Martial arts in Bayu, in southeastern China, date way back and are deeply rooted among the people. Many residents can perform unique martial art techniques.
On March 14, martial art masters impressed an audience with their special techniques at the Bayu Martial Art Masters’ Gathering in Chongqing City.
‘Human Body Resisting Beating’
Mr. Tang Lixian, 87 years old and retired from the Chongqing Public Transportation Company, demonstrated the technique “human body resisting beating.” He wore a silver-white silk practice suit and looked very energetic for a man his age.
He bowed to the audience and did a dozen push-ups to warm up. He quickly squatted down and concentrated on moving the qi around in his body. “Hey!” he yelled, “I would like a strong young man to come on up to the stage and hit me!”
With the audience’s encouragement, a young man dressed in a black suit, walked onto the stage. Tang told the young man to relax and do his best. The young man immediately tightened his fists and started punching Tang’s abdomen. “One! Two! Three!” Tang continued counting. Five punches later, Tang was still standing—he had barely moved.
The audience gave Tang warm applause. The young man, who said he used to be a police officer, shook his hands as if they were hurting.
A little later in the show, Tang demonstrated the “head-butting” technique. He produced an iron bar, over a meter long and swung it towards his head. A young girl in the audience was scared and covered her eyes—Tang wasn’t young after all. The 3 kg (about 6.6 lbs.) iron bar hit his head several times and made a heavy sound—Dang! Dang! Dang!
Cutting Ceramic Bowls With One Finger
Mr. Mao Xiheng was the second performer to come on stage. Although he was in his 60s, he looked only 40 and was still going strong. Mao was born into a martial arts family and started practicing martial arts when he was 12. Many years of practice had made him a master of “hard qigong.”
This was Ma’s first time attending the martial art gathering. He demonstrated the technique “cutting ceramic bowls with one finger.” The staff placed three ceramic bowls next to him. He picked up a bowl, chopped it with his right index finger, and quickly moved onto the next bowl. Three bowls were chopped into halves and fell to the ground. Everything happened so fast that the reporters did not have time to take pictures.
Later Mao demonstrated the “two fingers going through a wooden rod” technique. His two thumbs were wrapped together with a copper wire, and he ran his two hands through a wooden rod. The audience was stunned. Afterwards, Mao’s son explained to the audience that it was a martial art technique called “bone-shrinking.”
Splitting Stones With Bare Hands
The last performer was 43-year-old Mr. Jian Shoubin, Mr. Tang’s disciple. Jian was short but very muscular. Three fist-sized stones were placed on a bench. Jian moved his qi and with a loud shout, he split the three stones into halves effortlessly and quickly. He won loud applause.
Later, Jian demonstrated a technique called “floating.” On stage were two bricks, each with two eggs on them. Jian slowly stepped on the eggs and got into a squatting position. He did not break a single egg. While standing on the eggs, Jian picked up two buckets of water and held them horizontally. He still did not break the eggs.
