By Brian Kennedy on Saturday, February 09, 2002 - 04:32 am: Edit Post Happy Chinese New Year,
I picked up a kind of unusual book today at the martial arts bookstore. It is entitled Wu Qi Boxing Illustrated. The "wu qi" is the same phrase as the Taoist term refering to the state before there was anything.
The book was written in 1935 and the form consist of 128 postures that are done around 5 posts; four corner post and a central one.
The introduction does not really tell much about this art other than the stock, usually suspect, claim that this art is "Wu Dang" and created by Chang San Feng.
Does anyone know anything about this art?
Thanks,
Brian
By Damon Smith on Wednesday, September 11, 2002 - 09:44 am: Edit Post Hi Brian,
I have discovered just a little about Wu Ji Quan (don't confuse with the Xing Yi forms also called Wu Ji Quan - the "wu" here means "boundlessness", not "five"
, although I've never practiced it. It's actually a Buddhist martial art, not Daoist, but it is sometimes seen as an explanation of Daoist principles in Buddhist terms. It is realtively "soft" in application.
One of the ways that Buddhism has introduced itself to new countries historically is to make portions of local religions (such as Daoism in China or Shinto in Japan) a part of itself - Buddhist principles are then seen as "higher" explanations of the "lower" Daoist or Shinto principles. I think this is the idea of Wu Chi Chuan/Wujiquan.
Some of the postures look fairly well extended and it's taught within some Buddhist religious groups - it has been suggested that it's a way of recruiting new members. Though I'm not 100% sure, I think some members of the group at www.fgs.org.tw may practice it.
I'd also be really interested if anyone has some more substantial info on it.
Best,
Damon
By Martin on Tuesday, September 24, 2002 - 09:58 am: Edit Post I'm afraid I can't offer much useful info on the art, but I did meet a guy in Fuxing Park in Shanghai recently doing some form from it. Unfortunately my Chinese is still pretty crap, so about all I got out of him was it's name - Wujiquan, and that very few people practise it. Maybe I'll go back and check him out some more. Has anybody else seen him?
For that matter, has anyone seen any Baguazhang in Shanghai?