Huo Diange
霍殿阁
Chinese Bajiquan master from Cangzhou, a student of Li Shuwen, personal bodyguard and instructor of Emperor Puyi and founder of the Huo-style Bajiquan branch.
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Huo Diange (霍殿阁) was a Chinese Bajiquan master and the founder of his own branch of this style, called Huo-style Bajiquan and later nicknamed Changchun Bajiquan. He was born in 1886 in Cangzhou in Zhili province (today's Hebei); his family came from Jimo in Shandong province.
At the age of 17 he became the eldest student of Master Li Shuwen (1860–1934), also a native of Cangzhou, nicknamed the Divine Spearman, and travelled with him around Beijing and Tianjin. He is among Li's best-known students.
In the twenties of the 20th century he taught martial arts at military schools in Harbin, Changchun and Shenyang. In 1927, on the recommendation of several figures, among them the Qing-dynasty scholar Shang Yanying, he became martial arts instructor and personal bodyguard of the last Chinese emperor, Puyi. After 1932 he moved with Puyi to Changchun, where he reached the rank of major general and commanded a security unit. His service with Puyi contributed to the reputation of Bajiquan as a style of bodyguards.
He died in 1942. We have not been able to verify details about his own students in the sources.