Meishan Martial Art

Meishan martial art is well-known for its fierce striking force and mysterious ways of practice for muscle and mental development. It is a daily exercise for local inhabitants in Xinhua. Practitioners of Meishan martial art are seen in many parks or open spaces in the city of Xinhua.

 

It is one of the martial arts schools, also known as "Xinhua School”, spreading in the Meishan area in Hunan Province. In the ancient times, this region had deep material arts culture with dragger axe, halberd, bow and arrow used here as the fighting tools before the Song Dynasty. It is recorded in the Kai Qiao Yuan that “bringing dragger axe and halberd when going out, sleeping holding armor and bow by hands, cultivating by knives and fire and taking food by picking fruits and hunting” was a norm. In the Ming Dynasty, people developed shooting and riding skills and stressed practice. There were also people with outstanding Qinggong. Leader of Xinhua insurgents Li Tinglu is known to “fight while flying”.

 

After the Ming Dynasty, both the southern and northern material arts were spread to Meishan area. The local masters picked up the elite of other styles and created a new school with simple and practical styles, rough and forceful and stable steps, usually supported with powerful crying. This school focuses on stance training and fingers and palms strength and spends much time on stance training. The skills mainly include hit (cutting, kicking), stance, pier picking, ladle picking, sand bag beating, stone lifting, sand stick dancing (load sand in bamboo) and barrel practicing. The people shall always tie up the waist when practicing. The barehanded styles include Menshan Palm, Sandianmei, Wudianmei, Jiudianfei, Qibuzhui, Babugan, Yidianhong, Mantanghong, Meichengquan, Bianshi, Chaotian Sanzhuxiang, Thirty-Six Spiking and others. The weapon styles mainly include single and double broadsword, rapier, cudgel, halberd, rolling harrow, whip, flower column, iron ruler, axe, mace and others and the stance training mainly includes I-shape stance, square stance and four-gate stance.