The three words "Zhang Zhijiang" are unfamiliar to most people in modern times, but the word "Guoshu" he pioneered is still a hot word in China and even the world. He once led the Chinese Guoshu to the big stage of the Olympic Games, and let the world see the Chinese Guoshu.
General Zhang Zhijiang
The first turning point in Zhang Zhijiang's fate came when he was 19 years old, that is, in 1901.
At that time, Zhang Zhijiang was nesting in his hometown of Liulaoren Village in Hebei Province, and the reason why he said that he was "nesting" was naturally because his life at that time was indeed very difficult. Having learned knowledge, he spent all day at home doing some work of planting land, burning bricks, carrying burdens, and fertilizing.
Although Zhang Zhijiang could not see the outside world, he also knew that China was full of wars and fires, and the people were mostly in the depths of the water. He often thought:
"Am I just doing nothing?" The eldest husband I, when he made meritorious achievements, not to mention that now is an eventful autumn, when like Ban Chao throws pen from Rong to serve the country is ..."
The opportunity finally fell from the sky when he was 19 years old, and one day that year, the Qing government actually recruited troops to liulaoren village, where Zhang Zhijiang was located, and Zhang Zhijiang signed up for the army and was conscripted.
After entering the barracks, because there was no backstage and was not smooth, in the barracks of the Qing Army, although he had always been outstanding, and entered the Lecture Hall, his promotion was very slow. Fortunately, he met Feng Yuxiang, Zhang Xianting, Zhang Shusheng and other good brothers in the military camp.
Mr. and Mrs. Zhang Zhijiang, children and Feng Yuxiang, children, etc
Dissatisfied with the corruption of the Qing court, Zhang Zhijiang also exchanged new revolutionary ideas with Feng Yuxiang and others in the form of secret associations and readings, and he also joined the "anti-Qing and anti-Japanese" martial arts research society.
After the Xinhai Revolution, the Qing court was overthrown, and Zhang Zhijiang, who was both literate and martial, gradually ushered in a highlight moment in his life. After Feng Yuxiang developed, Zhang Zhijiang, who defected to Feng Yuxiang, was promoted from captain staff officer, cavalry battalion commander, regiment commander, brigade commander, and seventh mixed brigade commander to division commander, and he gradually became Feng Yuxiang's right and left arm. Later, he also became the head of the Five Tigers of the Northwest Army.
Follow Feng Yuxiang to eat meat, but follow Feng Yuxiang also has a time to respond. Feng Yuxiang was harsh on his subordinates, and even Zhang Zhijiang, who was an "arm" and an old friend, was ordered to kneel once he made a mistake. Zhang Zhijiang is like this, and several of Zhang Zhijiang's good brothers Song Zheyuan and Lu Zhonglin are no exception.
In 1926, Feng Yuxiang sent a telegram to the Soviet Union to investigate, and Zhang Zhijiang reached his commanding heights in military and political affairs, and he took over as the northwest border defense inspector and commander-in-chief of the northwest army, and commanded the northwest army on behalf of Feng.
Zhang Zhijiang's experience had a great impact on his later life, and it almost changed his life.
During his period of independence, Zhang Zhijiang single-handedly commanded the famous Battle of Nankou in modern history, which lasted for half a year. After this battle was fought, Zhang Zhijiang fell ill, he suffered from a "small stroke", although this is not a major disease, but it can not be cured. This can make Zhang Zhijiang anxious.
When the guards saw that Zhang Zhijiang's illness was not well, they decided to use the "soil method" to treat him. This method is very simple, that is, to learn martial arts. The guard had a peculiar point of view, he felt: the body is sick to say, or the resistance is not enough, the resistance is up, everything is easy to say.
No one expected that the "strange disease" that could not be cured by a hundred medicines was actually "cured" by martial arts. This experience made Zhang Zhijiang feel a lot of emotions, and he suddenly thought: In 1925, when he led the Northwest Army to attack Tianjin, the "white blade" tactics he used were not also martial arts. After the white-knife tactics achieved complete victory, the battle situation was reversed, and they captured Tianjin as they wished.
