The Yang style taiji teacher Fu Zhongwen, through the efforts of his students and family, is well-known throughout the taiji world. What is less known is that he had a brother, Fu Zongyuan, who also achieved a high level of taiji skill, but who chose to return to Yongnian (their hometown) and teach students there. The following extract is from a book published by one of Fu Zongyuan’s main hometown students, Qiao Zhenxing:
“Master Fu Zongyuan (1913-1984) was one of the indoor disciples of Yang Chengfu and lived at Gejiakou, Guangfu South Street, Yongnian.
In 1926 Fu Zongyuan along with his brother Fu Zhongwen went to Shanghai to learn taijiquan from Yang Chengfu. M Fu Zongyuan and kungfu uncle (shibo) Fu Zhongwen were brothers. ‘Uncle’ Fu Zhongwen was the husband of Yang Chengfu’s grand-daughter [Zhao Guizhen]. The two brothers obtained the true transmission of Yang style taiji and were proficient in the empty-hand, sword, sabre, spear and longstaff. As teacher Zhao Bin said, Zongyuan and his brother Zhongwen followed Yang Chengfu for the longest time out of all the students. Zongyuan was very good at push hands, and wore out countless sets of sleeves due to this painstaking taiji practice. Of the many taiji experts from other schools and regions who came to [YCF’s] taiji school in Shanghai, none of those who pushed with Zongyuan could fail to be impressed by his skill.
Zhao Bin admired Fu Zongyuan very much. In 1978, Zhao Bin hosted Fu Zongyuan at his home in Xi’an for more than a month. In addition to teaching the empty-hand set(s), they also trained and discussed the applications and usage of taijiquan, and made great contributions to the inheritance and development of taijiquan.
I [Qiao Zhenxing] lived only a few dozen metres down the road from M Fu Zongyuan’s family. When I was a child, I often passed by the door of M Fu. One day, before 1966, one day several of us kids were passing by M Fu’s door when he came out, as he had just returned from Shanghai. He had brought some Shanghai-made pencils to give us. At that time to even have a Shanghai-made pencil was a real treat! His tall and imposing figure, and his sincere and kind face, left a deep impression on me. In the spring of 1966, M Fu [ZY] returned from Shanghai and worked as an accountant on the construction team. By that time, M Fu’s taiji gongfu was already very good, and his reputation had spread among the other martial artists in the Guangfu area.
How did I come to learn taiji from M Fu? So at that time, my body was skinny and I was weak, in order to get stronger my father decided to have me learn taiji from M Fu. My father was a bit older than M Fu, so our neighbors all called him Mister Fu [Xiansheng]. I was very happy to learn taiji, because growing up in Yongnian I loved to watch the teachers training taiji..
At that time the Cultural Revolution had already started, the other local teachers were no longer teaching, M Fu was the only one still openly teaching. There were a few other kids learning from M Fu at the same time such as Zhang Zhiqing, Zhang Yulong, Zhang Yukun, Ding Yumin, and so on. The number of kids learning taiji gradually increased to more than a dozen, including some of our neighbors, and older adults, some of whom were 20 or 30 years older than me, including Hu Zhiye, Wang Zhuxiang, Li Tongli, Zhai Fangchuan, Li Junshan and so on.
Because there was no TV, radio, etc., so every night, we would go to Fu’s house to learn taiji. Even though this bunch of kids would descend upon M Fu’s house every night, M Fu’s wife and 3 daughters never grew irritated with us. When M Fu practiced taiji he wore old-style cloth shoes and a loose-fitting Zhongshan outfit – according to him this was in order to connect with the Qi of the earth (jie di qi).
At that time, I and some older taiji friends flattened a field outside the wall of M Fu’s house using a stone roller, and after that that became our usual training ground. Every morning by the time we arrived at the training ground, we would always see M Fu already there doing taiji. He always got up an hour earlier than us, showing M Fu’s diligence and dedication. When teaching, M Fu was particularly strict and serious, especially about the correct posture. Every time he taught a move he would have us hold the posture, as if in zhan zhuang (pole standing), and we would wait patiently for him to correct our posture(s). Later, the number of people learning taiji from him gradually increased, so our taiji training moved to the reed field outside. At that time, fortunately the head of the production team was also a devoted taijiquan fan. In order to get more people learning taiji, the work unit made a new rule that anyone studying taiji could earn 2 work points (gongfen) each time they practiced taiji.
Us kids liked M Fu a lot, we were as close as father and son. If there were any odd chores that needed doing around M Fu’s house, we rushed to help. For example, when M Fu’s house was damaged by an earthquake, us kids helped to repair his house by carrying bricks and mixing cement. If one person couldn’t lift it by themselves two people would lift together. In the end, we ended up covered in dirt, with the adults off to one side side clapping and laughing to give us encouragement.
Often during taiji lessons, a few of us kids would ask to hang on M Fu’s arm – with his arm outstretched, M Fu could allow 5-6 kids to hang on his rock-steady arm at the same time, with no sense of exertion. Once when M Fu was teaching push hand to one of the other students who was 20 years older than me, one of the neighbors quipped: “2nd brother [M Fu was the 2nd son in his family], everybody says your gongfu is good, can you give us a demonstration?” To which M Fu replied saying “What gongfu do I have?” but just as he said it he ‘stuck’ [nian] the arm of the student he was pushing with and lifted the student over an 80cm high foil-packing rod (all the time with the student ‘stuck’ to his arm). Everyone who witnessed it gawped and applauded in delight.
When practicing single-hand tuishou with M Fu, after a while our arms would all be sore and aching but M Fu did not appear tired in the least. Then with a mere shake of his arm, he would send us flying 3 metres or more away. However when doing this [fajin], M Fu would always make sure to catch us to stop us from falling over.
One day, several local martial artists from Guangfu area, heard that M Fu had come back from Shanghai. They all took turns to ‘try out’ [qie cuo] with M Fu, but none were able to gain any advantage – afterwards they all praised M Fu’s taiji gongfu.”