GUO SHILEI 郭石磊
Chief Instructor
Guo Shilei is our chief instructor. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical and electrical engineering but is now a full-time martial arts teacher.
Below is the transcribed and translated interview of a Chinese newspaper feature on Guo. It is courtesy of the excellent blog "Masters of the IMA", which provides much martial arts material from the Chinese that might otherwise be unavailable to the English-speaking world. The feature is from January 2006, and therefore some of the information contained therein (particularly that pertaining to his school and students) is now out-of-date.
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Guo Shilei is a young martial arts teacher in the city of Dongguan, in Guangdong (Canton) province. He teaches the 3 big CIMA: taiji, bagua and xingyi, but I decided to include him in this blog because his bagua comes from one of Dong Haichuan’s favourite students, Ma Weiqi (nicknamed ‘coal Ma’). His lineage comes down to him through: Ma Weiqi – Yang Rulin – Hu Laiyi – Wang Jiaofu – Shi Chongying – Guo Shilei. The following extract was translated from an article in the Guangzhou Ribao (Guangzhou Daily).
AN INTERVIEW WITH GUO SHILEI
For many people, the kind of gongfu that can throw people 3 or 4 metres away sounds like the stuff of wuxia novels. But our reporter witnessed such gongfu with his own eyes yesterday in People’s Park in Dongguan, in Guangdong province, in the form of Guo Shilei, a young master of Yang style taiji and Ma style bagua.
An Unassuming Exterior Hides Extraordinary Skills
Yesterday at around 9am our reporter managed to find Mr Guo in People’s Park. On first impressions, one would never guess that Guo is in fact an accomplished martial arts adept: apart from his short beard and keen gaze, there is nothing to distinguish him from any other thin, short young man.
In order to get a glimpse of Guo’s skills, our reporter asked his disciples to attack him, only to see them repelled backwards more than 3 meters by a simple twist and shove from a motionless Guo Shilei.
Seeing that our reporter was astonished by this display, Guo had our reporter experience his nei li (internal power) for himself. He told our reporter that he would only use a tenth of his full strength, and that this could not do any lasting damage. Even though our reporter took up a ready stance, a light pat on the shoulder from Guo was enough to shake his entire body, it took him several mintutes to recover.
In order to test Guo’s gongfu, our reporter asked a well-built onlooker to punch Guo in the stomach. The onlooker rushed up to Guo from a distance of 3 metres and punched Guo in the belly, only to be knocked down to the floor, complaining that his fist hurt; only after 10 more tries (with exactly the same results) did the onlooker give up.
Shaolin Iron Arm to Neijiaquan
“My family is from Pingding Shan in Henan province, but later moved to Zhengzhou (the provincial capital). I was really weak when I was little, so I started to learn external martial arts like Shaolin boxing. When I was around 10 or so, I used to love practicing iron arm, I would knock my arms against trees whenever I could. ” Upon inspection by our reporter, Guo’s forearm was indeed extremely hard.
” When I was 15 I met my teacher Shi Chongying and, thinking that my iron arm was already pretty awesome, I asked him to hit my arm. To my surprise, a light touch from him was enough to numb my arm for an entire afternoon. After that experience, I was determined to study neijiaquan (meaning xingyi, bagua and taiji) with Shi.
Guo Shilei’s idol, his teacher Shi Chongying
Guo Shilei's idol is his teacher, Shi Chongying, a 66-year old retired martial arts professor from Zhengzhou University.
“I can’t mention my teacher without talking about my shiye (grand-teacher) Wang Jiaofu. Wang was from Shandong and had originally studied praying mantis before he met Hu Laiyi. He studied from Hu for 34 years, right up until his passing. Wang was a strict, strange man, who in teaching his students would never say something more than 3 times. Even so, he produced a fair number of excellent martial artists.”
“My teacher took his training really seriously, a lot of other people thought he was a weirdo. For example, one time he was taking the train with his colleagues, instead of playing cards with the others he locked himself in the toilet to practice his gongfu! Also, my teacher is a bit of a hermit, he very rarely makes public appearances or enters martial arts tournaments, so the only people who know about him are other martial arts masters.”
