Heavy-sword Martial Art of the Hui Minority

Heavy-sword Martial Art of the Hui Minority is a sort of martial art popular in Beijing and Tianjin areas in China, with heavy swords as martial-art weapons. Heavy sword is the original name of the broadsword which has a history of thousands of years in China. The broadsword of the Hui people in Tianjin became famous in the early years of the reign of Emperor Chengzu in the Ming Dynasty. Legend has it that the ancestor of the Hun ethnic group is a general who always carried a 30kg broadsword in battles. Afterwards, the broadsword martial art was passed down from generation to generation. By modern times, the broadsword of Imam Caojinzao, the descendant of the general, weighs 80kg and the broadsword becomes an gymnastic equipment.

Since the Tang Dynasty, the heavy sword served as a principal weapon in the imperial military examination. Having absorbed skills of bow, sword, stone, seated-position archery and other subjects, heavy-sword martial art is featured by the combination of hardness and flexibility as well as movements and stillness. There are a variety of movements and skills in brandishing the broadsword such as lifting, grabbing, wresting, revolving, hanging on neck, flying on back, and cleaving water, which are not only visual enjoyment and but also display the Hui people’s martialism and body-building spirit.

The Hui Minority Broadsword Crew has preserved broadswords, stone blocks, stone locks and arm-holding stone of the Qing Dynasty. Among the articles there is a 100kg stone lock which is the heaviest lock in China. The one who can lift this stone lock with a single arm is Zhang Jinbiao, one of the first-generation disciples of Imam Caojinzao. The arm-holding stone is a Champion Stone awarded by an emperor in the Qing Dynasty. It weighs over 200kg and is carved with the characters “½ð°ñÌâÃû” (means winning the championship).