Stories of Dong Yingjie’s teacher, Hao style master Li Baoyu

In the taiji community many people know that Tung family taiji comes from the teacher Dong [Tung] Yingjie, who was a top student of the famous Yang style master Yang Chengfu. However, it is not as commonly known that before Yang style Dong also studied with Wu / Hao style taiji with a famous teacher called Li Baoyu, who in turn was considered one of the best students of Hao Weizhen. Li’s branch of Wu / Hao style is interesting to me personally as it arguably preserves the fajin and lower / more difficult movements of ‘old’ Wu / Hao taiji.

The following extract is taken from a recently published book called “Dong Family Taijiquan” by Yu Gongbao.

“Li Baoyu, whose original name was Li Jingqing, and was styled Li Xiangyuan, was born in February 1889, during the reign of the emperor Guangxu. He was from Huining village in Xingtai (Hebei province).

Li Baoyu was thin and weak as a child, and so was often bullied by others. A relative in his family took pity on him and introduced him to an older master from Ren Country, Liu Yingzhou, under whom he learnt San Huang Pao Chui  in order to strengthen his body. After that, at Liu’s urging, Li Baoyu visited Yongnian county in order to learn taijiquan from Yang Laozhen (aka Yang Zhenyuan, the son of Yang Luchan’s eldest son Yang Fenghou).

Yongnian County is the birthplace of Yang style taijiquan. Li Baoyu studied the art with Yang Zhenyuan for three years and made rapid progress. Just as his skills were reaching a new level, his teacher Yang Zhenyuan died suddenly from a severe illness. Yang’s family was poor at that time, and they had no money to give him a proper burial. Li Baoyu returned to Xingtai overnight and sold some of the land he owned, so that he could give his master a proper burial. After Li Baoyu returned to Huining, in order to make a living, he borrowed money so that he could open a mill in his own house. He then made a living by milling wheat to make and sell noodles. Later, he became a disciple of Hao Weizhen and studied Hao style taijiquan carefully. Li Baoyu stayed in Yongnian for several years, practicing day and night, to master the subtleties of Hao style taijiquan. After several years like this, the art had become ingrained in his body and he himself became a master.

When Li Baoyu finished his taijiquan studies in Yongnian and returned to his hometown, he resumed his old business milling wheat. He often travelled to the surrounding counties such as Ren, Nanhe, Xian and Neiqiu counties, and went to markets in more than a dozen counties in the Xingtai area to buy wheat and sell his noodles. By this time, Li Baoyu had already gotten married and had children, and the whole family relied on him to sell noodles to support the family. One year, on a late summer day, Li’s old teacher Liu Yingzhou led a youngster to Huining out of the blue, saying that he had brought an apprentice to Li. The young man was 17 years old, from North Street in Ren County and was called Dong Wenke – although to the rest of the world he would be better known by his style of Dong Yingjie.

Dong Yingjie was tall, already well-muscled and handsome, with a piercing gaze. By that point he had already been learning San Huang Pao Chui from Liu Yingzhou for several years. Liu, feeling that he was getting on in years and too old to teach Dong any more, introduced Dong to Li Baoyu so he could further his studies. Dong Yingjie looked at Li Baoyu, seeing a short, thin middle-aged businessman who didn’t look like he had any special skill. Liu Yingzhou, sensing what Dong was thinking, smiled and said: “Don’t be so quick to judge people by their appearance, Li is a true master. If you don’t believe me, you can come forward and give it a try.” Dong immediately took off his shirt and said “Okay, please give me some pointers” [polite formula for a contest]

Li Baoyu hurriedly waved his hands and said: “Wenke, my strikes are heavy, I fear you may be injured if we spar, let’s have a contest in another way”. He drew a circle and asked Dong Yingjie to stand inside, with Li standing outside the circle, and said: “If you can get out of this circle, I will count myself as the loser.” Dong  was amused, and thought to himself, “In such a small circle, all I have to do is take one step and I’ll be out, where is the difficulty?” He nodded and agreed. Li Baoyu said: “You run.” Dong Yingjie jumped to the left, but Li Baoyu was already there. Dong then dashed to the right, but once again saw Li Baoyu standing in front of him smiling.  No matter where Dong Yingjie rushed, Li Baoyu was always a step ahead of him, blocking him like a wall. Dong Yingjie even tried spinning within the circle (like a top), but he still couldn’t get rid of Li Baoyu. Li’s figure appeared everywhere he turned. By this point, Dong was sweating profusely, but still had not managed to leave the circle.