The Search for High-Level Masters
After he graduated from college, Guo worked as a biology teacher at a middle school. Almost no-one knew that he was a martial arts expert, nor did he mention it to anyone. It was in this period of his life that he used his holidays to look for other high-level martial artists all over China. In his search, he visited Sichuan, Yunnan, Hebei, Shenzhen amongst others.
The real masters are not the ones producing the DVDs, they’re hidden amongst ordinary people. In a farming village, that old man using a walking stick to walk could very well be a martial arts master who could kill a man with one blow.In my search, I met 5 or 6 real high-level masters, but the problem is they were all getting on in years by the time I met them. On one occasion when I was in Shenzhen’s Lychee Park (Lizhi Gongyuan) I met a 76-year old gentleman surnamed Fei who had practiced taiji for over 50 years. That day, he was pushing hands with some other people in the park, when someone urged me to have a push with him. The moment he made contact with me, he said “You’ve been practicing for at least 20 years”. This kind of ability (to discern how long someone has been practicing) is something that only comes with mastery.”
“That said, however, I still think that the highest-level master I’ve ever met is my own teacher. Fighting him is like fighting a shadow, I can never land a blow on him, yet his every move is targeting a vital point.”
Coming to Dongguan for his Girlfriend
“So why did you come to Dongguan then?” said our reporter, curiously. “I came to be with my girlfriend, who works in the import/export trade, at a company at Hongmei [a district of Dongguan]. When I first got here, I worked in a factory, but I discovered that I had no time to practice my martial arts that way. So instead, I opened a Tae Kwon Do studio in Hongmei, I already have 30 students.”
“Why don’t you teach taiji?” “At the very beginning I performed a bajiquan [8-extremes boxing] routine, only to have a lot of the audience say, “Oh, so this is what Tae Kwon Do looks like!”, which both annoyed and saddened me. In order to make ends meet, I had no choice but to choose this fashionable name. But as long as the students are willing to study taiji, I’m willing to teach.”
Accepting 3 Disciples in People’s Park
“I’ve been practicing in People’s Park for about a month now, I’ve already accepted 3 disciples.” Guo told our reporter frustratedly: “A lot of the onlookers in the park think that what I do with my students is faked. Actually, the taiji that you see in most DVDs, parks, etc is, at most, just ‘taiji cao’ (calisthenics), not real kungfu.” Guo is extremely worried about the future of traditional kungfu: “Nowadays, flashy routines are easy to teach and marketable, whereas real kungfu is difficult to teach and no-one wants to learn it. Martial arts in this country have become mere performance, there are fewer and fewer teachers with real skill.
A lot of people who see me push my students 3 or 4 metres away can’t believe it. In reality, it’s not that mysterious, it’s just the borrowing skill (jie li) of internal martial arts. For example, a Spanish bullfighter would never try and go head-to-head with the bull, but rather evades the bull’s charge and then delivers the crucial blow. When I patted your shoulder just now, the fajin had started in my legs much earlier, by the time it got to my hands it had become spiral power. The penetrative nature of the fajin is what caused you to feel pain. Actually, real kungfu is about body mechanics, it has a scientific basis in biology, physics and mechanics. As long as your method is right and you practice hard enough, you will succeed. The problem is a lot of people nowadays don’t check whether their method is correct, they think that they can ‘get it’ just by watching DVDs. In actuality, there’s no subsitute for real hands-on teaching from a master.”
The ‘Art’ in Martial Arts
“Aren’t you afraid that hoodlums will use the skills they learn here to hurt people?” asked one of the onlookers. Guo smiled and said “Martial artists must also learn martial ethics (wude). Fortunately, real kungfu is not something you can learn in a couple of months, so I can normally get a handle on someone’s character during that time. If I sense that they’re bad people, I stop teaching them. My greatest wish is to spread and promote real Chinese kungfu.
