Fearless : Huo Yuanjia

Huo Yuanjia (Chinese: 霍元甲; pinyin: Huò Yuánjia) (c.1868-1910) 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 Mízōngyì, he is considered a hero in China for challenging foreign fighters in highly publicized matches at a time when Chinese sovereignty was being eroded by foreign concessions and spheres of influence. Due to his heroic status, legends and myths about events in his life are difficult to discern from the facts.

Early Life

Huo Yuanjia was born 1868 in Xiaonan Village in Jinghai County in Tianjin, the fourth of his father Huo En Di's ten children. Huo En Di made his living by guarding merchant caravans traveling to Manchuria and back, but the family's primary source of income was from farming. The Huo family had a long tradition of being practitioners of Wushu. Huo Yuanjia, however, was born weak and susceptible to illness (at an early age he contracted jaundice that would recur periodically for the rest of his life) so his father refused to teach him Wushu.

Because of his weakness, Huo En Di wanted his son to pursue scholarly interests instead of learning Wushu. This was perhaps a blessing, as he in later life became renowned for his humility and educated judgment. However at the time, pursuing scholarly interests was a great blow to his pride which was also fuelled by the fact that he was continuously being taken advantage of by being humiliatingly defeated by local eight and nine year old children when he was twelve. His father hired a teacher from Japan, Chen Seng Ho (Chiang Ho), who in exchange for being taught his family style of martial arts Mízōngyì, taught Yuanjia the values of humility and perseverance. Refusing to accept the vocation his father had chosen for him, Huo Yuanjia hid in bushes and even dug out a small hole in the wall of the training area and secretly observed his father teaching his family's style of martial arts. Each day he quietly sat and watched, and each night he went to a tree grove and practiced secretly with his tutor. This continued for about ten years.

In 1890, a martial artist by the name of Duo came from Henan Province to visit the Huo family. His manner provoked a trial of strength with the boxers of the family. After seeing a demonstration by Yuanjia's elder brother, he was goaded into a fight. Huo Yuanjia’s brother was beaten, but to the family's surprise Yuanjia himself got up and defeated his brother's opponent. His father then officially accepted him and taught his younger son all that he knew. His name started to spread and he soon began defeating neighboring practitioners in local contests. These bouts made Huo Yuanjia famous in his village and the neighboring areas.

Huo Yuanjia began working with his father as a guardian. While escorting a group of monks, they were confronted by a leader of bandits named Zhao who gave them a letter threatening the monks with an attack from his army. Unperturbed, Yuanjia met Zhao's challenge and defeated him, injuring both of the bandit’s arms in the process; his many troops dispersed. Word of this feat spread fast further adding to his growing fame.

On his return home he sold firewood to make a living, and in 1896 Huo Yuanjia worked as a porter in the Tianjin Huaiqing pharmacy, where he learned much about the world. The shop owner, who was also a doctor, had recently returned from Japan, and warned him about the growing threat Japan posed towards China. The Boxer Rebellion in 1898 helped accentuate his growing realization that China was being torn up and exploited by foreign powers, both Western and Asian.

National Decay

China was in a state of turmoil, weak and politically confused at the end of the Qing Dynasty. The country was suffering from one natural disaster after another on top of severe oppression by European colonists. Germany dominated Jiaozhou (Kiaochow) Bay, Shandong, and the Huang He (Hwang-Ho) valley; Russia dominated the Liaodong Peninsula and Manchuria; the United Kingdom dominated Weihaiwei and the Yangtze Valley; and France dominated the Guangzhou Bay and several other southern provinces. China was further weakened through drug addiction. Britain began importing opium into China in order to redress the balance of trade to favor itself.
In addition to European exploitation, during the early part of the 20th century Japan's military power increased. Like the West, Japan decided to exercise its sphere of influence over Asia as well. These intentions were felt by the Chinese people as their government became subservient to the Europeans and now to the Japanese.

China was under the belief that it was simply blessed by the Mandate of Heaven and could not be defeated by any other country in the world. It was psychologically devastating to the Chinese people that their country had become so weak that even Japan, which was traditionally and historically respectful to China, was able to influence its government.

Fame Achieved

Huo Yuanjia's real fame came when, in 1901, he responded to leaflets advertising a challenge by a wrestler from Russia in Xiyuan Park, Tianjin, where Huo Yuanjia had already won many victories. The wrestler had openly insulted the Chinese, calling them "Sick man of Asia" and the "Weak Men of the East" because no one would accept his challenge to a fight. When Yuanjia accepted his challenge, the Russian, who claimed to be the strongest man in the world, forfeited. He said through an interpreter that he was merely putting on a performance and that he had to make such challenges in order to make a living. Huo Yuanjia then asked the Russian if he would write an apology in the newspaper, which the Russian reportedly obliged.

