Zu YaoWu

## Biography

Zu was born in Beijing before moving to TianJin at an early age. Following the end of the Opium wars, Zu went to live in the beautiful house of the Austrian consulate, which he still owns. Due to the Japanese occupation of China, his childhood was rough and at the age of nine or ten, he was often forced to skip school - it was around this time that he developed his passion for martial arts. Spurred on by seeing the oppression around him, Zu began studying Xing-Yi Quan with his first master but it was not long before he was forced to stop in order to help his mother in the harvest of rice seedlings.

After the Communist army took Tianjin, Zu was drafted and spent five years fighting for the army, allowing him to support his large family. In 1949, during his time in the 4th Campaign Battalion, Di Si Ye Zhan Jun, Zu spent much time fighting the Nationalists outside Tianjin, but never leaving Hebei. After reaching Chang Jiang, while a large part of the battalion continued in the pursuit, the 4th company retraced its steps, to deal with the outbreaks of Nationalist guerrillas that were still occuring, particularly in the mountainous areas.

At the age of 22, Zu left the army and went to work as an archivist and secretary at the Tianjin hospital. A job that he obtained thanks to the fact that he had already completed nursing studies during the draft, dedicating himself to the role of stretcher-bearer and medicating the wounded among the military.

> "At the hospital, I became interested in the medical use of herbs, so I asked to be educated there. At that time the university was not widespread, much less the Faculty of Medicine, but the transmission of medical knowledge from teacher to disciple was still in use. So in 1954 I became a student at the Tianjin Hospital of a great doctor, Dr. Gu Jiang Ying, who taught me medicine for several years, after which I became a doctor myself. But it was only in 1977 that, with the full establishment of the University, as a doctor I went there to study to obtain a degree first, then a specialization ."
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### Leaving the army and learning Baji

During his time in the military, Zu had also learned the basics of martial arts, having the strongest memories of learning the bayonet and, as soon as he was discharged and returned to Tianjin, he also discovered Bajiquan. Studying under Liu Hong-Sheng, a student of Wu Xiu-Feng (6th Generation master of Wu Family Bajiquan).

*The following is copied directly and requires editing.*

Liu followed his teacher like a shadow and I watched Wu Xiu Feng's lectures with incredible enthusiasm; he had a large number of students, many of whom were also very advanced, so he had little time for me, but I studied with the utmost attention in his lessons, so much so that I still remember them perfectly today: Wu's single interpretations of Baji, his psychic and physical aptitudes, his great martial ability.

And above all, Liu Hong Sheng was always ready to instruct me. Every morning, whether there was wind, rain or snow, I took my bicycle and pedaling for half an hour I reached the park generally used as a practice area.

I had to do at least one hour of training a day and since I usually started working at 7.30, I woke up at 4.30 at the latest. If I had started working at 6, the training regimen would not have changed: I would have practiced at night. In the old days, when the Chinese worked long hours, often from 6 to 20, it was like this. But most mornings I would arrive at the practice site about an hour earlier than my classmates, to devote myself to the body conditioning Bajiquan exercises, which involve hitting the trunk of a tree with the various body segments.

Because of the arduous training, I was quite thin and my face appeared haggard, almost like that of a sick person, but inside me there was a great strength: when I stamped my foot on the ground (a practice that in the Baji is among other things used to gather power from the support of the earth and then unload it in the blow) or hit the trunk of a tree, the ground of the forest trembled all around (in Bajiquan there is a traditional saying: "Da yo. Huang bang zhuang dao shan, duo jiao zhen jiu zhou “, the meaning of which is: the greatness of the style causes a shoulder to collapse a mountain and a stamp of the foot makes the nine provinces tremble). And even today, in the Siziano gym, from Monday to Saturday I start at 7.30 to practice Baji, Taiji and Qi Gong with some students . .

### Move to Italy

Italian martial artist, Giorgio Viti, invited Zu to Italy in May 1993. Staying with Viti for four months, before finding his own accomodation in the town of Siziano, Zu taught Viti daily: 3-hours from 7 am to 10 am, until 2003 when master Zu decided to move to the Como. During these 10 years, Viti and Zu invited Wu Lian Zhi to visit numerous times, specifically 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2008 where he would stay in the Siziano gym for around 3 months each visit.
Zu YaoWu currently lives and teaches in Italy.

## Personal Life

Zu's father was Zu Chong-Hui, son of Zu Yong-Fu (a name which paradoxically means "Eternal luck") brother of Zu Yong-Shou ("Eternal longevity"), who had him when he was in his forties.

## References

1. ↑ Il maestro Zu Yaowu - Ba Ji Shen Quan Hui
2. ↑ Il maestro Zu Yaowu - A.S.D. Ba Ji Shen Quan Hui