Actually, martial arts are deep, profound arts, they have a lot in common with painting, calligraphy and chinese medicine. I hope I can follow in my teacher’s footsteps, pass on real kungfu down to the next generation and make people pay more attention to martial arts.”
SHI CHONGYING 石崇英
Grandmaster
Shi Chongying, Guo Shilei's teacher, is 6th generation successor of Ma Weiqi Bagua and Cheng style Bagua, and 7th generation inheritor of Yang style Taiji. He is currently in his seventies but still incredibly powerful, quick, and skilled. Guo Shifu has often told us how much more accomplished Shi Shiye is than he is, and that fighting or pushing hands with Shi Shiye remains tasks of guaranteed defeat for him.
Here is an article written by Guo Shifu of Shi Shiye a number of years ago. We hope our English translation is sufficiently faithful to the original. (Many thanks to gongfucat with aid on a couple of tricky phrases.)
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技击泰斗石崇英
Martial magnate: Shi Chongying
凡有幸目睹石崇英老师推手﹑散手的人，无不称之为奇：不招不架，搭手间人已飘然而去。如此迥然之功夫，在今日已是罕见，殊不知这便是真正的传统功夫。
Anyone and everyone lucky enough to witness Master Shi Chongying in tuishou (push hands) or sanshou (free sparring) invariably remarks in wonder, ”How does he. without using any discernible stance or technique, with no more than a simple gesture, send people flying so very far from him?”
This amazing level of skill, so rarely seen today, is the fruit of traditional martial training.
石老师是郑州大学的武术教授，穷毕生精力研练武术，曾投师学艺22年，是马派八卦掌第六代传人，杨式太极拳第六代传人，并在80年代得程派八卦掌第五代传人孙成章先生﹑及第四传人王俊岭先生十年技击功夫的传授。——孙成章先生曾在1935年国术比赛中，因刀﹑枪﹑剑﹑拳无对手，而获“武士”称号。加之石老师武术天赋极高，又练功刻苦，故功夫非凡，近年来，石老师之功夫受到越来越多的海内外武人的重视，1996美国佛罗里达州的《武功》杂志专门派记者前来采访，并将其八卦掌动作照片刊登在该杂志的封面上。河南电视台、郑州电视台、《少林与太极》杂志《统战理论与实践》杂志、《郑州晚报》、《东方家庭报》、《武之魂》等，均对其八卦掌功夫进行了大篇幅的报道，并赞其功夫了得。
Master Shi, Zhengzhou University’s professor of martial arts, has in the last 22 years dedicated his life to the martial arts. He is Ma (Weiqi) style Baguazhang’s 6th generation successor and 6th generation inheritor of Yang style Taijiquan.
He began his martial journey in the 80s, learning Cheng style Baguazhang under both 5th generation master Sun Chengzhang and 4th generation master Wang Junling. In 1935, Master Sun Chengzhang took part in the national martial championships and stood undefeated in the sabre, spear, sword, and unarmed competitions. For this achievement, he was titled “Great Warrior”.
Because he had such an eminent teacher, and because he was unusually talented in martial arts and hardworking besides, Master Shi Chongying quickly became extremely proficient in Baguazhang. In recent years, increasing numbers of martial artists both within China and without have taken notice of Master Shi’s ability. In 1996, a reporter for Gongfu Magazine* flew down from Florida, USA to interview Master Shi for a cover story. He has also been featured and celebrated by the Henan TV Station, Zhengzhou TV Station, Shaolin and Taiji Magazine, Combat Theory and Practice Magazine, Zhengzhou Evening Paper, Eastern Household Paper, Martial Spirit, and other print and broadcasting bodies.
* Bret Bumgarner believes the English name for this magazine is "WuGong Journal". Thanks for the information, Bret!