Between 1909 and 1910, Huo Yuanjia, accompanied by his apprentices Liu Zheng Sheng and Zhang Wenda, traveled to Shanghai twice to accept an open challenge posed by a boxer from Britain named Hercules O'Brien (Ou-Pin). The match was preceded by disagreement over the rules by which it would be governed. O'Brien insisted on Western boxing rules limiting attacks to punches above the waist. Huo Yuanjia, on the other hand, was more accustomed to the rules of Chinese Leitai challenge matches, which lacked such restrictions. They finally agreed that the first person to knock down his opponent would be considered the winner. Huo defeated O'Brien and his fame spread.

The teacher of the bandit whom Huo Yuanjia had defeated on behalf of the monks, Zhang Wen Dat, held a month-long competition, inviting all contestants in the hope of luring Huo Yuanjia. He felt no need to prove himself, so he did not enter. Zhang Wen Dat, encouraged by an entourage in Shanghai, contacted Huo Yuanjia and openly challenged him. Huo Yuanjia, feeling ill, allowed his top student Liu Zheng Sheng to meet the challenge, and the two battled. The next day news spread that Liu Zheng Sheng did not win, but the fight was a draw. Huo Yuanjia approached Zhang Wen Dat to suggest to end all of this and to "shake hands", but Zhang Wen Dat refused.
Zhang Wen Dat continued to challenge him. Huo Yuanjia felt that he had no choice but to finally accept his challenge and fight. He defeated Zhang with just two moves. Huo said to Zhang Wen Dat that he had not learned how to behave humbly and one should not display conceit or boastfulness. Huo told him that the reason why he lost was not due to a lack of skill, but rather he fought for revenge and not for improving himself spiritually. His disappointment in people like Zhang Wen Dat, and his realization that there was growth in the use of new technology like firearms, led Huo Yuanjia to debate the practical uses of Wushu. Nevertheless, what Huo Yuanjia did give to the people of China was hope and a revised sense of pride with his numerous victories over the foreign fighters. He became known as the best martial arts fighter in history.

Wushu as Athleticism

While conversing with close friend Nong Jin Sun, Huo Yuanjia confessed his disappointment and his apprehension about the future of Wushu. He recalled his younger years and what his tutor said to him, that people should do their best, in practice, physically and mentally, therefore improving themselves spiritually. Nong Jin Sun agreed that this was and is a timeless and important aspect of Wushu, regardless of improving technology or unscrupulous people. Huo Yuanjia thought that the teaching of Wushu would be a good way of rebuilding the confidence and the spirit of the Chinese people.

During the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu Emperor was afraid that the Han people might try to restore the Ming Dynasty. During the fifth year of the Emperor's reign, he made an announcement that forbade the study of Martial Arts. He was scared of an uprising against him. All provincial governors were authorized to stop all practices of Wushu, whether it was with bare hands, sticks or weapons. Anyone calling themselves a Wushu Master was open to arrest.

Chen Qimei, a member of Tongmenghui (the Chinese Revolutionary League) whose goal was to overthrow the Manchu Empire and to rightfully restore China to the Han Chinese, raised his suggestion to train millions of youth to be both physically strong and militarily skillful within ten years so as to meet the demand of large-scale revolution and military renovation. So with the encouragement of Huo's friends, money from sponsors as far away as Tokyo, Japan from Sun Yat-sen and Song Jiaoren, and the support from much of the population of Shanghai, he set up the Chin Woo Physical Training Center (which eventually evolved to become the Chin Woo Athletic Association) with close friend Nong Jin Sun as president.

Huo Yuanjia needed to disguise the fact that his school was for the learning of self-defense, the building up of health and mind, and the instilling of pride and patriotism into its members and the community. He thus opened it as a "physical training center" instead of calling it a "wushu school" in order to shroud its main intentions by supporting all physical exercises and activities. The popularity of Huo Yuanjia and what he stood for was obvious from the number of members who joined the club at the outset. Chin Woo became very popular, and in its first summer its ranks swelled dramatically.