Finally convinced, Dong bowed to Li Baoyu as his shifu and stayed in Huining, learning taiji under Li with a sincere heart. One day in late autumn Dong and Li went to practice in a small wood outside the village, and the autumn wind blew off the leaves from the trees, leaving Dong all alone. He picked up his head and saw that the leaves which had fallen on Li Baoyu, who was walking in front, would invariably fall off within moments . Dong asked: “Master, can you make it so that the leaves cannot land on you?” Li Baoyu turned his head and smiled: “I can’t do it yet, but it is possible. The classics state “If there’s is pressure on the left, empty the left, and similarly the right. If the opponent raises up, I seem taller; if he sinks down, then I seem lower; advancing, he finds the distance even longer; retreating, the distance seems even shorter. A feather cannot be added, and a fly cannot alight on any part of the body.” To achieve this level, it takes both hard practice and self-reflection.” 　 　

When the two came to a clearing in the small wood, Li asked Dong to do two repetitions of the taiji form. After watching, Li shook his head and said: “Your postures are too rigid, you need to use intention (yi), not brute force (li). Once you can do that, you will be able to do anything you want.”

He took out a cotton thread from his pocket, and gently chuckled: “Yingjie, can you break this thread?” Dong laughed and said: “I can break even a length of hemp rope; this kind of cotton thread I could break into two pieces in one breath!” Li Baoyu smiled and said: “Is that right? Let’s see, shall we!” So saying, he gave one end of the cotton thread to Dong, and held the other end himself. Dong jerked the thread hard. Keeping close hold of the thread, Li stretched his arms to follow Dong’s movement; Dong tried yanking upwards, downwards and sideways, but no matter how Dong pulled the cotton thread, Li maintained his hold on the thread and just followed. After what seemed like several minutes of exertion, Dong had not even managed to pull the thread taut, never mind break it. Dong blushed and said profusely: “Ashamed, Master, I cannot break it. ” With a meaningful look in Dong’s direction, Li said: “It’s not that you don’t have enough strength, but that your gongfu is not refined. Taiji is born of wuji, the mother of yin and yang. When there is movement, the passive and active become distinct; in stillness, they return to being indistinguishable. Neither going too far nor not far enough, comply and bend then engage and extend. [The opponent] is hard while I am soft – this is called yielding. If he moves fast, I quickly respond, and if his movement is slow, I leisurely follow. Although the changes are endless, the principle is consistent throughout. “Li’s words, quoted from the taiji classics, were a revelation to Dong and deepened his understanding of the essence of taiji.  

In April of 1923, Li Baoyu was discussing medical techniques for treating angina with his friend, the Daoist Li Jianxing, at his home, and Li Baoyu asked Jianxing to practice acupuncture on him to improve his feel for needle placement. Just as Li Jianxing was piercing the silver needle into the acupuncture point, suddenly loud shots were heard from outside the village. Li, taken aback, hurriedly picked up the needle and went to the door with Li Baoyu to look around. It turned out that Hu Jingyi, the commander of the Jingguo Division (1st battalion) of the Shaanxi Army, who was stationed in Xingtai, was leading his troops in conducting exercises outside the village. At noon, Hu Jingyi went to Li Dechun’s house in the village to have a drink. During dinner, Hu Jingyi said, “I heard that there is a taijiquan master called Li Baoyu in your village who is undefeated. Bring him to me so we can have a little contest.”

Li Dechun didn’t dare to disobey, and so hurriedly sent someone to call Li Baoyu. When Li arrived shortly afterward, Hu took off his military uniform, put on a white jacket (magua), rolled up his sleeves, and got ready to fight. Li Baoyu refused: “Sir, I am a man of little talent who only knows the rudiments of gongfu (pi mao). How could I dare to fight against a general such as yourself? Besides, accidents often happen in sparring. If you injure me, there are no consequences,  but the consequences for me if I were to injure you……” Hu Jingyi replied: “No problem”. Li Baoyu kept on refusing, and Hu Jingyi said again: “OK, if you don’t wish to fight then I will sit here; if you can pull me up, I will count you as the winner.” Baoyu agreed. Hu Jingyi was tall and fat, weighing 150 kg – when his troops moved camp, normal draft horses could not carry him so he rode on a sturdy mule instead.