石老师1940年出生于一个中医世家，从小活泼好动，少年时期即从事体育运动事业，18岁就成为河南省第一批职业运动员，1958年曾获郑州市和河南省体操全能冠军。62年又去河南大学就读体育专业，大学本科毕业后分配到河南南阳工作。
Master Shi was born in 1940 to a family of Chinese physicians. He was an active child and began exercising from a young age. At 18, he was inducted into Henan province’s first batch of professional athletes. In 1958, he was named Zhengzhou city and Henan province’s overall gymnastics champion. In 1962, he enrolled in Henan University with a major in gymnastics. After graduation, he was assigned to work in Nanyang, Henan.
在南阳工作之余石老师一直坚持练武，他曾遍寻高手先后学过多种功夫。70年代初，沈阳武术家王教福先生省亲来到南阳，王老是螳螂拳故乡山东黄县人，幼秉家教，专习螳螂拳，13岁即只身闯关东。在沈阳从学于马派八卦掌第四代传人胡莱义先生，投师学艺31年，专心学习太极拳，八卦掌和形意拳。因其功高莫测，被称为罕见的武术奇才。石老师逐拜王老为师。从此与武术结下不解之缘。
While working in Nanyang, Master Shi continued his martial practice, learning many different styles of martial arts under a multitude of experts. Wang Jiaofu of Shenyang had moved to Nanyang in the 70s. Old Master Wang originally came from the birthplace of Mantis Kungfu, Shandong province of Huang county, and therefore began practising Mantis Kungfu at a very young age. At the age of 13, he had ventured alone into Guandong. While in Shenyang, Master Wang had been accepted as a student by Ma (Weiqi) style Bagua 4th generation successor Hu Laiyi. For the next 31 years, he had seriously practised Taijiquan, Baguazhang, and Xingyiquan. Because of his inimitable ability, he was known as a rare martial genius. Master Shi became Master Wang’s disciple and from then on martial arts were woven inextricably into his life.
石老师拜师时正值十年浩劫，生活十分艰苦，经常是吃不饱饭，他有时回忆起来常说：“那时真苦，不是假苦，一天三顿馍﹑咸菜﹑汤，馍﹑咸菜﹑汤---。”但就是这样他仍刻苦练功，每天都在3个小时左右。据说一次石老师出差，在火车上无事可做，于是加班加点把卫生间打扫打扫练基本功。
At the time he was initiated into Master Wang’s school, Master Shi was so poor that he often starved. When reminiscing about that period in his life, he would often say, “Times were really hard then. All I had to eat was common vegetables, soup, and bread.”
Nevertheless, he continued training very hard for around 3 hours daily. Once, when Master Shi was sent on business outside the city, he spent the entire train journey practising foundation building exercises.
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石老师不但是个杰出的武术家，还是一位优秀的教育家，他不但教拳，而且育人。他讲拳简单明了，又善使比喻又因他博学多才，所以生动形象。郑大许多研究生爱听他讲话。有时又如慈祥的长者一样，用特殊的方式教学生做人。他又是一位学者，时常看着王教福老先生的遗像说：“我还向您老学着呢！”
Master Shi is not only an illustrious martial artist, but also an excellent teacher. Not only does he teach the fighting arts, he develops people. When teaching boxing, his instruction is simple and easily apprehended because he is deft with analogies and knowledgeable in many disciplines. His words come alive, making him a favourite of students. He is also a kindly elder who molds the character of his students with special methods. And yet he is himself still a student as well, and he often tells the picture of the late Master Wang that he will keep on learning from him.
MA WEIQI 馬維棋
Founder
Ma Weiqi was the second student of Baguazhang founder, Dong Haichuan. It is recorded that he was one of Dong's favourite and best students; in fact, he was acclaimed in his time to be better than even Cheng Tinghua and Yin Fu in combat. A large part of Baguazhang's present lofty reputation can be attributed to his duelling successes.
However, he was also infamous for his penchant for duelling, and he died while only in his 30s by an assassin's hand. It is said that, while touring Henan, Shandong, and nearby areas, he defeated a group of martial artists. Some unknown person then dosed him with a slow-acting poison. He only succumbed to the poison after returning to Beijing. Therefore, few of his disciples were qualified to carry on his style of Bagua after his passing, and Ma Weiqi Bagua is a rare art today despite its founder's fearsome reputation.
