Farewell Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang

All ye of the Grand and Secret Order of Obituary Cocktail, friends, family and students, please raise a glass in honor of the late departed Taijiquan and Qigong Grandmaster, Feng Zhiqiang.  What is Taijiquan to me?  I felt the health benefits from the first day I started more than 10 years ago: more centered, settled, quiet mind, joints limbered, body healthy and balanced.  And then, with more practice, I started to feel  at ease with gravity, opposite force, spiral energy, growing tall, relaxed…new insights…what seemed out of reach before becomes possible… I learned Taijiquan from a student of Zhang Xue Xin from San Francisco, who studied with the great Grandmaster, Feng Zhiqiang of Beijing.    

Feng’s  legacy lives on all over the world, even here in Costa Rica, with students and devotees carrying on the philosophy and practice of Qigong and  HunYuan Taijiquan.  For a better understanding of this great man and his huge impact on these arts, read the moving remembrance of Grandmaster Feng below, by Sifu Justin Meehan:

Sifu Justin Meehan writes:

The World says goodbye to one of China's Last Dragons. Grandmaster Feng Zhiqiang (1928-2012), 84 years of age, has recently returned to the Great Tao where everything is One. He was one of the world's greatest martial artists, Qigong Masters and professors of traditional Chinese philosophy, traditional Chinese medical theory and traditional Chinese Culture. He had the great good fortune to study from two of his generation's greatest Chinese Martial Arts Masters: Chen Fake (1887-1957) the 17th generation standard bearer of Chen family Taijiquan (the original form of Taiji from which all others derived, kept secretly until recent times) and Hu Yaozhen (1879-1973) one of the leading Masters of Heart/Mind/Intention school of boxing XinYi and one of the fathers of modern Qigong. Grandmaster Feng continued to practice his Art in secret along with his top students Zhang Xue Xin and Chen Fake's son Chen Zhaokui during the Cultural Revolution at risk of their own lives. Even though his teachers were harassed to their death during this time he managed to keep his Arts alive and deliver his treasure to our present generation. His own Art called HunYuan combined both a modified form of Chen Taijiquan with Xin Yi and Taoist Qigong and philosophy. Stories of his prowess are legendary and although he never lost a fight, he also was proud to say he never injured any of his opponents, or if he did he used his healing abilities to restore them to health. I first studied with him in 1981 and continued to visit Beijing to study with him up until this past November 2011 at the 3rd International HunYuan Conference held in Beijing. What I remember most about him was his warmth to others and generosity to his students. He envisioned his HunYuan system as a gift from China to all mankind of the highest genius of traditional Chinese heritage and culture, no longer to be kept in secret but to be shared worldwide for the health and benefit of all people. His presence will be missed but his gift to the world will live on forever. His two leading disciples in the US include Master Zhang Xue Xin, also 84, in San Francisco and Dr. Yang Yang, the author of Taijiquan, the Art of Nurturing and the science of Power, whose scientific studies have led to the scientifically proven "evidence based" Taiji which has documented the many health benefits of Hun/Yuan Taijiquan. Additional info, including his bio and videos of Feng Zhiqiang as well as additional resources and links are available at www.StLTaiji.com. Farewell dear teacher, we will miss you so much and will always carry your teachings and memories in our hearts as well as dedicating ourselves to the continuation of your mission to benefit all mankind through the brilliance of Chinese Culture which is the heart of your HunYuan Taijiquan/Qigong. In the words you always shared with me "Xin Go La".