After thinking about this, Zhang Zhijiang finally realized that to resist the invasion of foreign Kou, it was necessary to combine the local "martial arts". After thinking about it at a deeper level, Zhang Zhijiang had a further understanding, and he was convinced that martial arts can not only strengthen the body, but also make the whole nation strong, and can snow the shame of the "sick man of East Asia".
At present, Zhang Zhijiang regards martial arts, a treasure of the country, as "the courage of the army and the soul of the country".
But Zhang Zhijiang, who has already "achieved great enlightenment", also realized a problem: for thousands of years, martial arts have been limited to the scope of the people, with a wide range of sects, mutual envy, and secret attacks...
Zhang Zhijiang paced back and forth in the room, he understood that today's martial arts are just a mess of sand, to forcibly blend together, there will inevitably be bloody conflicts, at that time, not to mention "strong countries and strong species", the counter-effect is almost the same. Perhaps, it also caused "martial arts chaos".
Zhang Zhijiang
"People always come up with a solution!" This sentence was told to him by Zhang Zhijiang's erudite grandfather before he died, and he has always regarded this sentence as a motto over the years.
After thinking about it for countless days and nights, Zhang Zhijiang finally figured it out clearly: Chinese martial arts must embark on the road of formal development, and they must enter the hall in a bright and bright way, and they must set up a central-level martial arts gym.
Soon, Zhang Zhijiang proposed to the Nationalist government that the Central Guoshu Museum should be established. When talking about the significance of the establishment of the Guoshu Museum, Zhang Zhijiang made the following explanation, he said:
"First, the Guoshuguan can respond to Sun Yat-sen's call for 'rich country and strong people, strong race and strong ethnicity', and the great powers insulting Chinese as 'sick men of East Asia', the root cause of which is that the Chinese people are weak due to opium consumption; second, the existence of the Guoshuguan can be psychologically strong for the nation, and if the Guoshuguan can be popularized, the self-confidence of the whole nation will also be greatly enhanced."
Although Zhang Zhijiang had already clearly explained and understood the advantages of the establishment of the National Art Museum, at first, the Nationalist government did not agree with anything, insisting that martial arts could only belong to non-governmental organizations.
In desperation, Zhang Zhijiang had no choice but to invite all his friends from the military and political circles, and his old comrade-in-arms during the Yunnan uprising, Li Liejun, an elder of the Kuomintang, joined the camp of support at his strong appeal.
On March 15, 1928, the Chinese Guoshu Museum, which was approved by the government, was established in Nanjing. In this year, Zhang Zhijiang, who was appointed as the director of the Guoshu Museum, was 46 years old. From this time on, he voluntarily withdrew from the military and political circles, and the National Government later wanted to appoint him as minister of military affairs, but he also resolutely refused.
Group photo of the establishment of the Chinese National Art Museum
What is extremely interesting is that the deputy director of the Central Guoshu Museum is actually Zhang Zhijiang's nemesis Li Jinglin, and his appointment as deputy director is still the result of Zhang Zhijiang's active invitation.
Zhang Zhijiang invited Li Jinglin to serve as deputy director, purely because he valued his talents, and he also wanted to remind himself with this former "nemesis": The National Art Museum must absorb the strengths of all, and everything must be based on unity as the premise.
The Guoshuguan has a board of directors, the chairman of the council at first is Li Liejun, and later changed to Feng Yuxiang. The members of the board of directors, without exception, are all well-known personalities, such as Tan Yanmin, Cai Yuanpei, Zhang Renjie, Yu Youren, He Yingqin, Song Ziwen, Wang Zhengting, etc.
At that time, the only one who could have such a big appeal was Zhang Zhijiang.
In addition to requiring the librarians to be skilled in martial arts, Zhang Zhijiang also attaches great importance to cultivating the cultural knowledge and virtues of the librarians. Later, in order to further break the view of the door, adhering to the "learning of martial arts in the world", he also sent a special person to Japan in 1929 to learn judo techniques.
Originally, zhang Zhijiang founded the GuoshuGuan with two gate schools, one was Wudang and the other was Shaolin. Over time, Zhang Zhijiang believes that this is not conducive to unity. Therefore, he simply abolished the sect and set up a registrar office to manage it.
As a result, in the Guoshu Hall, Shaolin, Wudang, Tai Chi, Bagua, etc., all slowly communicated with each other, and Guoshu began to go on the road of excellence.
