Taiwanese martial artist Han Jixiang interpreted the word “xia” as: the “ren” on the left side represents people standing tall and upright; the “jia” on the right side, like adults leading children, with the middle adult being down-to-earth, the horizontal line representing bearing responsibility, while also having benevolence, righteousness, and caring for others.
Han Jixiang is the third-generation heir of the Han-style Long Fist, and has long been dedicated to teaching martial arts. In August of this year, with the wish to pass on traditional martial arts, he went to the United States to participate in the 9th “NTD World Chinese Traditional Martial Arts Competition,” ultimately winning the silver award.
Han Jixiang said that his initial motivation for participating in the NTD traditional martial arts competition was to fulfill his daughter’s wish. At first, his daughter Han Aini was eager to participate upon seeing the promotion of the competition. His aunt, who settled in the United States, is also one of his martial arts mentors, so Han Jixiang readily agreed. “Let her (aunt) see that the Han family has successors,” he said. “You passed on your skills to me back then, now I am passing them on to my daughter.”
Just a month before Han Jixiang prepared to go to the U.S., he was unexpectedly diagnosed with cancer and required surgery. “It was like a bolt from the blue for me, as all my plans came to a halt.” However, Han Jixiang did not give up on participating in the competition. He told himself, “As a father, as a coach, can I just give up like this? Martial arts teaches us that in the face of difficulties, should I not continue bravely forward?”
Han Jixiang actively underwent surgery and rehabilitation, finally being able to cross the ocean and step onto the martial arts competition stage. He believes that this courage was brought to him by the spirit of martial arts. His teacher taught him, “Your biggest enemy is never someone else, it’s always your past self.” So this experience made Han Jixiang realize that the focus is not on winning or losing in the competition, but on how to face oneself again after falling down and bravely standing up.
Setting an example, he embarked on the journey to the U.S. with his daughter and students. In this competition, Han Jixiang won the silver award in the men’s apparatus group, while his daughter Han Aini and student Chen Yinheng respectively won the silver and bronze awards in the youth boxing group.
In an age dominated by martial arts films, many people have a “martial arts dream” in their hearts, and Han Jixiang is no exception. However, it wasn’t until he truly practiced martial arts that he discovered his grandfather Han Qingtang was a martial arts grandmaster during the Republic of China era. “But the inheritance was lost in our generation, and there was a gradual gap. So I wanted to reclaim what was lost.”
Thus, Han Jixiang embarked on the long journey to find the family’s martial arts heritage. “That’s how I traveled around the world to find my grandfather’s disciples, to bring back what was slowly lost.”
When learning martial arts from those martial uncles, he also encountered confusion, as “the same set of fists, the taught movements were not quite the same.” At the same time, he discovered that “everyone made changes, but the core techniques remained unchanged.” Han Jixiang was like an organizer and researcher, finding the most original elements in the family’s martial arts, “organizing them, and we found the source.”
Today, Han Jixiang has fulfilled his dream of recovering the Han family’s martial arts, but he has set himself a new goal: “The next dream is to pass it on, to pass it on for generations to come.” He not only continues to study martial arts, but also teaches at his own school, passing on the Han family martial arts to the next generation.
For Han Jixiang, this competition was not only about exchanging martial arts skills but also a journey of cultural dissemination and inheritance.
“I hope to let more people know about traditional martial arts through my story and understand how wonderful it is.”
He finally expressed sincerely, “Let’s join hands together, using martial arts for fitness, for cultivating virtues, for practice, for enlightenment. Let’s together pass down the wisdom and precious spirit of our ancestors.”