The last master of the Qing Dynasty, Zhang Zuolin was a bodyguard, and Xu Shiyou praised him
In August 1900, when the Eight-Power Alliance invaded Beijing, Cixi fled to Xi'an with Guangxu weifu, and her personal guard was named Gong Baotian.
Legacy of famous teachers
Gong Baotian, born in 1871 in Qingshan Village at the foot of Mashi Mountain in Jiaodong, entered the palace at the age of 13 and studied art with Dong Haichuan. Dong Haichuan was originally the head of the martial arts of the Xianfeng Emperor of the Qing Dynasty, and he fused the Taoist Bagua palm with the Buddhist Shaolin fist to create a "Bagua palm" of "Bagua Wandering Body Serial Palm".
Although Gong Baotian was short in stature and his appearance was not proud, he was brilliant and willing to endure hardships, especially his character of morality, heavy friendship, and loyalty, which was deeply loved by Dong Haichuan, and not only personally taught him the Bagua Palm Tantra, but also passed on the "Bagua Fist Spectrum" to Gong Baotian.
The escort is meritorious, disappointed and retired
After Gong Baotian Yicheng, he was valued by the imperial court, and in 1879, he was recruited into the palace by Guangxu and became the emperor's personal bodyguard, and was enfeoffed as a sword guard with four pins, which was also the last martial arts chief of the Qing Dynasty. Gong Baotian is friendly, has a good attitude towards people, has no shelf, has excellent popularity, and because of his high martial arts, quick movements, and is a master of the palace, he is gradually called "palace monkey".
When the Gengzi Incident broke out in 1900, Cixi fled Beijing with Guangxu in a hurry and settled in Xi'an, along the way Gong Baotian took the lead in protecting the two and was praised.
After returning to Beijing, Gong Baotian was rewarded by Guangxu with a gold medal and a yellow coat for his meritorious escort.
From the heart, Gong Baotian was loyal and patriotic, but the government's incompetence discouraged him, and disappointed, he said that he could not be promoted to a position, and left the Forbidden City in 1905 and returned to his hometown.
Protect Zhang Zuolin
In 1922, Zhang Zuolin sent a Taoist priest to ask Gong Baotian to serve as the chief martial arts instructor and personal bodyguard of fengjun.
Before the Huanggutun incident, Zhang Zuolin had attended a banquet held by the Japanese, and just as he was about to take his seat, Gong Baotian pushed him away, and at the same time kicked over the seat, and a short knife "whistled" into the ceiling. Gong Baotian and the guards guarded Zhang Zuolin and snatched the door and rushed out of the horse.
Not far out, he encountered a foreign car head-on, Gong Baotian whipped a whip on Zhang Zuolin's horse's ass, and as soon as he turned around, the foreign car actually exploded with a roar, and the other two guards fell in a pool of blood, but Zhang Zuolin was safe.
Gong Baotian became famous and was known as "Gong Xia".
On June 3, 1928, Zhang Zuolin left Gong Baotian in Beijing to protect Zhang Xueliang, and returned to Shenyang himself, unfortunately the Huanggutun Incident occurred.
After Zhang Zuolin's death, Gong Baotian returned to his hometown again. Under the influence of the idea of strengthening the body with martial arts and strengthening the army to save the country, he was ready to train a group of young people with high martial arts to protect the country and The Imperial Yi, so he founded a "martial arts hall" in his hometown, recruited a wide range of disciples, and volunteered to pass on the art. A large number of toiling people entered the "martial arts gym" for free to study, but he himself lived a life of poverty.
Patriotism, heroes pity each other
General Xu Shiyou, who was the commander of Jiaodong at the time, was a very famous Shaolin boxing master, and the name Gong Baotian had heard about it in the Shaolin Temple when he was a teenager and was very respectful.
In September 1941, on a crisp autumn day, he personally went to Qingshan Village to visit the elders of Gong Baotian.
The 71-year-old Gong Baotian was particularly happy that day, and after performing a flexible and fast Bagua palm to thank Xu Shiyou for his visit, he opened the Bagua knife again.
He wielded a short knife and let a comrade stand on his side and splash water on him, and the comrade sprayed with his mouth for a while, and then stroked it with his hand, but was blocked back by Gong Baotian's knife. After playing with the knife, Gong Baotian's body was dripping water, but the comrade was drenched in a soup chicken.
After playing with the knife, Gong Baotian's face was not red and breathless, and he quickly threw a punch, as if he was going to hit the trunk, and suddenly he hung up and jumped into the air to turn around, using his "iron leg skill" trick, only to listen to the "click", kicking a pine tree with a thick bowl into two pieces, causing people to cheer and cheer.
The 36-year-old Commander Xu Shiyou was also very happy that day, and he said to Gong Baotian: "In order to thank the old seniors for their performance, I also try the sword technique and ask the old seniors for advice." ”
Only to see General Xu Shiyou walk to the jujube tree, a jump, plucked a jujube from the tall branch of the zhang to take it to gong baotian, he threw the jujube into the air, the sword flashed, the jujube was impartial just broke in half from the middle of the dang, fell to the ground, and everyone was amazed.
He turned to everyone and said, "What is Kung Fu?" It is the embodiment of justice, it is the determination to be unfazed, and kung fu is not a move, nor is it a flower frame. Defeating a few people with force is not real kung fu, being able to fly over the wall, and being able to lift a top is not real kung fu, and the noble qualities of not being afraid of violence, supporting justice, conquering evil with one's own strength, and crushing bones are also counted as real kung fu! ”
Speaking of happiness, Commander Xu also immediately hired Gong Baotian to the Jiaodong Military Region to establish a short-term training class, Gong Baotian promised, who knows that the training class has not been held for several periods, during the Japanese army's great purge in 1943, Gong Baotian died of an acute illness and could not get even the treatment, at the age of 73.
epilogue:
The most important contribution of Gong Baotian's life is to carry forward the spirit of martial arts, he returned to his hometown twice to teach art, and tens of thousands of people have learned Bagua palm from him, which has played an important role in promoting the popularization of Bagua palm.
Now, Bagua Palm has become an important course for martial arts majors and an important project of professional martial arts teams in many colleges and universities, and the practitioners of Bagua Palm are all over the country, and even the shadow of Bagua Palm can be seen in many countries and regions around the world.