In truth, Ma Weiqi was not anywhere near as needlessly violent as he is often characterised to be today. It was normal in those days to engage in duels, and Yang Banhou, Cheng Tinghua, and a younger Dong Haichuan were all experienced duellists who had caused their shares of death. Back in those days, duels were to the death, and being merciful was very dangerous. Furthermore, Ma Weiqi was a pillar of Baguazhang, and losing was to him an unacceptable outcome.
Most of the stories circulating today about Ma Weiqi are just that - stories. Most of them have roots in works of fiction from the 1920s and 1930s. Also, because he had defeated so many martial artists, he had many tongues against him. Li Zhongxuan (disciple of Xingyiquan's Shang Yunxiang), who passed away a few years back at the age of 95, once wrote an essay stating clearly that Coal Ma was, at the time of the writing, greatly respected by the martial community.
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马维祺
Ma Weiqi
马派八卦掌代表人物是马维祺。马先生是北京人，因在北京东城开有煤铺 ，故人送外号“煤马”。是董海川祖师最喜欢的弟子之一。马先生平日练功非常刻苦，加之董公因材施教，故功夫十分了得，有“‘煤马’功夫胜程，尹”之说。
Ma Weiqi, one of Dong Haichuan's favourite disciples and progenitor of Ma style Baguazhang, was from Beijing. Because he operated a coal shop in that city, people nicknamed him "Coal Ma". Owing to his daily diligence in training and Dong's excellent instruction, Ma quickly became extremely proficient at Baguazhang. In fact, it was said in those days that Coal Ma's skill surpassed those of Cheng (Tinghua) and Yin (Fu).
马先生练功十分痴迷，平日里没事即绕着煤堆练习转掌。据说，有一位练长拳的朋友见到后对先生说：“你天天围着煤堆转圈，能把人打倒吗？”先生答道：“试试！”练者逐扎好架势挡在先生前面，先生上前只一刁一搬，已将人仍出几丈外。此足见先生之功夫。先生在董公在世时即开山授徒，一时间从学者众。马先生教拳时融入其早年所学，又独得董公风轮手，所以迥于他派，人称“马派”，并与“程派”，“尹派”，合称三大派。
Ma Weiqi was fiercely dedicated to his martial art of Baguazhang and spent his idle hours practising circle walking, one of Bagua’s chief training methods, in front of his coal shop. Once, an acquaintance of his who was skilled in Changquan (Long Fist) greeted him with the question, “You spend all day walking circles around your coal heap. Is that actually going to help you win any fights?”
Ma responded, “Try me.”
The Changquan boxer took up a ready stance in front of Ma. Before he could do anything else, however, Ma stepped forward, hooked his guard aside, and smoothly flung him several zhang (one zhang is three metres).
Ma’s great skill allowed him to open his own school even while his teacher still lived, and his students were many. He added his own early martial knowledge to Dong’s Fenglunshou (Windmill Hands) to create the unique Ma style Baguazhang. Ma’s Bagua together with Cheng’s and Yin’s make up the three great schools of Bagua.
马先生生性好斗，早年遍踏河北，山东，河南等地，威震燕赵。但又因其脾气暴烈，出手见红，故有不少武林高手死、伤于其掌之下。
Ma loved a good fight. Early in his career, he sought challenge through all of Hebei, Shandong, and Henan, and even ventured yet further afield, but found not his match. Unfortunately, Ma had a terrible temper and seldom pulled his punches. He maimed or killed many of the martial arts experts he met in combat.