Huo Yuanjia, still suffering bouts of jaundice and now tuberculosis, started seeing a Japanese doctor for medication and treatment. With his strength and speed improving, Huo Yuanjia's impressive reputation was soon known throughout the Japanese martial arts schools. Huo's doctor, a member of the Japanese Judo Association, based in Shanghai, invited him to a competition.

Huo Yuanjia's top student, Liu Zheng Sheng, competed with a Judo practitioner. The Japanese claimed their student won the match, and the Chinese claimed their student had won. What was generally agreed by both sides is that the disagreement ended up in a brawl and ten members of the Judo team were injured, some with broken fingers and hands, including the head instructor. News that the entire Judo team was defeated single-handedly by Huo Yuanjia spread quickly throughout Shanghai. Embarrassed by such news, the Japanese government ordered the Judo team, as well Huo's doctor to return immediately to Japan.

Death

Huo Yuanjia became seriously ill and passed away on August 9th, 1910 at 42 years of age (some say he died the 14th of September 1910). When and how he died is still debated and is shrouded in mystery. It is rumored that he had been poisoned by the Japanese as revenge for their defeat during the Judo competition but this is speculation. Some people believe that Huo Yuanjia may have died due to incorrect changes made to his medicine and incorrect treatment by his new Chinese doctor. Others speculate that the European colonists were threatened by the rise of Chinese nationalism and had him poisoned.

Some of Huo Yuanjia students including the historian Chen Gong Zhe (陳公哲 1890-1961) believed and wrote that he was poisoned by the Japanese doctor Akino who was introduced by the Japanese Judo instructor,(精武50年武術發展史, '50 Years History of Wu Shu Development at Jing Wu', published in 1957). He was admitted to Shanghai Red Cross Hospital and died 2 weeks after. His students Zhang Wen Da (張文達) and Chen Gong Zhe (陳公哲) took the medicine to the Shanghai Public Concession Hospital for test and results confirmed that the medicine contained arsenic.

In 1989 the tomb of Huo Yuanjia and his wife was relocated, and his pelvis bones were discovered to contain black spots, in which Tianjin Minicipality Police laboratory confirmed that it contained arsenic. However, arsenic was frequently used in medicines at the time so the cause of Huo Yuanjia's death remains a matter of conjecture.

Huo Yuanjia died only months after helping to found the Chin Woo Athletic Association. Because Huo Yuanjia was widely admired as a Chinese national hero, a series of other masters agreed to teach at the school including Eagle Claw master Chen Zizheng, Seven Star Praying Mantis master Luo Guangyu, Xingyi master Geng Xiaguang, and Wu Jianquan, the founder of Wu style Taijiquan. Due to Huo Yuanjia's popularity, the masters had decided that he should be the "face" of Chin Woo, resulting in his strong association with it. In June 1910, the Eastern Times newspaper announced the establishment of this association in the name of Huo Yuanjia. It was the first civil Kung Fu organization in China.

Expansion of Chin Woo

During the Japanese sphere of influence the 21 Demands sent to the Chinese government resulted in two treaties with Japan on May 25, 1915, which separated the corrupt Manchurian ruling class from exercising control over the Han. The students of Huo were spurred on. They bought a new building and renamed it the "Chin Woo Athletic Association". Re-organization, publications of books and magazines, and new styles of martial arts other than what Huo taught, were accepted under the mantle of the new association, and in 1918 the Chin Woo opened an association in Nathan Road in Hong Kong.

In July 1919, the Chin Woo Association sent five representatives throughout Southeast Asia to perform a missionary program to expand activities overseas. They were Chen Gong Zhe, Li Hui Sheng, Luo Xiao Ao, Chen Shi Zhao, and Ye Shu Tian. They made their first stop in Saigon, Vietnam—here they opened the first Chin Woo school outside of China there and later in Malaysia and Singapore. To prove their skills, they were often required to give demonstrations or accept challenges. By 1923, these five masters had opened schools all over Southeast Asia and visited nine different countries.

In 1966, Shanghai Chin Woo was forced to discontinue their martial-arts activities due to oppression from the Communist Party of China's Cultural Revolution program whose goal was to destroy old ideas, culture, customs in order to modernize China. Those restrictions were later lifted in 1976, and martial-arts activities were again alive in the Shanghai Chin Woo.
Currently, Chin Woo is one of the largest Wushu organizations in the world with branches in Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Poland, Canada, UK, U.S., Australia, and Switzerland. It is so well known that famous actors such as Bruce Lee and Jet Li have made movies based on Huo's life and achievements.

Huo Yuanjia was survived by three sons and two daughters, and now has seven grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren.