Huaquan (China Flourishing Boxing)
華拳Family fist of the Cai of Jining, Shandong. Practised by Cai Longyun, vice-chairman of the Chinese Wushu Association and editor of competition rules.
Quick Facts
ChinaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
Catalogs & Databases for Huaquan (China Flourishing Boxing)
About Huaquan (China Flourishing Boxing)
Huaquan is a Chinese style that the newspaper China Times links to the Cai family of Jining in Shandong province and calls the family fist of master Cai Longyun. It is a poorly documented style with few sources, and we have not found it on the national or the Shandong provincial list of intangible heritage, nor does Green's encyclopedia mention it. We are looking for reliable sources.
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Its origin is tradition. English Wikipedia gives legends from the time of the Tang emperor Xuanzong about the knight Cai Mao from Mount Hua and writes that four hundred years later his descendants Cai Tai and Cai Gang of Jining reportedly used huaquan in public fights. According to it, during the Ming dynasty Cai Wanzhi wrote the Secrets of Huaquan, although Wikipedia says nobody is certain. The text on the Sohu portal places its origin in the Kaiyuan era and the authorship of the secret book in the Jiajing era. We have not been able to document the founder or the year of origin. Sohu links the style with the principle of the three essences jing, qi and shen, while Wikipedia lists them as shen, qi and jing and translates jing as inner strength. Sohu names the twelve roads of bare-handed huaquan as the main routines, Wikipedia gives forty-eight routines. Cai Longyun, son of master Cai Guiqin, was according to China Times an associate professor at the Shanghai University of Sport, vice-chairman of the Chinese Wushu Association, a national referee, holder of the 9th duan and chief editor of the wushu competition rules. Wikipedia says thanks to him huaquan is one of the main components of modern changquan routines.
History
We have not found huaquan on the national list of intangible heritage or on the provincial list of Shandong, and Green's encyclopedia does not mention it. Only English Wikipedia and a text on the Sohu portal tell of its beginnings. Wikipedia gives legends from the time of the Tang emperor Xuanzong about the knight Cai Mao from Mount Hua and writes that four hundred years later the Cai descendants Cai Tai and Cai Gang of Jining reportedly used huaquan in public fights. According to it, Cai Wanzhi of Jining is credited with authoring the Secrets of Huaquan from the Ming period, although nobody is certain of this. Sohu states that the style was reportedly created by Cai Mao from Mount Hua in the Kaiyuan era and that Cai Wanzhi, a descendant of this family, wrote the secret book of huaquan in the Jiajing era. We have not been able to document the founder or the year of origin. According to Wikipedia, modern history begins with Cai Guiqin, born in Shandong in 1877, who learned from his grandfather and from Ding Yushan, travelled around China from 1897 and settled in Shanghai in the nineteen-twenties. China Times states that Cai Longyun, a native of Jining, was born on 27 November 1928 as the son of the martial artist Cai Guiqin and died on 19 December 2015 in Shanghai at the age of 87. He mastered the family huaquan, Shaolin fist, taijiquan and xingyiquan.
How it differs
The sources give the trio of essences on which the secret book of huaquan rests in different ways. A text on the Sohu portal names three essences, jing, qi and shen, where jing means essence, while English Wikipedia gives shen, the spirit, qi, the inner energy, and jing, the inner strength. English Wikipedia notes that, because of translation and spelling, there is also another style called huaquan in the sense of the flower fist, meihuaquan. Also different is huaquan written with another character, the fist of master Hua Zongqi, which the state description of chaquan places in one family with chaquan.
Technique
The sources on the technique of huaquan are only online texts and they disagree with one another. The text on the Sohu portal states that huaquan has routines bare-handed and with weapons, for one person and for two, and regards the twelve roads of bare-handed huaquan as the main ones. English Wikipedia traditionally gives forty-eight routines, eighteen basic, eighteen secondary for two people and twelve advanced called roads, plus chin na and routines with long and short weapons. Sohu further writes that breathing in huaquan uses four methods, ti, tuo, ju and chen, and that the technical theory consists of eight methods and twelve forms, among them standing like a pine and being quick as the wind. According to Wikipedia, the steps and hand work rest on yin and yang, and Sohu stresses a clear distinction of yin and yang.
Today
According to the daily China Times, Cai Longyun was head of the wushu department and associate professor at the Shanghai University of Sport, vice chairman of the Chinese Wushu Association, a national wushu referee, a holder of the 9th duan and chief editor of the wushu competition rules. At the national review of national physical exercises in 1953 he received an award for his performance. Among other things, he wrote the book Five Routes of Chaquan. A text on the Sohu portal states that after 1949 huaquan was included among the disciplines of Chinese wushu reviews and competitions and that Cai Longyun published books on the first four routes of huaquan. English Wikipedia says that thanks to him huaquan is one of the main components of modern changquan routines taught at sports academies.
Did you know
According to the daily China Times, which cites a researcher from a society devoted to Bruce Lee, Bruce Lee bought Cai Longyun's books on basic wushu training and on huaquan in mainland China, and the jumping kick that appears in his films was taken from Cai's book on huaquan. According to the same daily, the fourteen-year-old Cai Longyun defeated a Russian boxer in Shanghai in 1943 and an American boxer in 1946, which earned him the nickname Divine Fist Big Dragon.
Frequently asked questions
Who founded huaquan?
We have not found the founder. English Wikipedia and the Sohu portal give a legend about Cai Mao of Mount Hua from the time of the Tang dynasty.
Who was Cai Longyun?
Cai Longyun (1928 to 2015) was a master of family huaquan from Jining. According to the daily China Times, he was vice chairman of the Chinese Wushu Association and chief editor of the wushu competition rules.
Is huaquan the same as meihuaquan?
It is not. English Wikipedia notes that, because of translation and spelling, there is also another style called huaquan in the sense of the flower fist, meihuaquan.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.