Huo Style Bajiquan

Quick Facts

Founder

Huo Diange

Country of OriginChina

RegionAsia

Primary FocusStriking

Contact LevelFull contact

Character & 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 Huo Style Bajiquan

About Huo Style Bajiquan

The Huo branch of bajiquan is a lineage named after Huo Diange, 霍殿閣. English Wikipedia lists it among the named lineages of bajiquan that survived to the present, alongside the Han, Ji, Li, Ma styles and others. It is not a separate system but one of the branches of bajiquan. According to Wikipedia, Huo Diange was a student of Li Shuwen, who died in 1934 and was among the most important spreaders of bajiquan. Chinese Wikipedia calls him Li's eldest student. In 2013 China News Service reported that Huo was a martial arts teacher and bodyguard of Puyi, emperor of Manchukuo, and that he was dismissed because he kept humiliating the Japanese. According to Chinese Wikipedia, Huo's nephew Huo Qingyun taught in Changchun on Sanmalu Street near the Manchukuo imperial palace. The aggregator Maigoo states that the bajiquan of Huo Diange and Huo Qingyun spread from Changchun to the three northeastern provinces. We have not found the years of Huo's life or the time of his service with Puyi in the sources.

History

The year of Li Shuwen's birth differs between sources. English Wikipedia gives 1860 in the bajiquan article and 1864 in the Li Shuwen article, Chinese Wikipedia 1862. Chinese Wikipedia states that Li's first student was Wang Shude, who however died young, so Huo Diange became the eldest, and the last was Liu Yunqiao. Maigoo relates that after the revolution of 1911 Cao Kun picked the commander of his guard in bouts, and Wang Lianfeng and Huo Diange, both from the village of Xiaoji in Cangzhou, remained in the final. According to it, Huo lost and then went to Changchun as Puyi's bodyguard. Epoch Times writes that this created the northeastern branch of the Huo family.

How it differs

English Wikipedia names it as one of many named branches of bajiquan. Among Li Shuwen's students it lists, besides Huo Diange, Li Chenwu, bodyguard of Mao Zedong, and Liu Yunqiao, instructor of Chiang Kai-shek's guard. According to Chinese sources, the Huo lineage developed in the northeast, in Changchun.

Technique

English Wikipedia describes bajiquan as a traditional Chinese art with explosive short-range power, known for rapid elbow and shoulder strikes. According to it, the eight extremities are the fist, forearm, elbow, shoulder, hip, thigh, knee and foot. Footwork has three special features, zhenjiao, nianbu and chuangbu, and the six big openings liu da kai are ding, bao, ti, dan, kua and chan. We have not found in the sources any technical features of the Huo branch specifically compared with other lineages.

Today

In 2006 the item Cangzhou wushu, protected by the Wushu Association of the city of Cangzhou, was inscribed on the national list of Chinese intangible cultural heritage. In 2008 an extension followed, Mengcun bajiquan, whose protection is entrusted to the Kaimen Bajiquan Research Society of Mengcun County. According to the listing, bajiquan has been practiced in Mengcun for three hundred years and is passed on in the fourteenth generation. We have not found the Huo branch as a separate item on the list.

Did you know

According to Chinese Wikipedia, Li Shuwen bore the nickname Divine Spear. Chinese Wikipedia states that bajiquan became famous at the end of the Qing dynasty, first thanks to Li Shuwen in the north and then thanks to Huo Diange, teacher and bodyguard of the last emperor. Yueshan bajiquan from Boai County in Henan Province, unrelated to the Huo lineage, is also a separate item on the national list.

Frequently asked questions

Similar styles

Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.