WANG YEN-NIEN TALKS ABOUT ZHANG QINLIN

An interview by Sam Tomarchio
Translated by Julia Fisher-Fairchild
(Volume 3, NO. 2, FALL 1995)

Zhang Qinlin came from a very poor family and did not have much of a family life. When he was young (about 12 years old) he went to the Yang family compound. He lived in Hebei, which was not far from Yongnian where Yang Luchan's family originated. In earlier times, those practicing the martial arts had to find a school with a good name. Why? Because if you came out of that school then your skills would be appreciated by the people. And so because Zhang Laoshi was close by to where the (famous) Yang family was located, that is where he went.

At that time, the head of the family was Yang Jianhou [Luchan's son]. Yang Chengfu [Jianhou's son] was also there practicing. When Zhang Laoshi (or whoever) was accepted by the Yangs, it did not mean that you started off studying with a teacher right away. First, students had to work doing manual labor and other tasks around the compound. For example, if guests came, they served tea and ran errands. If the teaching area needed cleaning up, sweeping, keeping things in order, etc., those were jobs for the students. They were responsible for anything that needed to be done. That was step one. Once they passed that stage, then Yang Chengfu would be responsible for taking them through their training steps. It was not something you could complete in two years or so. Probably ten years was a typical cycle of how long it took to go through everything and reach the stage where you had pretty much learned all you needed to learn. The teacher decided what it was you needed to be successful. Then after you were trained (and refined) and had learned the necessary things, then you were ready to go out into the world.

Zhang Laoshi's physique was unusual not like the average person's. He wasn't particularly tall, but was broad with very, very big hands and feet. They often talk about martial artists in terms of "material". And we could say he was a strange material an unusual rnaterial. It is very difficult to find this type of material. Because he had an exceptional physique, everyone worked extra hard in helping him train, and hoped he would be a good representative of the Yang family teachings. Zhang Laoshi was honorable in the way he was with other people. He worked hard and could take a lot of pressure -- he did not bend under pressure. Because he could work hard and pressure did not seem to affect him; he was able to take on things under dire conditions. He trained hard and well. Imperceptibly, without realizing how it happened, he seemed to get better than the other students -yet they all had the same training. But he was humble and did not feel that he was that good or all that much better than his fellow classmates. And so, because of his humble nature, he worked even harder. He obtained pointers from Jianhou and Chengfu, but was led through his basic training by Chengfu by practicing together, working with other students, and so forth. He advanced quickly. Nobody really knew how, since he received the same teachings and was taught the same things as everyone else. It was just that he had this unusual physique and was able to withstand long periods of training.

When I say unusual physique, I mean that he had great potential from the physical point of view. He had a very thick and wide body. The average person did not have hands the size of his hands. When practicing, these aspects were magnified.

At this time, Yang Jianhou was elderly, and Yang Chengfu was in charge of most things and managed the family compound. Often people would come to "knock on the door" and want to challenge someone from the Yang family to fight. Usually the average person who went there to issue a challenge was not a big problem -- the average student was able to hold their own with them. But one time, as I mentioned in my book¹, there was a famous martial artist traveling from the south of China to the north, knocking on all the doors of different schools challenging and defeating each one. And one day he knocked on the Yang family door. When the students heard who it was, everyone looked at each other, wondering who was going to go out. Nobody went out. Nobody was willing to go out. This looked bad for Yang Chengfu, because if he then did not go out when a challenge was issued, it would be worse. It was at this moment that Zhang Qinlin, of all the students, stepped forward and said he would go out. The other students felt a sigh of relief, and thought that if Zhang lost or did poorly then it was his own business. But if he won, then it was everyone's good fortune. So Zhang Laoshi went out to meet the challenger.

Who was this person? His name was Wan Mou², and he was renowned for his speed. When Zhang Qinlin came out the door and not Yang Chengfu, who he really wanted, Wan said: What are you coming out for? I called on your teacher to come out. At the very least one of the senior students should come out. Zhang said: It is not necessary. You are not even up to their level of gongfu. The implication was that Zhang's was just a very average kind of gongfu, and if Wan could beat Zhang, then a more senior student would come out. So Wan realized there was no way around this. He looked at Zhang Qinlin and saw that he wasn't very tall (about my height or a little taller), not fat but wide and thick, with big hands and feet, and wondered: how could his hands and feet be so big? Because Wan had already defeated all the major schools in the south, he didn't think he would have any trouble in the north either.

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