Taiwan is, as it was said before, due to specific
geographical position and historical and political events, last safe place for
long lost and forgotten kung fu styles, especially from Fujian province.
One of those styles, long
lost and forgotten everywhere else and on the brink of extinction on Taiwan as
well is Buji quan.” Chicken cloth” style is classic example of early 19th
century Fujianese kung fu. It is clear that Buji quan has same roots and shares
many common traits with other, much better known Fujianese styles such as White
Crane, Five Ancestors style, Golden Eagle ect.
Style is characterized by high stances, very agile and versatile
footwork, short and powerful punches and kicks with power generation
characteristic for majority northern styles. Today there are around 20 short
forms while in the past forms were not fixed besides few core sets. Style uses
a whole specter of traditional weapons. For outsiders it is very hard to make
distinction between Golden Eagle and Buji quan.
History of the style is not
clear and it remains unknown who actually founded the style and when. First
mention of the style can be traced to 1831.
Buji quan was and still is
exclusively practiced in one of the seven sub villages of Xiulo village a
famous kung fu place in Taiwan near Taichung.
Originally practiced in
Lunbei village, one of the villages closest to the sea and always under attack
of the pirates Buji quan was developed be practical and effective. There are
several versions who and when developed this style. One of the theories is that
Buji was just a substyle of Golden Eagle boxing brought by A Shin Shi. Other
theories put the origin of the art as far as Guangdong province. In any case,
great influence of Hakka martial heritage is more than obvious.
Today Buji quan is practiced
only by handful of practitioners and there is a great danger that this rare and
unique style will be lost in the near future. That would be a great loss for
traditional martial arts heritage because this style didn’t change much form
the time it was invented and represent a great source of information on
Fujianese martial arts at the beginning of 19th century. Although
there are some effort to popularize this style and make it known to wider
public it still stays confined to small geographical area and due to isolation
and social and economical reasons style struggles to attract new generations of
practitioners.
Bujiquan Teacher Liao Xianyuan Demonstrates basic Three Steps form