Hu Jingyi had studied kungfu from childhood, had practiced for many years and had studied with a famous teacher. Hu pulled up a bench and sat in the courtyard. He moved qi to his dantian, lowering his centre of weight, and the stool under him creaked. Li Baoyu walked in front of him, grabbed Hu Jingyi’s wrist, and said slowly: “Sir, are you ready?” Hu Jingyi’s face flushed red, and he shouted: “Yes!” Li Baoyu smiled and said casually: “Then just get up.” So saying, he lifted Hu straight up from the bench. Due to Hu’s skill, the long bench stuck to Hu’s behind and left the ground as well. Hu refused to accept defeat and asked to try again. Three times they tried this test with the same result. The onlookers cheered in unison at the result. Hu was not satisfied, and several times proposed an actual sparring match with Li. Li repeatedly waved his hand, but still refused. Hu Jingyi was annoyed, and it showed on his face. Li Baoyu had no choice but to spar. The two stood up in the courtyard, and they fought swiftly and violently. Hu went for big punches, his fists striking out in combinations like raindrops. However, Li dodged nimbly and swiftly, causing Hu’s strikes to hit empty air. All Li did was evade Hu’s strikes, never fighting back, and after a while, Hu got tired and sweated profusely. Suddenly, Li jumped to one side, clasped his fists to his chest, and said: “General, you are a seasoned martial artist,  I concede defeat.”

But when Hu  walked out of the village happily with his men, when they came to the entrance of the village, his lieutenant ran to catch up with him, smiled mysteriously, and whispered to Hu: “Commander, you actually lost this match.” . “Hu said: “Why do you say that?” He (Li) didn’t even touch me, how can you say that I have lost? “The lieutenant smiled and told Hu to take off his white jacket (magua). When Hu took it off and looked at it, he saw a few clear footprints on his back. Hu burst into laughter and, standing there shirtless, said “I thought I was the one giving Li an easy ride, turns out he was the one going easy on me!

Soon after Hu Jingyi returned to Xingtai City, he sent someone to invite Li Baoyu again, and he insisted on having a final contest to decide who was better. Li Baoyu knew very little about Hu. He thought that no good could come of such a contest, but on the other hand it was basically impossible to refuse. He told his disciple Shi Fengchun, who was at home, that in case of any accident, Shi should take care of Li’s family. Shi was both Li’s senior disciple and Li’s good friend who really obtained the true transmission (zhenchuan) from Li. When he heard Li say this, his heart was heavy and Shi suggested that he accompany Li. When the two came to the West Gate, Li deliberately had a shave, and bought a pair of cloth shoes for Shi Fengchun at the “Wanfu” shoe shop. When they came to Qingfeng Tower, Li Baoyu felt a little hungry, so he took Shi Fengchun to a small restaurant and ordered two bowls of tofu and some meat patties (huo shao) .

Li Baoyu said, “Fengchun, you wait here, and I will go by myself.” Shi, for his part, insisted on going with Li. Li Baoyu, exclaimed in frustration, “If you disobey me on this, I will disown you as my disciple!” Hu’s mansion was located at the back of Qingfeng Tower on Yajie Street. Li arrived at Hu’s mansion with a composed expression, and Hu hurried out to greet him. After drinking two cups of tea, Hu led Li to the backyard. The backyard was more than 9 meters wide, and a circle of soldiers with guns and bullets stood around. Hu was still wearing a white jacket and breeches, clasping his fist and said: “Mr. Li, you went easy on me last time in our last contest. I knew it in my heart, but I was not happy. People who practice martial arts are always happy willing to seek pointers from their peers. This is normal. I treated you with respect, but you didn’t use your true level – that just won’t do. Today, in our contest, we must use our own true level.” 　　

Li felt the determination in Hu’s voice and knew that Hu would not take no for an answer, so he bowed in return, and smiled faintly: “I only know knows some basic techniques and wouldn’t be a worthy opponent for the General; however, if you insist then I will have no option but to keep you entertained.” No sooner had Li finished speaking than Hu pounced like a tiger, using all his skills and strength to fight Li. Li met his attack with a feint. Li waited until just after one of Hu’s kicks had missed him , then immediately used taiji’s “Jade girl works shuttles” to pin Hu’s arm. Hu knew he was at a disadvantage and shrank back, only for Li to follow up with a palm strike to Hu’s chest which knocked Hu to the ground. When the surrounding guards saw that their division commander had been knocked down to the ground, they drew their rifles and 7 or 8 bayonets were all aimed at Li’s chest. All it would have taken to kill Li was an order from Hu. Suddenly, Hu sprang up from the ground with a “carp skip-up” (li yu da ting), and shouted at his guards: “What are you doing? Mr. Li is a guest I invited, and this was just a friendly contest between martial artists. It is nothing to do with you all. Stand down!” After Hu dismissed his guards, he respectfully led Li into the guest parlour, and complimented Li on his gongfu. From that moment on, the two men became friends and often discussed martial arts together.