Wu Lian Zhi 吴连枝

Wu LianZhi is a Seventh-Generation Bajiquan master and current lineage holder and headmaster for Wu Family KaiMen Bajiquan. He has been instrumental in spreading bajiquan globally, particularly in Japan and Korea, as well as the Wu Family name.

## Biography

### Early Life

Wu LianZhi is the second son of Wu Xiufeng (吴秀峰), a famed Bajiquan master. He was born in Mengcun Village, Hebei Province, in 1947.

### Later Life

In 1986, Wu updated and re-published his grandfather's manual entitled “Secrets of the Wu Family Kai Men Baji Quan” (吴氏开门八极拳秘诀之谱), as the original handwritten manual had been stolen from the Wu family house during the Cultural Revolution.

### Travels to Europe

In October of 2010, Wu traveled to to Europe to share Wu Family Bajiquan with international students, as part of the MengCun delegation. He first taught in Saronno, Italy alongside Wu DaWei and Zu YaoWu before later continuing to Provence, France alongside Wu DaWei and their disciple Sun ZhongJun.

Following the seminars in Provence, a baishi (拜师) ceremony was held and Wu officially acknowledged three European students as his formal disciples.

In May of 2014, Wu again traveled to Belgium alongside his son (Wu DaWei) and four other prominent Bajiquan masters to take part in the 2014 European Bajiquan Gathering.

## Martial Arts Career

### 2002 World Cup Incident

During the 2002 World Cup in South Korea, Wu is reported to have fought and defeated a 26-year-old Taekwondo master. There are various reports of the event, many of which have been distorted to represent Bajiquan and Taekwondo as better/worse. The most easily accessible account in English is from a translated CCTV 4 video on YouTube, however, commentators, including from within the MengCun Wu Family, have been quick to point out that its portrayal of events is inaccurate and somewhat biased. It is included below for posterity, alongside a corrected version.

#### CCTV 4 Account

According to CCTV, a Korean news station asked him which he thought was more fierce: Bajiquan or Taekwondo. When he responded that both were fierce, they asked him to have a competition with a Taekwondo master, which he agreed to. Wu's supporters were strongly against the competition, his disciple Zheng XingYun is noted to have advised him not to fight, though Wu replied to Zheng that Bajiquan practitioners should not back down from a challenge.

According to the video, there were four rounds to the competition, with him winning all of them. In the first round, his opponent threw a straight punch at him and Wu countered by blocking and slapping the man to the floor. In the second, the Taekwondo master again punched, this time with a hook and was again blocked; this time Wu responded with two slaps, again flooring the young man. The third and fourth rounds began with kicks from the Korean, both of which Wu countered by throwing the man to the floor. After this incident, Wu gained a lot of fame in Korea.

#### Corrected Account

Wu has made clear, regarding the encounter, that he was invited to meet the Taekwondo master for QieCuo (切磋, to exchange and learn from one another) and not to "fight". He has been careful to use this term to describe the event in interviews and conversation and avoided reference to the event as a "fight" or a "competition". The Taekwondo master had hired by the KBS TV channel for a TV series in which he was visiting different martial arts teachers to casually exchange techniques and learn, and as such the "four rounds" that are mentioned in the video would be better understood as "four applications".

This can also be understood from his choice of language during the interview where he says: "我跟他过了四招，只四下", i.e. "I went through (or "exchanged") four techniques with him, just four techniques ...". From this, it can clearly be seen that he had the master to throw four different attacks at him so that he could demonstrate four different applications.

## Legacy

Since 1987, Wu has been a major force in spreading Kaimen Bajiquan around the world, and now has both students and masters who have trained under him in Japan, South Korea, the U.K, Germany, Hong Kong and Taiwan. He has toured internationally giving conferences and workshops at martial arts schools as well as by receiving students in MegCun.

Wu has written on the theoretical and technical research of Bajiquan. He has published three works of "Wu KaiMen Bajiquan" in Japan; published and distributed the first "Chinese Traditional Martial Arts Series Regulation Routines-Bajiquan" in Japan. Book. There are more than 20 teaching CDs issued in Chinese and Japanese. With more than ten technical papers on Bajiquan explained by the principles of mechanics, he is currently one of the most influential martial artists in the Chinese martial arts world.

### Notable Students

Many of Wu's students were martial artists of note, including: Liu Xiuping, Yang Jie, Chang Yugang, Liu Lianjun who have won gold and silver in national and international martial arts competitions.

## Lineage

Wu Zhong -> Wu Ying -> Wu Kai -> Wu Hui-Qing -> Wu Xiu-Feng -> **Wu Lian-Zhi**

## Media

Wu has been in and recorded a number of videos for both demonstration and educational purposes including several features on CCTV. Listed below are some.

* Baji Sanshou
* Fundamentals of Baji & Demonstration of Baji Chuan & Weapon Routines
* Chinese Kung Fu Master - Bajiquan Kung Fu - CCTV[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBb-mN0yBOw

* CCTV Feature

## References

1. ↑ Wu HuiQing 1869-1958 - Wu Family Bajiquan
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Events - Wu Family Bajiquan
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 CCTV 4 Documentary