Shandong village preserves, promotes traditional martial art

Zhang Shouling practices Dahongquan. [Photo by Xu Zhihao for chinadaily.com.cn]

Nanjie village in Juancheng county – located in Heze city in East China's Shandong province – is known for being a martial arts village because of its long tradition of practicing Dahongquan, a Chinese style that originated in the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).

Dahongquan is a comprehensive system of attack, defense and fitness that was created in 1621 by Li Xianming, a local man who learned from a monk in Wutai Mountain and who named his style after the temple where he trained.

Zhang Shouling, 61, is a respected master of Dahongquan in Nanjie village. He started learning it at the age of seven and founded the Dahongquan association in 2010 to promote and inherit it.

He also runs a training base in the village, where he teaches new students every year – especially during the summer and winter vacations, when lots of kids from nearby areas come to learn from him.

Zhang and his students have won many awards in national and provincial martial arts competitions.

Dahongquan has been recognized as a municipal intangible cultural heritage item. (Edited by Fan Yuanyuan)