Yun-Qiao Liu, A.K.A. Xiao-chen Liu, a native to Jibeitou Village, Cangzhou, Hebei Province, was the last disciple of Sue-Wen Li in Ba-Ji-Quan. Mastering Ba-Ji-Quan, Tang-lang Quan and Ba-gua Palm, Liu was called the “Little Chief”. In Cangzhou, where he was born, there was a saying by “Zhang of Nanpi and Liu of Beitou”, meaning that from Zhang family of Nanpi, Cangzhou, came ministers like Zi-dong Zhang, while from Liu family of Jibeitou Village came military governors like Zi-yi Liu, father of Master Yun-Qiao Liu, and Zi-jei, his uncle.
Liu joined the army to fight against the Japanese invasion in his prime of life and moved around massively in China; he subsequently came to Taiwan with the military and had not taken disciples until he was discharged. Liu initiated the Wu Tan Kung Fu Promotion Center (“Wu Tan”) and founded the “Ba-Ji-Quan Association” and the “Straight Sword Art Association”, among other institutions. He was still training his disciples rigorously in the last decade of his life, because he was concerned over the dying out of this art.
Bibliography
Dictation by Master Chen, Chi-wen
Wang, Shih-chuan (2006), Rare legend of Ba-Ji-Quan. Taipei City: Da Chan Publishing Co.
Ji, Chao-hua (2002), Ji’s Ba-Ji-Quan. Taipei City: KOFU Publishing Co.
Chen, Kuan-yu (2011), Family tree of Ba-Ji-Men. Unpublished.
