Jing wu huo yuan jia biography

This article is about the person. For other uses, see Huo Yuanjia (disambiguation).

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Huo.

Huo Yuanjia (18 January 1868 – 9 August 1910) was a Chinese martial artist and a co-founder of the Chin Woo Athletic Association, a martial arts school in Shanghai. A practitioner of the martial art mizongyi, Huo is considered a hero in China for defeating foreign fighters in highly publicised matches at a time when Chinese sovereignty was being eroded by colonisation, foreign concessions, and spheres of influence. Due to his heroic status, legends and myths about events in his life are difficult to discern from facts.

Biography[]

Early life[]

Huo was born in Xiaonanhe Village in Jinghai County, Tianjin, as the fourth of Huo Endi's ten children. The family's main source of income was from agriculture, but Huo Endi also made a living by escorting merchant caravans to Manchuria and back. Although he was from a family of traditional wushu practitioners, Huo was born weak and susceptible to illness. He had asthma and at an early age he contracted jaundice, that would recur periodically for the rest of his life. (It is theorised that he may have had a mild form of congenital jaundice known as Gilbert's syndrome). Due to his frail frame, his father discouraged him from learning traditional wushu.

Huo Endi hired a tutor named Chen Seng-ho from Japan to teach his son academics and moral values. In return, Chen was taught the Huo family's style of mar

Huo Yuan Jia (Fok Yuen Jia)

    Huo Yuan Jia had many brothers. When he was young, he was the weakest of all of them, and thus was told to read books and study, not practice martial arts. He could only hide and try to learn kung fu by secretly observing his brothers. Once, during a competition, many of the Huo family combatants lost to a certain opponent. Huo Yuan Jia asked to join the match. With astounding skill, he won easily. Astonished, his father decided to teach him Mi Zong Quan, which was only taught to a select few. After much hardship, his martial arts improved greatly. He was also very altruistic, and gained great fame in Northern China.

    At the start of the twentieth century, China was in a state of turmoil as a result of the end of the Qing Dynasty, the forced importation of opium by the British and invasions by the Japanese, English, and other Europeans. The Chinese were called the "Sick Men of Asia". Phrases such as "No Dogs and Chinese Allowed" were widely used by the foreigners forcibly occupying territories in China. As a result, the morale and physical health of the Chinese people was very low. The foreigners introduced Western technol

Meanwhile, Huo’s fame spread. In 1901, a Russian strongman was making the rounds in Tianjin, challenging Chinese fighters and calling the Chinese “The sick men of Asia.” According to legend, when no other Chinese fighter would answer the Russian's challenge, Huo stepped up and accepted the fight. The Russian then allegedly backed out claiming to be only a showman. The Russian was asked -- and apparently agreed -- to write a letter to the Tianjin newspaper retracting his claims slandering the Chinese people though I haven’t been able to find a copy or record of this letter so far.

In 1909, another foreign fighter, the English boxer Hercules O’Brien, put an advertisement in the Shanghai newspapers insulting the Chinese as weak. Huo asked his friends to go to Shanghai and arrange a fight. After considerable negotiations (O’Brien wanted only punches above the waist and no kicking), the terms of the fight were settled. According to most of the accounts I have read, O’Brien grew so concerned about Huo’s fearsome reputation that he ended up fleeing the country and apparently the fight never took place.

Huo capitalized on his fame and with the help of investors, including his old friend Nong Jinsun, established his legacy: the Jing Wu Athletic Society. (精武体操学校 later changed to 精武体育会) He attracted many students as well as the attention of some of China’s leading figures. Sun Yat-sen (孙中山) himself praised the school and said, regarding the Jing Wu Society, “To make a country strong, everyone must practice the martial arts.” (欲使国强，非人人习武不可) Dr. Sun even graced the school with his calligraphy (such as it was) inscribing the words for martial spirit (尚武精神) and giving it as a gift to the club.

Huo Yuanjia died relatively young, and his death is surrounded by myth and mystery. According to the story told by Huo’s descendants, the Japanese Judo Association came to Huo Yuanjia’s school to ask for a competition. A disciple of Huo disciples broke the arm of one of the association

Chinese martial artist (1868–1910)

This article is about the person. For other uses, see Huo Yuanjia (disambiguation).

In this Chinese name, the family name is Huo.

Huo Yuanjia (18 January 1868 – 14 September 1910),courtesy nameJunqing, was a Chinese martial artist and co-founder of the Chin Woo Athletic Association, a martial arts school in Shanghai. A practitioner of the martial art mizongyi, Huo is considered a hero in China for defeating foreign fighters in highly publicised matches at a time when Chinese sovereignty was being eroded by foreign imperialism, concessions and spheres of influence. Due to his heroic status, the legends and myths surrounding the events in his life are difficult to distinguish from facts.

Early life

Huo was born in Xiaonanhe Village in Jinghai County, Tianjin, as the fourth of Huo Endi's ten children. The family's main source of income was agriculture, but Huo Endi also made a living by escorting merchant caravans to Manchuria and back. Although he was from a family of traditional wushu practitioners, Huo was born weak and susceptible to illness. He had asthma and, at an early age, contracted jaundice, which would recur periodically for the rest of his life. It is theorised that he may have had a mild form of congenital jaundice known as Gilbert's syndrome. Due to his frail frame, his father discouraged him from learning wushu.

Huo Endi hired Chen Seng-ho, a tutor from Japan, to teach his son academics and moral values. In return, Chen was taught the Huo family's style of martial arts, mizongyi. Huo still desired to learn wushu, against his father's wishes, so he observed his father teaching his students martial arts in the day and secretly practised at night with Chen.

In 1890, a martial artist from Henan visited the Huo family and fought with Huo's elder brother, defeating him. To the surpri