Under the leadership of Zhang Zhijiang, the Guoshuguan at that time was really renewed.
Graduation certificate of the first phase of the National Art Museum
In order to make Chinese martial arts more prosperous, Zhang Zhijiang also founded the magazine "Guoshu Weekly". Either way, the magazine is a top "perk." In order to do a good job in this magazine, he invited martial arts masters to introduce the skills of his sect. Among them, the skills of each sect range from exercises, to offensive and defensive moves to dismantling and cracking, from boxing to boxing theory, everything is available...
In the past, these things belonged to the "secret book", but now, they have become the existence that all Chinese can share because of Zhang Zhijiang. At that time, this was undoubtedly a major innovation.
After doing this, Zhang Zhijiang was still not satisfied, and he felt: The next step is to let guoshu go to the world.
Zhang Zhijiang (left) and Li Jinglin (right)
Zhang Zhijiang is a person who "thinks and does it", and he who has served as commander-in-chief also has the ability to "do it when he thinks". As long as there is an opportunity to go abroad to promote Chinese martial arts, he will never let it go.
In 1930, Zhang Zhijiang even went to japan to participate in the National Sumo Wrestling Tournament in order to promote martial arts. Zhang Zhijiang believes that this is an opportunity to wash away the stigma of the "sick man of East Asia" in the snow.
Sure enough, after Zhang Zhijiang and his party arrived in Japan, the media made a big report, so the emperor decided to receive them and "have a good discussion." Since the day he accepted the challenge, Zhang Zhijiang analyzed the enemy situation to Yang Fawu, who was about to fight, and specified a technical plan, and he reminded him again and again: "Let them see, we Chinese not the 'sick man of East Asia.'" ”
During this period, he also had a samurai accompany Yang Fawu every day.
For this competition, Japan selected four judo masters, one of whom was Jiro Sato, who was invincible in 12 countries. On the day of the competition, reporters from various Japanese newspapers and diplomatic envoys stationed in Japan all came to the scene to watch the battle.
The competition arena is located in the Tokyo Imperial Playground, and this time, Yang Fawu single-handedly hit four Japanese martial artists. Seeing that the emperor's face became very ugly, Zhang Zhijiang smiled lightly: "Your judo and Chinese wrestling are the same mother, how do we learn together and communicate with each other?" ”
When the emperor heard this, his face had a look of joy, zhang Zhijiang said that winning and losing was extremely "light", and at the moment, the emperor felt: This person is a real hero. Therefore, after pondering for a moment, he actually proposed that as long as he was willing to stay in Japan and teach Chinese kung fu, he would be crowned as a great general of the empire.
Zhang Zhijiang laughed after listening to it, "Thanks to the emperor's good intentions, we Chinese warriors only have patriotic skills, and everything else is outside the body." ”
After the end of the trip to Japan, Zhang Zhijiang took people and horses to visit Nanyang, Europe and the United States. Every time they go to a country or region, they perform Chinese martial arts, and each time, they get great recognition.
Zhang Zhijiang (first from left) during his visit to Europe and the United States
In 1936, the 11th Olympic Games were held in Berlin, Germany. Zhang Zhijiang proposed: We should send chinese martial arts athletes to participate in the conference to perform martial arts, so as to promote Chinese martial arts to the world and carry forward national treasures.
Soon, after a round of intense selection, a Chinese martial arts delegation led by Wang Zhengting was formed.
At that Olympic Games, Zhang Wenguang in the delegation performed "Shaolin Fist", Wen Jingming performed "Mian Fist", fu Shuyun performed "Kun wu sword" and "Dharma sword", and the 20-minute martial arts performance shocked the audience. The German Fuehrer also specially ordered someone to record this video with a video camera, and during the performance, he stood up several times and applauded.
This performance marks the first time that a Chinese samurai has truly gone to the world.
In addition to presenting Fu Shuyun and others with the Golden Shield Medal, the Olympic Committee also specially awarded Zhang Zhijiang an Olympic medal with a five-ring monogram, which has always been cherished by him.
