Professor Jiang Hao-Quan

Professor Jiang Hao-Quan was born in January 1916, in Chang Chou City, Kiangsu Province. He is a famous contemporary martial artist who has over 60 years of martial arts teaching experience, and has devoted his whole life to Chinese and Western boxing and the classical weapons. In the 1940's, he defeated over ten boxing masters from China, England, United States of America, Russia and Portugal. He was named the "Chinese boxing champion" and the "Living Yuan-Jia Huo." In the 1980's he was appointed the "Head Coach of Zhongnanhai Central Guards," and trained many senior guards for the country. He was also the coach of the contemporary "Forbidden Corps." Jiang Hao-Quan has also been a champion Spring Board Diver, an acrobat, a gymnast and body builder.

Jiang Hao-Quan began studying martial arts at the age of 4, studying Shao Yao Chang (Hsiao Yao Chang) with one of his uncles. While still very young, Jiang Hao-Quan's mother met a monk at the local temple that she regularly attended. The monk was skilled at Shao Yao Chang also, and taught the art to Jiang. Later while Jiang was attending the Chang Chou middle school, one of his teachers there, noticed Jiang's athletic abilities. That teacher was a member of the first graduating class at the Nanjing Central Martial Arts Academy (Nanjing Chung Yang Kuo Shu Kuan), and made an arrangement for Jiang to take an admission test to enter the Nanjing Academy's youth level. So at the age of 15, in the summer of 1932, Jiang took and passed the test for admission into the Nanjing Central Martial Arts Academy. He entered the academy's youth level as a full time student. The curriculum at the school was divided into two main categories, Shaolin styles (including Shaolin boxing, Cha Ch'uan, Tan Tui, and Pa Chi) and Wu Tang styles (including Tai Chi Ch'uan, Hsing-I Ch'uan, Pa Kua Chang, and Liu Ho Pa Fa), plus the academic studies. Full time students had to complete the entire four year course of study. Jiang completed his four years, specializing in Shaolin Ch'uan, Hsing-I Ch'uan, Pa Kua Chang, Tai Chi Ch'uan, San Shou (Free Fighting), Pao T'ing Shuai Chiao (Swift-Throw Chinese Wrestling), Boxing, Solo and Matching forms. He graduated with honors in 1936. Jiang Hao-Quan has been practicing and studying the martial arts for over 75 years, and has been teaching them for over 60 years.

Jiang Hao-Quan has been fortunate enough to have had access to many of the best teachers of 20th century China. While attending the Nanjing academy, he was the student of three different Pa Kua Chang teachers. All three of them (Huang Bo-Nien, Jiang Rong-Qiao, and Yin Yu-Zhang) were third generation practitioners in the lineage of Dong Hai-Ch'uan (credited as the originator of Pa Kua Chang). As part of the curriculum at the academy, two different Pa Kua Chang forms were taught - Lao Pa Chang and Ch'uan Shi Pa Kua Chang. Jiang Hao-Quan learned the Lao Pa Chang (old eight palms), the traditional Pa Kua Chang form, from Jiang Rong-Qiao which he learned from his teacher Zhang Zhao-Dong; he learned Lung Hsing Pa Kua Chang (Dragon Form Eight Diagram Palm) from Huang Bo-Nien which Huang learned from his teacher Li Cun-Yi; and Jiang learned Pa Kua Chang San Shou (Eight Diagram Palm Free Fighting) techniques from Yin Yu-Zhang which he learned from his teacher Yin Fu who was his father. Huang Bo-Nien also taught Hsing-I Ch'uan to Jiang Hao-Quan.