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China Fohan Quan History(Translated excerpt from "An Introduction to Fohan Quan") China Fohan Quan is a superb style of Chinese Wushu, which was developed from Fohan Shou . Fohan Shou was created by Shaolin monk Chao Yuan, at the end of the Ming and the beginning of the Qing dynasty. Chao Yuan (given name Zhu Fu) lived in the imperial family of the Ming dynasty. He had seen the collapse of the country, the ruins of the imperial palace, and the miserable life of the people with his own eyes but he couldn't change the situation. At that moment of bitter hatred, he decisively cut his hair, secluded himself in Shaolin, obtained a broad acquaintance with the people among the wushu community in the remnants of the Ming Dynasty (which ended in 1644 AD), and devoted himself to the research of wushu, looking forward to help rebuild his country. Ten years later, Chao Yuan had discerned the advantages and disadvantages of nearly every wushu community at that time. He combined the best aspects of every community and developed it into a unique form named "Fuhan Shou" (named for not forgetting the goal of rebuilding the collapsed country). Taking into account the purpose of Buddha and the similar sound of Buddha in Chinese, he changed the name to "Fohan Shou". Fohan Shou was secretly passed with its fierce hurting force, and its unique method of mind and skills. Among Shaolin it was named "The form secretly concealed within the community", which meant the powerful style within Shaolin kung fu. When the members in this community met, they recognized each other by secret language. As a result, many members of Shaolin never heard of Fohan Quan until the sixteenth year of Guang Xu in Qing, at which time master Tian Kui Zao traveled all over the world, and chose people to pass it on to. At that time it then entered into folk society.
Yang Huai Li learned his master's real kung fu of Big Frame Fohan Quan and firmly keeping in mind his master's care and teaching, he pursued further research about Fohan Quan . In order to make up for his master's dedication to him, he decided that he should not only inherit his master's kung fu, but should also carry it forward, so as to be a worthy forth successor. As a result, he did a lot of traveling to visit the famous masters of Shaolin, Wudang, and others to exchange skills. Furthermore, he followed his master's style and combined all the virtues of every community into Big Frame Fohan Quan . What was most valuable was that he had fully understood the true essence of YiJing, on the philosophic basis of yingyang, bagua, and xushi (having and not having) overcoming each other. Yang Huai Li modified Big Frame Fohan Quan again and developed a style of its own and named it as "China Fohan Quan". At the same time, he summarized his former generation's experience and authored "The Manual of China Fohan Quan", "Discussion of China Fohan Quan", "The Prowess of China Fohan Quan" as a way of sorting out his more than ten years' thoughts after study. This was an improvement of Fohan Quan in its essence, and a milestone in the development of Fohan Quan, the result of which formed an integrated system of forms with a unique style.
During the days from monk Chao Yuan to Lu Wen Qing (the fifth successor), the style developed slowly, because it was only permitted to be taught within the family by time's restriction. The sixth successor Li Fan Fu made the decision to inherit the style in its entirety and furthermore to carry this unique skill forward. At this present state of reform and opening up in China, Li Fan Fu started Hong Xiang Wushu School, which was the first and still is the only China Fohan Quan wushu school, with the aim of developing China wushu culture. The school set down a whole system of rules for teaching and enlightenment. In order to develop and carry China Fohan Quan, this unique wushu style of China, Li Fan Fu has rewritten documents (and authored new ones) including:
Li Fan Fu was invited by the Henan TV station show "The Wind of Wushu Community", to have a show and was also invited by Sound Press of Beijing TV Art Center to have made a VCD entitled "China Fohan Quan Teaching Course" . Meanwhile, he founded the China Fohan Quan Society and a center for studying and discussing the development strategy of China Fohan Quan to help bolster its popularity in order to help spread the goals of physical skill and health maintenance to all the people. According to the development and the need of the present society, it stressed the combination of being beautiful to look at and also its practicality, as well as combining the physical skill and health maintenance aspects. |
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Zen master Tian Kui Zao had apprenticed Liu Chang Chun, a villager of Daming, Hebei province, for 8 years. Liu Chang Chun learned the real kung fu of his master, and even absorbed the advantages of other styles such as Hong's Form, Erlang's Form, Taiji, Bagua, Xingyi, etc. He visited all the famous wushu masters to exchange skills and had combined the advantages of all these communities into Fohan Shou . He had gained the skills of Ne Jia Quan (the internal styles), achieved outstanding kung fu and ruled the roost in Hebei Province, and was unmatched in skill for hundreds of miles. He named Fohan Shou as Big Frame Fohan Shou, then chose from millions of persons Yang Huai Li and Su Shi Long to pass on his unique skills. He especially poured most of his affection to Yang Huai Li, and passed his skills to him in their entirety and assigned Yang Huai Li as the forth successor of the style.
Yang Huai Li completely inherited the former generation's China Fohan Quan and carried it forward. His many students spread over the south of Hebei, the north of Henan, the southwest of Shangdong, the east of Shanxi, the north of Anhui, and the north of Jiangsu . Among his disciples, Lu Wen Qing, Yang Shizhen, Hao Tian Bao, Pan Hong Zhang were outstanding. In particular, Lu Weng Qing inherited the legacy of Yang Huai Li, and was assigned as the fifth successor. Lu Wen Qing then passed it to the sixth disciples like Li Fan Fu, Li Hong Qi, Li Xi Hai, Wu Shu Ping, etc., and assigned Li Fan Fu as the sixth successor.