Masters · Lineages · Texts
Chinese Martial Arts
Resource Center
A record of the masters who carried Chinese martial arts out of China — their lineages, their texts, and the paths they took across North America, Japan, and Europe.
- 1997
- Founded
- 29+
- Years of Archive
- 5
- Systems Documented
- 481+
- Historical References
The Archive
A record, not a brochure.
CMARC is an independent digital archive, kept by people who practice these arts. Its purpose is to record the masters who carried Chinese martial arts beyond China — the lineages they held, the texts they taught from, and the routes they took into North America, Japan, and Europe. Recording the history is recording the transmission. Every document in the archive is sourced, dated, and cross-referenced.
Martial Arts Traditions
All traditions →Martial Arts System
Choy Li Fut
Choy Li Fut is a southern Chinese martial art founded by Chan Heung in 1836. It blends northern and southern methods; its history, lineage, forms, and weapons.
Southern long-range power techniques and complete weapons curriculum
Martial Arts System
Yang Style Tai Chi
Yang Style Tai Chi is the most widely practiced Tai Chi tradition, founded by Yang Luchan and shaped by Yang Chengfu. Its history, forms, and classics.
Large-frame form, pushing hands, and the Tai Chi classics
System · The Light-Skill Arts
Qing Gong
Qing gong (輕功) is the Chinese martial training of balance, vaulting, climbing and landing — its recorded methods, its real limits, and the legends built on top.
飛檐走壁 wall work, pile and rope balance, jumping pits, silent landing; popularly misrepresented as flight
The 5 systems in the record, latest first. Read them all →
Featured Masters
All masters →1862–1934
Li Shuwen
Li Shuwen (1862–1934), the Divine Spear of Cangzhou, shaped Bajiquan's most influential lines. His life, the county-gazette record, and his students' transmission.
Known for: Six-Harmonies great spear; Bajiquan transmission; the Cangzhou gazette record
July 11, 1883–March 3, 1936
Yang Chengfu
Yang Chengfu (1883–1936) fixed the Yang large frame and carried Tai Chi south to the public. Life, books, and lineage, restored from dated sources.
Known for: The large frame · the Ten Essentials · the 1934 photographic book
1806–1875
Chan Heung
Chan Heung (1806–1875), courtesy name Ziying, founded Choy Li Fut in 1836 under teachers Chan Yuen Wu, Li Yau San, and Choy Fook. Life, lineage, and sources.
Known for: Founding Choy Li Fut in 1836
The Archive
Visit the archive →1997
The First Web Records
English-language pages on Choy Li Fut and Yang family Tai Chi appear online, when material of this kind was scarce for non-Chinese readers.
2000s
Citation Record
Encyclopedias and researchers begin citing three of those pages at their original addresses — the lineage studies that made them reference works.
2010s
Translations Accumulate
Translations of the Tai Chi classics, with source texts and translator’s notes, join the historical notes already in circulation.
2020s
Systematic Preservation
The record is re-established as an independent scholarly archive: sources dated, claims attributable, legacy addresses kept alive.
Research & Theory
All theory →Concept
Wuji
Wuji (無極) — the limitless state before yin and yang separate. Three traditions, one text (「無極而太極」), and the standing practice it names.
Concept
Standing Meditation
Standing meditation (站樁) — the post practice: Wang Xiangzhai's embrace posture, the Bajiquan two-powers post, and the stillness before Taiji.
Concept
Push Hands
Push hands (推手, tuishou) is Tai Chi's two-person practice: listening energy, the eight gates, the classic Da Shou Ge, and the rules that govern contact.
Concept
Four-Character Secret
The Four-Character Secret (四字秘诀) of Wu Yuxiang — spread, cover, match, swallow — with the Lianrangtang text, five generations of commentary, and practice.
Notes from the Archive
All notes →Three Sayings, One Lamp: Remembering Liang Yiquan
Liang Yiquan (1931-2026), the Shaolin master who rebuilt modern Shaolin wushu, died on September 14. Three sayings trace the life; one lamp closes the account.
Translation Notes: Wu Yuxiang's Four-Character Secret
Working notes on translating Wu Yuxiang's Four-Character Secret (四字秘訣) into English — what each character demands of the translator.
Re-digitizing the Nine Dragon Trident Page: A Restoration Note
How the 1998 Nine Dragon Trident study was recovered from archived captures, checked line by line, and restored to its original address.
About CMARC
A quiet archive with a long memory.
The Chinese Martial Arts Resource Center is an independent archive. It documents how these traditions were taught, transmitted, and practiced across North America — and cites its sources. Where it draws on the records of a particular school, it names the school and dates the material; it does not speak for it.
Read about the archive’s history