He is a national hero and is subject of two movies; Huo Yuanjia was a Chinese Martial artist and co-founder of China’s one of the largest athletic association.
Born in 1868 in Chinese village, Huo Yuanjia was the fourth child among Huo Endi’s ten children. The family’s income mainly came from agriculture. Huo Yuanjia was a weak child and often suffered from asthma and had jaundice which continued recurring after certain periods. His family had a tradition of learning Wushu, a type of Chinese martial arts, but Yuanjia’s father forbid him from participating in learning sessions due to his illnesses. He hired a tutor from Japan to teach his son, Huo Yuanjia, academics and other subjects. Against his father’s will, Yuanjia wanted to learn Wushu. He started watching his father teaching the martial arts to other children secretly and tried to mimic them. He used to practice them at night with his tutor who also had learned some martial arts. An interesting incident made his father believe his fighting abilities. It was in 1890 when a martial artist from another province visited their home. The artist fought with Yuanjia’s elder brother and defeated him in Wuhsu. Yuanjia got up and had a fight with his brother’s opponent and won the fight. The incident made Yunajia’s father believe that he was physically capable of learning the martial arts and hence allowed him to take his classes. In late years, Yuanjia challenged martial artists from neighboring provinces and defeated them. His continuous victories earned him fame.
In 1901, Huo Yuanjia had fights with foreign fighters. It was a time when China was fighting for its sovereignty during the colonial rule. A Russian wrestler, who openly called Chinese ‘weak men of the east’, advertised a fighting challenge to which Huo Yuanjia responded but Russian wrestler steeped back and apologized for the comment. He went to Shanghai in between 1909-10 and accepted a fighting challenge from a British boxer Hercules O’Brien. The two had an argument over the fighting rules in boxing matches and reached to an agreement that whoever would defeat his opponent in the challenge would be the winner but O’Brien never showed up for the fight.
During the same era, Huo Yuanjia established Chin Woo Physical Training Center and co-founded with a friend Nong Jinsun. He died in 1910.
Huo Yuanjia is considered a legend in the martial arts world. He has been the subject of many TV and film productions. TV productions like ‘The Legendary Fok, Fist of Fury, and Huo Yuan Jia are some to be mentioned. Hollywood’s Fearless starring Jet Li was also based on the legendary martial artist’s life.
Huo Yuanjia
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