Wu Yihui

Wu Yik Fan - Wu I-Hui (1887-1961)

Wu Yik Fan was originally from Tieling in Northeast China, but later lived in Beijing. He was from a scholar and official family and a man of good nature who had strong martial art talents. he was also well versed in calligraphy and painting, enjoying social life and travel.

In 1896, his father took a government position in Pien-Liang (Kiafang) and his family moved there as a result, where he studied all styles of martial arts and weaponry, such as Liu Ho Ba Fa, Three Positions Twelve Stances, and the earliest Taoist Sleeping Chi Kung of Chen Tuan. Two years later, he studied under Master Chen Kuang Ti and his skills were greatly improved.

In 1905, Master Wu was admitted to the Military Academy of Baoding. On weekends, he went to the Temple of The Goddess of Mercy in the suburbs where Grand Master Chen Huolu taught him the secrets of martial arts.

In 1928, Master Wu started to teach martial arts at the South Senior High School in Shanghai. The following year he was transferred to Shuwei Public School. The YMCA in the Eight Immortals Bridge District in Shanghai in 1932 hired him as their martial arts director.

In 1936, (at the request of general Chang Chi Kung) took the provost position at the National Martial Arts Association, Nanking. When Japan invaded China, he left first to Kunming and then Guiling, from where he was invited by the Vietnamese government to demonstrate Chinese martial arts in Hanoi.

The Sino-Japanese war ended in 1945, Master Wu returned to Shanghai and taught martial arts again. He had students from various provinces in China as well as from Hong Kong, Singapore, South East Asia, Brazil, England and the United States. Meanwhile, the City of Shanghai made him a member (director) of the Department of Literature and History.

Master Wu dedicated his life to martial arts and educated students in the thousands. Other people might not know of his talents, and equally so, he never intended to show his talents to them either.

He died on March 29, 1961 in Shanghai at the age of 73.

The creator of I Chuan, Wong Heng Chai (Wang Xiang-zhai), (1927) once referred to Master Wu by saying " I have travelled throughout the country, competing with nearly a thousand people, there is but two and half people who possess true martial skills, Hunan's Dai Tit Fu, Shanghai's Wu Yik Fan and (the half being) an White Crane exponent from Fukien (who engaged with him evenly)."

(biographical excerpts taken from "History of Chinese Martial Arts" published 1996, Yellow Mountain Press, People's Republic of China)

External link: History of Liu Ho Pa Fa, including Wu I-Hui