Stories
Stories about Wu style
In the 1954 there was a famous charity fight in Macau between White Crane stylist Chen Kefu and Wu Gongyi (Wu Jianquan's eldest son). The rules seemed to prohibit grabbing and throwing as well as striking certain targets. At the beginning of the opening round, Wu landed a punch on Chen's nose which started to bleed profusely. However, the fight was stopped at the end of the second round after an illegal kick to the knee. Nevertheless, this match increased Wu style's popularity in Southeast Asia.
From T.Y. Pang's "On Tai Chi Chuan"
Quan You served as a bodyguard for a Royal Prince of the Qing Dynasty. He learned Taijiquan from Yang Luchan when Yang was appointed Chief Instructor of the Shenjiying (Divine Skill Battalion of the Royal Security Guards). One day, when Yang Banhou (1837-1892) was teaching for his father, he injured Quan You's leg in a throw. When Yang Luchan learned of the injury, he taught Quan You what do so that he would not be thrown out in push hands anymore. Later, when Banhou was unable to throw Quan You again, he complained to his father that Taiji did not belong to the Yangs anymore. Luchan responded that as he had learned from Chen Changxing, he was going to teach whoever was worthy. Banhou remained unhappy. Perhaps in order to console Banhou, Luchan talked to Quan You and arranged to have him become Banhou's student.
From July 1999 issue of Wushu Kungfu magazine
William Wyney, an American wrestler traveled to China in the early years of the century. He went from martial artist to martial artist, challenging them to test his skill, and beating them all. Then he challenged the taiji practitioners in Shanghai. This was before taiji had split into the now traditional five distinct styles, and the taiji community chose Wu Jianquan to respond to the challenge. Wu won, and Wyney became his student.
From July 1999 issue of Wushu Kungfu magazine
In the early part of the century, Ma Yueliang, as a young man, studied with Song Manlun. Later he met Wu Jianquan and challenged him. He lost and went back to his teacher to study more. He challenged Wu Jianquan again and again lost. After a third challenge and loss, he became Wu Jianquan's disciple at the age of thirty. Later he married Wu Yinghua (1907-1996), Wu Jianquan's daughter.
From "太極秘譜詮真" by 顏紫元
After 1945, there were a lot of American soldiers in Shanghai. One day, Ma Yueliang was passing through a narrow alleyway when he saw a large, tall American soldier who had one hand propped against the wall, forcing people to lower their heads and walk under his arm. At the time, many people simply lowered their head and bore the disgrace. However, Ma Yueliang didn't like this uncivilized behavior, so he told the soldier, in english, to lower his arm (Ma had learned some english at the medical school he went to). The soldier punched at him, but Ma stepped back and with a big "rollback" (lu, 捋) sent the soldier to the ground. The American got up screaming and threw a viscious kick at Ma. However, Ma saw it coming and before the leg had fully extended, Ma had already stepped in. Using "Jade Girl Works the Shuttles", he knocked the soldier down again. Ma said, "Come on, try again!", but the soldier, after getting up and slapping the mud off his butt, only gave Ma a big thumbs up and walked away, not daring to initiate more problems.
