The 2024 Guangdong Southern School Martial Arts Exchange Conference and "Welcoming the National Games" Traditional Martial Arts Exhibition were held on the evening of December 21 at the Longtouhuan Village Cultural Square in Shaxi Town, Zhongshan City. More than 100 inheritors of traditional martial arts from Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Foshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Zhaoqing, Jiangmen, and local areas gathered together to make friends through martial arts.

01

Cultural history

Traditional Wushu has a deep mass base in Zhongshan City, and 19 traditional boxing and weapons projects have become representative projects of municipal intangible cultural heritage, among which Shaxi Town has three "Dragon's Head Ring 18 Palms", "Zhongshan Shaxi Yuejia Boxing" and "Saint Lion 18 Arhat Boxing".

Shaxi Town has achieved numerous results in promoting the "National Fitness Movement", and the general public has a high level of participation in activities such as table tennis, basketball, and swimming. The most well-known achievement is winning the national "Village BA" basketball championship twice. In fact, Shaxi Town is still the hometown of traditional martial arts. Among the 24 natural villages under its jurisdiction, 14 villages have martial arts schools that provide long-term public welfare education of traditional martial arts.

Longtouhuan Village is a famous overseas Chinese hometown under the jurisdiction of Shaxi Town, with a large scale and a history of over 700 years. The village committee has long strongly supported the inheritance and development of traditional martial arts and dragon and lion activities in the village. The Zhongshan municipal intangible cultural heritage project "Dragon Head Ring Eighteen Palms" is the core routine of Hongjiaquan, which has been passed down for over a hundred years in the village. In preparation for the 15th National Games to be held in Guangdong, Hong Kong, and Macau, with strong support from the Guangdong Southern School Martial Arts Research Association and the Shaxi Town Government, the village committee organized this traditional martial arts exchange event.

02

Southern Fist Style

At 7:30 pm that evening, the activity began with the lion dance. This event is divided into four parts, including the exhibition of the Five Schools and Thirteen Fists of Southern Martial Arts, the performance of traditional martial arts equipment, and the exchange of Shaolin martial arts and local traditional martial arts in the class, with nearly 60 items.

Yang Zhaonong performs the "18 Fists of Dragon Head Ring"

Huang Zhitang performs' Zhongshan Shaxi Yue Family Fist '

Bai Huaxing performs "Eighteen Arhat Fists of the Holy Lion"

Master Yang Zhaonong from Longtouhuan Village showcased the Thousand Character Eighteen Palms of the Hong Family Fist with his profound skills and majestic aura, followed by the Liu Family Dayun Heavenly Fist, Cai Family Simen Pile Fist, and Li Family Head Fist. Master Mo Yulin from Huogang Village, Lilin Town, Huizhou City, is a leading figure in the national intangible cultural heritage project Mo Family Fist. His display of the "Mo Family Ghost Feet" is unpredictable and fierce.

Li Xujin performs Cai Family Fist "Four Door Stakes"

The inheritors of national intangible cultural heritage projects such as Cai Lifo Fist and Wing Chun Fist are no less outstanding, and the inheritors of Buddhist Fist, Zhou Family Fist, Bai Mei Fist, Zhu Family Praying Mantis Fist, Yue Family Fist, and Huang Xiaoxia Fist spare no effort. The anti Japanese swordsmanship performed by Kong Xianghong was a killing skill taught to the 19th Route Army of the National Revolutionary Army by his Grand Tutor Huang Xiaoxia. In the continuous blade light, it seems to recreate the war-torn anti Japanese battlefield.

Kong Xianghong performs Huang Xiaoxia's anti Japanese broadsword technique

Liang Xiying performs the unique equipment "Twin Phoenix Wings" from the Luo Liang Guild Hall

Liang Xiying, the inheritor of the intangible cultural heritage project "Zhongshan Luoliang Martial Arts", performed the unique equipment "Double Phoenix Wings" of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Luoliang Association, which opened the eyes of the audience with its unique appearance and expression. The wonderful performances such as the horizontal stool, nine toothed rake, six finger rake gun, dragon boat oar, 䦁, grass gun, pick up, crutch, etc. also received warm applause from the live audience. The martial arts transformation of production and daily necessities is a concrete manifestation of the popularization of traditional martial arts.

Shaolin Iron Fist in Liang Jiahe Performance Class

Shaolin martial arts in the class is a martial arts system formed by the introduction of Southern Shaolin martial arts into Cantonese opera troupes, which was little known in the past. At the evening party, a group of inheritors who were introduced to Kantou Village, Liantang Town, Gaoyao District, Zhaoqing City by famous Cantonese opera performer Liang Erdi and another group of inheritors who were introduced to Datang Village, Houjie Town, Dongguan City by famous Cantonese opera performer Lan Gui performed on the same stage. Liang Jiahe from Kantou Village, despite being only seven years old, left a deep impression on the audience with his ability to perform Iron Fist with a serious and impressive style. The revival of Southern style martial arts in Cantonese opera on stage provides rich content for the excavation and organization work of this project.

Extraordinary significance

The Guangdong Southern School Martial Arts Research Association is committed to uniting outstanding inheritors of traditional martial arts to carry out the excavation, organization, research and inheritance of Southern School martial arts. In the afternoon of that day, the association held its third general meeting of members in the Party and Mass Conference Room of Longtouhuan Village, and elected a new leadership collective led by Zhou Zhigui and Zhang Nan.