Feng Keshan
冯克善
Eighth-generation master of the meihuaquan style, who in 1814 recruited members for the Eight Trigrams Sect, took part in the uprising against the Qing dynasty, and was executed.
Quick Facts
ChinaBiography
Feng Keshan was an eighth-generation master of the Chinese style meihuaquan (plum blossom fist). We have not been able to verify his year of birth; he died in 1814. We have not found anything in the sources about his teachers or students.
The meihuaquan he developed rests on the internal circulation of qi and on large circular external movements derived from Shaolin techniques. A five-direction floor pattern is characteristic. According to the sources, the style has no single founder: it arose in northern China earlier, perhaps before the Han dynasty, and continues the Shaolin tradition.
In 1814 he recruited members for the Eight Trigrams Sect (Ba Qua Jiao) and took part in the uprising against the Qing dynasty. The Qing court captured him, sentenced him, and had him executed by dismemberment.
It is said that the style was attributed to the legendary nun Wu Mei to conceal Feng's underground activity. The source calls this assumption mistaken: the legend of Wu Mei belongs to a different style (wumeiquan, wumeipai), linked to Yongchunquan.