Monday, January 9, 2017

My teacher's teacher (4) - Jiang Rong Qiao

Jiang Rong Qiao was born in Hebei in 1891, and began learning Shaolin gongfu from his father and later his uncle. The family practiced a Shaolin variation known as Mi Zhong Quan. He is known to have also studied Chen style taiji, Wudang Sword, and Cheng style bagua. His teachers were Cheng Tinghua, Zhang Zhaoding and Li Cunyi - all disciples of Dong Hai Chuan, the founder of bagua zhang. It is also said that Jiang studied Liu He Bafa with Wu Yi Hui and his disciple Chen Yi Ren.




Jiang began teaching gongfu in Nanjing at the Nanjing Guoshu Institute in 1926. He is most famous for creating sets which combined taiji, xingi, and bagua zhang. The system he created balances the hard and soft aspects of gong fu practice and is called Neijia Gong Fu. I learned the Old 8 Palm, and New 8 Palm from his system with Shifu Jonathan Wang. 

Though he went blind later in life, he continued to teach and write with the help of his students, and adopted daughter Zou Su Xian. Jiang died at the age of 84 in 1974. He is recognized as one of the most famous scholars and practitioners of internal martial arts in the modern era. 

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References:

http://www.chiflow.com/html/bio_JiangRongQiao.htm
http://www.plumpub.com/info/Bios/bio_jiangrongjiao.htm#