LIUHE TANGLANGQUAN

LIUHE TANGLANGQUAN

During the second halves the nineteenth century the martial arts were mainly popular among the members of rich clan of China.Ding Zicheng was part of one of these clans.The name of the clan of Ding Zicheng was Er Pu and him it was the third child of the family.

Its clan was known well and very respected in the county of Huang of the Shandong province.His family lived on the road north in the small city called Huang Xian (Long Kou Shi).When Ding Zicheng was a child, it received a good classical education in the best Confucian tradition to a private school.The young Ding didn't like the reading, therefore he didn't continue its literary education and it started to learn the martial arts.

The first style that learned was the style of family called "Boxing of the Three Tongs" (Tong Quan). The "Three Tongs" were very famous martial artists in that time: the teacher Ding Jie Tong of the Huang county, a relative of Ding Zicheng, the teacher Song Yongtong of Lai Yang and the teacher Chuan Ertong of the county of Zhao Yuan.

These three teachers created a new kungfu style, that they called with their last name.After having learned the "Three Tongs" style in completely way, Ding Zicheng learned the Luohan Quan "The Arhat Boxing".Then Ding Zicheng learned the hard qi gong Palm of the Iron Sand (Tie Sha Zhang Ying Gong). Once, the father of Ding Zicheng, Ding Yuelai invited the famous teacher of the 6 Harmonies Praying Mantis Lin Shichun of the county of Zhao Yuan.

Ding Zicheng was surprised from teacher Lin Shichun's great ability and together with his youngest brother Ding Huanqing, it became disciple of Lin Shichun.Primarily, because Ding Zicheng already had the knowledge of different styles of kungfu he became the good disciple of Lin Shichun.Soon Ding Zicheng reached the tallest level of the style and started to openly teach the style of the 6 Harmonies Praying Mantis.It's a fact known that the most greater part of the traditional martial artists they criticized and they opposed the other schools of Kungfu, considering his own style superior and more sophisticated.

The teacher Ding went against this way of doing and never criticized neither he tried to defame the other schools.He always tried to absorb the quintessence of the different styles and their best techniques, and it always showed depth respect for the other teachers.It's well-known that when one of his smaller brothers Ding Ershou studied Chinese traditional medicine to Peking, it took advantage for studying the Taijiquan and it became with the sword of the Taiji particularly good.Once, Ding Ershou returned home to make visit to his relatives, and it performed for his greater brother the sword of Taiji.

All it took is only looking at those techniques of sword to Ding Zicheng to know of it and to analyze all the best and essential parts of it.Another time there was a man named Lu Keyou, friend of another smaller brother of Ding Zicheng, that go to him for visit.At first they spoke of the theory and of the practice of the Chinese martial arts, then Lu exhibited him performing some movements of the Xingyiquan and the sword of the Xingyi.

Ding Zicheng, that he had never seen before then the Xingyiquan, he praised a lot Lu Keyou of he explained the meaning of that movements and as to apply them.Lu Keyou was deeply impressed by the ability of the teacher Ding to know how to apply the techniques of a style having seen once her alone and without ever having indeed practiced that style.As he has been mentioned above, the teacher Ding had an unbelievable dexterity in the technique of Qi Gong called Iron Sand Palm.For this he had also called “Ding steel arms“.

Many famous teachers went to do visits him and they saw him break rocks with his fist, thatit resembled to a steel ball.Each of teacher Ding's shops, that were displaced in the whole Shandong they had the necessity to have an own team of watches.The teacher Ding personally questioned each some aspirants to the job of watch for the shops.It found someone really good, it assumed him and it tried to infuse him how much more knowledge of the martial arts was possible.Then the teacher Ding took to exchange his knowledges in the martial arts with other teachers that he assumed for the training of the watches of the shops.Ding Zicheng was a very rich man and was also known as “Ding Bai Wan“ or Ding “the millionaire“.

Nevertheless he was very kind and generous.Once undertaken Ding Zicheng a trip for the city of Yantai with the famous teacher of 6 Harmonies Mantis Wan Ji Chen that it was his brother of training.Because of the great distance they was forced to travel with some donkeys, a custom in that days.When they reached the nearest station of restocking for animals, they found an only donkey to be able to rent, so they had to continue with an animal only.Fifty-fifty of the trip, while the teacher Ding Zicheng walked and the teacher Wan rode, the leg of the poor animal broke and they could not go anymore over.The master of the donkey, a poor man, had only this animal to be able to sustain his family of 8 people, so that he threw him to earth crying.Immediately the teacher Ding, definite to continue without the donkey, 15 silver yuan gave him that would have been enough for buying another donkey.

