Foshan master rears kungfu culture
Print Edition
He shops in vegetable markets and takes care of his grandson in his spare time, but when Huang Zhenjiang puts on his kungfu robe, he becomes a martial arts master.
Huang, 68, is a provincial inheritor of Cai Li Fo boxing, a style of martial arts. He is also head of Hongsheng Hall, a Cai Li Fo martial arts club established in 1851 in Foshan, a city in south China’s Guangdong Province known for its martial arts culture.
Cai Li Fo was created by Chen Xiang. Legend has it that Chen, a resident of Guangdong, created the style by combining Cai boxing, Li boxing, and a style of boxing named in honor of the Buddha, or “Fo” in Chinese.
The kungfu system is being heavily promoted by the city government, with textbooks on the art distributed to 11 kindergartens in Foshan last week, according to the city’s sports bureau.
Huang started learning Cai Li Fo when he was a teenager.
“My grandpa used to tell me all about the heroic stories of the Cai Li Fo masters,” Huang said. “I decided I wanted to be like them.”
With the help of his grandfather, Huang managed to meet some Cai Li Fo masters. He would practice for three hours every night. In the 1970s, life was still hard and Huang did not want to waste money on kungfu shoes. So he just practiced barefoot. Years later he became a kungfu master.
Hongsheng Hall reopened in 1998 after decades of closure, and Huang was asked to teach Cai Li Fo boxing there. In 1999, he was elected head of the hall. That’s when Huang found an opportunity to revive the glory of the traditional martial art.
In 1999, Huang started taking Cai Li Fo boxing to students in Foshan, passing on the style on to locals when they are young.
To make boxing more popular, Huang has even created an exercise routine featuring fans. The “fan dance” combines Cai Li Fo boxing and gymnastics, and makes the learning process “more interesting.”
“The exercise is good for their health,” Huang added.
Huang said that his students have even performed their dance routines during the opening ceremonies of Asian kungfu competitions.
Besides his Chinese students, Huang also has some foreign apprentices who have come to Foshan out of admiration of the kungfu master. “I have taught students from Spain, the Czech Republic, Argentina and Chile. Many of them came to Foshan, found jobs teaching English and took time out to learn Cai Li Fo boxing,” he revealed.
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