Popular since the 1500s, meihuazhuang is an ancient martial art which is still practiced by hundreds of thousands of practitioners in rural areas of Shandong, Hebei, Henan, and Jiangsu provinces in north China. In past centuries, teachers of meihuazhuang travelled among the countless villages scattered across the vast north China plain. These knights-errant traversed many kilometres from village to village; their martial prowess, healing abilities, and knowledge were widely sought out by students and non-students alike. They taught their art not only as a means of self-protection, but more importantly, as a holistic body-mind training regime for improving people’s health and spiritual development through physical training, meditation, and the study of traditional philosophy.

Meihuazhuang Today

Today a modern incarnation of the roving teachers of past dynasties can be found in the meihuazhuang master Yan Zijie, scheduled to visit Regina and Vancouver in July and August 2002. After studying meihuazhuang in Beijing in the late 1950s, social upheaval took Yan to the highlands of Tibet where he remained for the next 18 years. As a weather forecaster for climbing expeditions on Mount Everest he encountered many hardships and adventures during which his superlative martial skills protected him from danger, and his qigong abilities maintained his health. After returning to his hometown of Jinan in the early 1980s, he began teaching meihuazhuang to university students who found that the art’s physical and meditative training methods led to greatly improved health, flexibility, physical strength, and vastly improved concentration and academic ability. His students currently practice and teach meihuazhuang throughout China. Since the 1990s master Yan has travelled to many European countries and Canada teaching the martial and meditative/energy-work disciplines of meihuazhuang.

Like the masters before him, professor Yan teaches the art according to traditional values. Meihuazhuang was never considered as a sporting activity but has always been an integrated technique for improving physical health and attaining clarity of thought — a method easily integrated with day-to-day living.

Meihuazhuang’s popularity over so many centuries can be attributed to the style’s teachings and structure. The art is said to impart four benefits to its practitioners — the development of martial skills, the maintenance of health, the ability to heal others, and development of the intellect. Its training methods focus on liberating the body and mind from fixed patterns of movement and thinking. The basic philosophical tenet of the art is to "return to the original condition": a state where the body and mind are clear of obstructions, open, and released. This ideal state is accomplished through meihuazhuang’s "Martial Aspect" and "Arts Aspect."

The Martial Aspect concentrates on diverse physical training regimes leading to skill in armed and unarmed combat. However, far more important to society are the pronounced health benefits offered by the Martial Aspect methods. The training methods improve body mechanics and energy flow leading to improved vitality and concentration, relief from debilitating illnesses, and spiritual improvement, as well as the aforementioned self-defence abilities. The Arts Aspect builds on the solid physical and mental foundation developed by prior martial training. It concentrates on meditation practices and qigong (energy work) to liberate the mind from extraneous scattered thoughts. As well, it embodies healing arts, philosophy, numerology, and feng shui (geomancy).

Basics: The Framework

Meihuazhuang’s basic martial training method is a physical training routine known as the jiazi or "framework." The structure of the jiazi is quite peculiar in that it is not composed of overtly identifiable fighting movements but rather of five static postures, dynamic movement, and breathing for regulating the body and mind. The routine’s composition is fixed in the beginning stages but is open to free-ranging variations and improvisation known as bianhua for more advanced practitioners. The jiazi may be practiced alone, in pairs, threes or more, in a large circular formation. This holistic routine nurtures and strengthens energy (qi), calms the mind, and induces correct body alignments while releasing muscular stress. When practiced for developing martial skills, the jiazi is characterized by low stances, large, fluid, powerful motions, light and rapid footwork, striking, tripping, and throwing. When practiced as a health exercise, jiazi training is much gentler, practiced in high stances, and focuses on relaxation and energy cultivation. Jiazi training is the critical foundation for continued study in qigong, healing and martial/weaponry regimes. Because it is so adaptable jiazi training is suitable for people of all ages and abilities.

The Five Postures of Meihuazhuang are an important training method for regulating the mind and body.

Chengquan and Classical Weaponry

Chengquan, a two-person routine, is learned after jiazi and teaches skills in grabbing, locking, tripping, throwing, and striking. As with the jiazi, chengquan routines are at first choreographed but later can be changed freely according to the practitioner’s desires and situation. Chengquan training methods are also intimately concerned with the development of qi (energy) and smooth delivery of energy through the body in combat situations. As such, it is an excellent method for strengthening the body for martial applications and for nurturing the health and spirit.

Meihuazhuang martial skills include training in a diverse range of classical Chinese weaponry including sword, spear, halberd, and several varieties of peculiar wooden implements originally used as cavalry defence weapons. Training in weaponry is an advanced method through which to improve focus and vitality, body mechanics, and energy flow.

Summer 2002 Seminars

Meihuazhuang was introduced to Canada in 1993 and is taught in Regina and Vancouver. Professor Yan Zijie’s series of seminars in Regina in 1995 represented the first time a master of meihuazhuang visited North America. In summer 2002, the Canadian Meihuazhuang Association and master Yan will once again present a series of seminars in Regina (July) and Vancouver (August) on martial arts, meditation, qigong, and healing methods. These rare seminars will introduce the basic practice methods of both the Martial Aspect– training exercises to release and strengthen the body and energy–and the Arts Aspect– meditation methods which clear the mind and regulate and cultivate qi energy.

For more information call the Canadian Meihuazhuang Association in Regina at (306) 522-9793, e-mail: MHZCanada@myrealbox.com, or visit: www.meihuazhuang.ca.