Documents of the German Olympic Committee (proving that Zhang Zhijiang was awarded the Olympic Sports Medal)
The following year, in 1937, the National War of Resistance broke out. Ma Yingtu, who was the first to be admitted to the Guoshuguan and later worked as a coach in the Guoshuguan, joined the anti-Japanese team. He joined the 29th Army of Song Zheyuan, an old subordinate of Zhang Zhijiang, and with Song Zheyuan's permission, he began to work as a martial arts instructor for the 29th Army.
Originally, the Northwest Army led by Zhang Zhijiang in the past paid great attention to martial arts, and with the help of Ma Yingtu, the 29th Army practiced knife techniques day and day, so when it went to the battlefield, the Japanese found that in addition to being equipped with guns and grenades, the 29th Army also carried a large knife on its back.
During the Great Wall War of Resistance, the large knife team of the 29th Army was invincible and killed the Japanese army in fear. Chen Yongde, a 19-year-old soldier of the 29th Army, killed 9 Japanese soldiers and captured 13 guns in one person.
After zhang zhijiang learned of these news, he was even more convinced that learning martial arts could temper the hearts of soldiers and chinese people, so that they would be heroic and fearless in self-defense battles.
Later, after reading the relevant reports of the 29th Army, the composer Mai Xin also created the "Big Knife March" (also known as "Big Knife Cuts the Heads of the Devils!"). 》）。
Since the Great Knife Team of the Northwest Army raised its might, Zhang Zhijiang has increasingly regarded the development of the cause of national art as his own responsibility.
Zhang Zhijiang and his wife (second from right, one from right) and Mr. and Mrs. Song Zheyuan (second from left)
In addition to Ma Yingtu, many of the talents cultivated by the Guoshuguan were put into the anti-Japanese team, because of their special status, after they entered the army, they were often assigned to various units as martial arts instructors.
Before the Battle of Taierzhuang, Chi Fengcheng, commander of Sun Lianzhong's 31st Division of the 30th Army, the old subordinate of Zhang Zhijiang and the main force of the Taierzhuang Campaign, wrote to him: Asking twenty talents in the national art and sports to prepare to organize a field service regiment. After Zhang Zhijiang received the letter, he immediately selected 20 people and sent them to Taierzhuang. These twenty people all served as martial arts instructors for the troops.
Sun Lianzhong
In 1946, after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War, the Nationalist government promoted Zhang Zhijiang to general of the army, which was the second time Zhang Zhijiang was awarded the rank of general of the army (the first time was during the Beiyang government). But during this period, his whole mind was still on promoting national art, and he still chose not to participate directly in everything in the military and government.
In 1948, Zhang Zhijiang returned to Shanghai with his family. At this time, like most nationalist generals, he was faced with a major choice in life: whether to go to Taiwan or stay.
Zhang Zhijiang finally chose to stay, because he would continue to promote Chinese martial arts. This year, Zhang Zhijiang was 66 years old.
Zhang Zhijiang took a group photo with his family in his later years
After the founding of New China, Zhang Zhijiang became a member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, because he could receive a living allowance every month, plus his children and grandchildren wrapped around their knees, and his little life was very happy. But in his heart, he still remembered the Guoshu Hall and continued to carry forward the martial arts.
In 1956, when Zhang Zhijiang was in Beijing to participate in a national martial arts performance exchange, he was excited and tired for several days: he fell ill. After the operation of this illness, his health deteriorated.
Four years later, zhang Zhijiang, who was 78 years old, was hospitalized and operated on again. He has since been diagnosed with high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, and heart failure.
Zhang Zhijiang took the last group photo with his wife
In 1966, Zhang Zhijiang died of illness at the age of 84. His daughter said: When he died, he still remembered the promotion of Chinese martial arts...
Zhang Zhijiang's good friend Niu Yongjian once wrote him a couplet, which is undoubtedly the best interpretation of his life:
"Thirty years of heavenly path, twenty years of national art, pray for the salvation of the nation, forty as a marshal, sixty enrollment, create a new type of military circle."
It is a pity that such a heroic figure who once served the country and the people is now known to very few people. But perhaps, Mr. Zhang Zhijiang does not need to be remembered, after all, he has never sought fame and fortune in his life, all he wants is ever the Chinese martial arts, a strong country and a strong species!