The poor man it went away happy.In 1926 the teacher Ding, incited by the people of his city, it founded “The organization for the search of the martial arts of the district of Hung“ (Tu Huang Xian Guo Shu Yan Jiu).The organization was found in the north-oriental part of the city, in the park that belonged to the family Ding.The students and disciples which the teacher Ding taught, were friends, relatives, merchants' children, official, etc.One of teacher Ding's disciples, Zhang Xiyi (Xiang San) it describes the methods of teaching as it follows: “Before teaching a form of 6 Harmonies Praying Mantis, the teacher Ding explained singly the techniques extracted by the form in matter.At first he explained as to use these techniques and as to combine it with others.

Then it let his students practised that movements until they were not perfect and only the teacher taught then the whole form.Ding Zicheng treated his students and students as his own children.Another disciple of Ding Zicheng, Liu Yunchao, in a private conversation with his student Guo Xia Po (James Guo), it described the program of training of every day as it follows: “The most greater part of the young students they met him between the 8 and the 9 to begin their practice.The typical daily exercises were: heating with stretching of base, kicks and fists.To this it followed the to repeat some forms.

The practice of the form of the 6 Harmonies Mantis was considered a part of the same phase of heating.After this, every student practised different techniques of fighting and exercises.In the afternoon, they would have fought using specific techniques with the purpose to verify its effectiveness.Then they passed to exercises of conditioning of the body and the arms as the palm of steel sand, the steel forearms, sand's sacks, etc.

The teacher thick Ding checked the techniques of every student in the evening.He corrected and he explained the individual errors, or it taught a new part of a form“.In the 1928 Ding Zicheng, under the guide of the education department of the institute for the health of the Huang district, it widened his organization of search of the martial arts founding the association for the search of the martial arts of the Huang district.

It was situated in two rooms around the principal building of the temple of Confucio.Besides their regular courses, the members of the association made free lessons of Kungfu in the schools of the district as part of a program of beneficence.The teacher Ding Zicheng invited many famous teachers of Kungfu to teach in the association.Among the most famous there were the teacher of Bajiquan Them Shuwen “magic lance“ of the famous center of martial arts of Cang Zhou, the teacher of Baguazhang Gong Baotian of the Yantai city and the vice-president of the central school of China martial arts, the teacher Zhang Xianwu.During the first years of the Republic, after the revolution Xin Hai there was an earthquake devastation in the Huang district.Sand was thrown for air, the rocks collapsed, and the sound was that of a powerful thunder.The 90% of the buildings of the district were destroyed, there were innumerable victims during the catastrophe.

The house where the teacher Ding Zicheng lived he was completely destroyed and all those people who were to the inside were crushed by a great deal of bricks, tiles and wood.Nobody survived.The rescue party knew that the same teacher Ding had to be himself under the rubbles.They immediately began to dig and, incredibly, they still found him alive while, huddled up under the ruins of the principal room, it held with both the hands an immense horizontal beam of the house.

The teacher Ding, thanks above all to his dowries of strength and the abilities derived him by the Qi Gong, it survived to the catastrophe.Nevertheless, during the earthquake it suffered the breakup of the eardrums that caused him the complete deafness.

Subsequently the teacher Ding stopped personally teaching to the courses.All the courses were direct from its best disciple, the teacher Zhao Qianyi, while Ding stayed sat to observe and to comment and to periodically drive the students.Because of the hearing loss, the teacher developed an extraordinary perception.If someone was to three feet from him, out of his view, and it made a sudden movement, the teacher immediately noticed him and if necessary he performed a technique of defense.His younger brother remembered that if someone came into contact with his arms, he also came immediately unbalanced from teacher Ding's lightest movement.One of his best disciples, the teacher Chen Yuntao remembered that once he questioned the teacher Ding on the so-called “Cun Jing“ (one of the strengths), and he had asked him in answer to kick to the abdomen of thesame teacher.

Initially the teacher Chen refused to do him for respect toward his teacher, but after the insistences of Ding, he struck with all the strength that had, he immediately felt a great strength launch back it to the on his back.The feeling was as to kick a great and compact ball.This was the ability to defend himself from frontal direct kicks without the use of arms or legs, but thanks only to the “Cun Jing“ of the body. What he is frequently used in the style of the Praying Mantis.The teacher Ding Zicheng, in the old age it resembled to a monk that cultivated the Street of the Buddha, with great ears (what in China is the symbol of the wisdom; all the images of the saints or Buddha have great ears), deaf and from the kind eyes.

The teacher Ding Zicheng had always taught four moral principles to his disciples:1 - Don't create problems2 - Don't avoid the problems (in the sense to revolve them)3 - Don't defraud the people and not to take I play4 - Don't surrender himself to the othersHowever the teacher himself was always ready to help the people with their problems.He never irritated, neither it seemed ever frustrated and it never lifted the voice.He has devoted his whole life to the search of the martial arts and the development of the 6 Harmonies Praying Mantis style.Some voices said that before its death, the teacher Ding Zicheng has become a hermit withdrawing himself on a mountain where he would have spent the rest of his great and not common life.

By www.long zhong .net