th, 1992, Changzhou Yanghu Wushu Sanshou Competition was held in Liyang Gymnasium. More than 100 male and female athletes from10 martial arts teams in Changzhou, Wujin, Jintan, Liyang and surrounding areas participated in Yanghu boxing, equipment, duet and Sanda competitions respectively. This is the biggest event in the history of modern Yanghu Boxing, which shows the profound martial arts connotation of Yanghu Boxing and attracts people's attention. Since then, for various reasons, Yanghu Boxing has been at a low point for a long time, so that few people in Changwu area know that only Yang and his disciples are struggling to support it. After retirement, Mr. Yang devoted almost all his energy and time to the research and inheritance of Yanghu Boxing. He said, if the traditional folk martial arts pioneered by the previous generation are lost in our generation, it will be a crime of eternity! Today, Yang and student Wang Ning still teach dozens of young martial arts practitioners every year, the youngest of whom is only 4 years old. In addition, Chen Xilai, former boxing coach of Wujin Huangyanghu, Zhou, former boxing coach of Furong Yanghu, as well as boxers Zhou Lidu and Hu, and Liu, former boxing coach of Liyang Pingling, taught apprentices locally. It is precisely because of the persistent pursuit and selfless dedication of Yang, a folk martial artist with both ability and political integrity that Yanghu Boxing, which is on the verge of extinction, can be passed down.

There are 36 kinds of "Yanghu Boxing" instruments, such as "eighteen long and eighteen short" and "* * *". After hundreds of years of long-term evolution and development, it has gradually formed a boxing with regional characteristics. It combines the strengths of "southern boxing and northern legs" and creates a unique martial arts style of "both northern and southern training, paying equal attention to boxing and legs, spinning in place, small amplitude, quick and brave, sharp and dexterous, fighting in melee, advancing more and retreating less". It is divided into five major martial arts schools according to the region: Yanghu School, Hengshan School, Ziyang School, Xishan School and Maoshan School.

Compared with other kinds of boxing, Yanghu Boxing has obvious characteristics. First, the amplitude is very small; Second, the boxing frame is low; The third is quick and brave; The fourth is to practice singing; Fifth, the boxing road is short; Sixth, the steps are different. In addition, Yanghu Boxing also has the characteristics of compound single practice, compound group fighting, continuous fighting and kungfu stunts.

Yanghu Boxing practitioners in Changwu area have won many awards in Wushu competitions at all levels. In September, 2003, Wang Ning, a student of Yang, participated in the Second Asia-Pacific Wushu Exchange Conference held in Beijing, and won the gold medal and silver medal of yang hu Boxing "Kirin Hammer" and "Tiangang Boxing" respectively. In mid-April this year, Wang Ning will take Yanghu Boxing skills to participate in the Third Asia-Pacific Wushu Exchange Conference held in Osaka, Japan, to show the powerful style of Yanghu Boxing.