当时，泰山上有一位武功非常厉害的“泰山道人”，其以掌功见长，一掌之下顽石俱碎，有不少高手毙于其手。先生听说后便去会他。老道当时正在打坐，先生见他便说：“听说您的功夫不错，我想见识见识。”老道不理，马又重复所说。老道方开口：“你回去吧！我死了不要紧，你还年轻，死了可不值呀。”马先生继续缠下去，激怒老道，扬起一掌，往马的百会穴打去，马抬手接掌，一个炮捶打到老道软肋上，老道当时吐血而死，马扬长而去。
During Ma’s time, there lived on Mt. Tai a Taoist priest famous for his palm strikes. He was reputedly able to crush hard stones with his palms and was responsible for the deaths of many martial arts experts.
When Ma heard of this man, he immediately set off to look for him. When Ma found him, the priest was meditating. Ma nevertheless approached him. “I’ve heard that you, sir, are quite the accomplished martial artist, and I’d like to see a demonstration of your skill.”
When the priest ignored him, Ma repeated his request. The priest then replied, “Go home! It’s no matter if I perish, but it would be such a pity if someone as young as you were to die.”
Ma ignored the priest’s advice and persisted in pestering him. Eventually, the priest lost his temper and sent a powerful blow towards Ma’s crown. Ma intercepted that strike with a Paochui (Cannon Hammer) counter into the priest’s floating ribs which caused a torrent of blood to burst from the latter’s mouth. Leaving the priest’s corpse where it lay, Ma swaggered off home.
还有一次，一个镖师途径北京拜望先生，见到先生既说：“听说您功夫好，我们同为武林中人，想向你学习学习（意思是要实战技击）。”马藐视道：“就你也配称为武林中人？”镖师大怒，即要动手。马稍一动势，镖师一看不是对手，转身举手就跑，连呼“不打了，不打了”，马不依不饶，一个扑掌打在其背后，镖师一口鲜血喷出，一个月后也死于非命。
On another occasion, a professional caravan guard travelled to Beijing to pay Ma a visit. When he met the Bagua master, the guard issued a polite challenge. “I’ve heard, sir, that you are highly skilled. Since we’re both martial artists, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind teaching me a little something.”
Ma scorned the guard, however, with, “Even someone such as you considers himself a martial artist?”
That of course infuriated the visitor, and he moved aggressively toward Ma. But the moment Ma moved, the guard realised he was completely outclassed. His blood running cold, the guard turned tail and ran, hollering, “I don’t want to fight anymore! I don’t want to fight anymore!”
Regardless, Ma pounced upon the retreating figure and dealt a blow upon its back. Blood gushed from the mouth of the guard and he died in a month from the injury.
也正因为马先生出手狠毒，所以结了不少怨，最终也因此而遭人暗害至死。
Because Ma was so vicious in his duels, he made many bitter enemies. Eventually, he fell to assassination.
马先生徒弟很多，但得功夫的寥寥无几，仅杨汝霖几人耳。而这些人多在马先生死后远走他乡或另拜程廷华等人为师。
Upon Ma Weiqi’s death, many of his disciples left to study under Cheng Tinghua. Also, although Ma had had many disciples, not many among them had attained a high level of skill during their time with him. Therefore, there were few who could carry on the Ma line. One of this small number was Yang Rulin.
杨汝霖是继马维祺之后，马派八卦掌另一位重要的传人。杨在马先生死后就去沈阳谋生，是张学良的八卦掌老师。杨在沈阳曾一剑把一日本高手挑下擂台而扬名东三省，其后一直在奉天国术馆做馆长，期间与程廷华高徒李文彪结为良师益友，在东三省广传技艺。
Yang Rulin is arguably the next most important person in the Ma lineage after Ma Weiqi himself. After Ma’s death, Yang moved to Shenyang prefecture where he eventually taught Bagua to Zhang Xueliang.
While in Shenyang, Yang became famous in the Three Eastern Provinces (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning) for casting a Japanese swordsman off a dueling stage with just one sword stroke. He was then made chief instructor of the Fengtian (old name for Shenyang) Martial Academy, where he served until his death.
During his time with the Fengtian school, Yang became friends and training partners with Li Wenbiao, one of Cheng Tinghua’s best disciples. Yang and Li kept the banner of Bagua flying high in the Three Eastern Provinces throughout the rest of their lives.