Wu Yihui

For the Singaporean actress, see Michelle Goh.

吳翼翬 Wu Yihui
File:Wu Yi Hui.jpg Wu Yihui / Ng Yik Fai
Born	November 30, 1887 Tieling City, Liaoning, China
Died	March 29, 1958 Shanghai, China
Style	Neijia - Internal Martial Arts Hua Yue Xi Yi Men 華嶽希夷門 (Liuhebafa Chuan 六合八法拳)
Teacher(s)	Yan Guo Xing Chen Guang Di Chen He Lu

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Wu.

Wu Yihui 吳翼翬 (Cantonese Ng Yik Fai) (1887 - 1958) was a Chinese martial artist and scholar. He was the first person to open teachings and spread the style of liuhebafa in public, and was a prominent fighter and instructor who influenced many of the masters of his generation.

Biography

File:Wu YiHui.jpg

Wu Yihui shows his art.

Wu Yihui was originally from Tieling in northeast China, but later lived in Beijing. He was from a scholarly and official family, and a man of good nature who had strong martial art talents. He was also well versed in calligraphy and painting, enjoying social life and travel.

Wu Yihui was born on November 30, 1887. In 1896, began private studies in Henan’s Kaifeng. In 1900, began learning Liuhebafa. The following year, he entered school in Beijing to continue his studies. That year, he was formally apprenticed to Liuhebafa masters Yan Guo Xing and Chen Guang Di. In 1903, he entered the Beiyang Military School to prepare the first phase. He graduated from Baoding Military Academy in 1907 and was dispatched to the Beiyang Army, where he was appointed to staff officer of the first division. In 1915, he worked in the division of inventory of government industry in Beijing. He became a director of administration and taught literature in a middle school in Kai Feng in 1921. He worked as a teacher and an officer at South Senior High School in Shanghai in 1928, and the following year he was appointed to the Shanghai Xuhui College teaching literature and martial arts.

In 1932, he became the martial arts instructor at the Shanghai Youth Association teaching Liuhebafa. In 1935, he attended the first martial arts examination. He was appointed to head of education of the Central Martial Arts Academy by General Zhang Zhi Jiang in 1936, and in the same year attended the second martial arts examination. The next year, when the Japanese war began, he moved with the Central Martial Arts Academy first to Vietnam’s Burma, later settling in Yunnan's Kunming.

In 1944, he was appointed commissioner of the natural resources committee, as well as the chief of the factory's military security brigade. He taught Liuhebafa in Shanghai in 1945. In 1947, he was appointed head of the natural resources committee of the Tianjin Iron and Steel Factory, as well as the machine factory manager. He became an associate instructor at the National Martial Arts Instructor Training Institute in 1949. He also became the chairman of the martial arts assembly. In 1951, he taught Liuhebafa to the workers' union club of the Shanghai Electricity Company. In 1957, he was appointed by Mayor Chen Yi to the Shanghai Literature and History Institute as the first librarian.

Wu Yihui died on March 29, 1958 at his home in Shanghai.

• Note: As a Chinese custom, some add 3 years onto the age of the departed to show longevity. It is for this reason that some records incorrectly show that Wu died in 1961, even though his family confirmed that it was indeed 1958.

Wang Xiang Zhai, the creator of Yiquan, made a public statement regarding Wu Yihui in 1928 saying, "I have traveled across the country in research, engaging over a thousand people in martial combat, there have been only 2.5 people I could not defeat, namely Hunan's Xie Tie Fu, Fujian's Fang Yi Zhuang and Shanghai's Wu Yihui."

Wang Xiang Zhai and Wu Yihui were known to be close friends. When Wu started teaching Liuhebafa Wang instructed 4 of his students to study under Wu. They were: Han Xing Qiao, Zhang Chang Xin, Zhao Dao Xin, and Gao Zhen Dong. These 4 students later became known as the "4 Diamond Warriors" of Yichuan.

See also

• Chan Yik Yan
• Liuhebafa
• Wang Xiangzhai

References

• History of Chinese Martial Arts (1966), Yellow Mountain Press, People's Republic of China
• Huayue Chinese Xinyi Liuhebafa Quanshu Research Institute in Shanghai

External links

• Definitive biography of Wu Yi Hui
• History of Liu He Ba Fa, including Wu Yihui
• another source