1. Huo Yuanjia, courtesy name Junqing, was a Chinese martial artist and co-founder of the Chin Woo Athletic Association, a martial arts school in Shanghai.
24 Facts About Huo Yuanjia
1. 2.
Huo Yuanjia was born in Xiaonanhe Village in Jinghai County, Tianjin, as the fourth of Huo Yuanjia Endi's ten children.
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The family's main source of income was agriculture, but Huo Yuanjia Endi made a living by escorting merchant caravans to Manchuria and back.
4.
Huo Yuanjia had asthma and, at an early age, contracted jaundice, which would recur periodically for the rest of his life.
5.
Huo Yuanjia Endi hired Chen Seng-ho, a tutor from Japan, to teach his son academics and moral values.
6.
Huo Yuanjia still desired to learn wushu, against his father's wishes, so he observed his father teaching his students martial arts in the day and secretly practised at night with Chen.
7.
One day, while escorting a group of monks, Huo Yuanjia was confronted by a group of bandits, who threatened to attack the monks.
8.
In 1896, Huo Yuanjia went to Tianjin and made a living there by working as a porter in the Huaiqing pharmacy and by selling firewood.
9.
In 1902, Huo Yuanjia responded to a challenge advertised by a Russian wrestler in Xiyuan Park, Tianjin.
10.
The Russian forfeited when Huo Yuanjia accepted his challenge and told Huo Yuanjia that he was merely putting on a performance to make a living and apologised for his earlier remark in the newspaper.
11.
Between 1909 and 1910, Huo Yuanjia travelled to Shanghai twice to accept an open challenge posed by an Irish boxer, Hercules O'Brien.
12.
Huo Yuanjia's victory was a great inspiration to the Chinese people and had them questioning the basis of imperialistic dominance.
13.
Between 1909 and 1910, Huo Yuanjia founded the Chin Woo Physical Training Centre with his close friend Nong Jinsun, who served as the president of the association.
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Huo Yuanjia was encouraged by his close friends and was sponsored by Sun Yat-sen and Song Jiaoren, who were living in Tokyo.
15.
Huo Yuanjia suffered from jaundice and tuberculosis and started seeing a Japanese physician for medication and treatment.
16.
The historian Chen Gongzhe, who was one of Huo Yuanjia's students, believed that the cause of his master's death was hemoptysis.
17.
Chen wrote that Huo Yuanjia was introduced to a Japanese physician by the judo instructor as his health declined.
18.
The physician prescribed some medicine for his condition, but Huo Yuanjia's health continued to deteriorate.
19.
Huo Yuanjia was admitted to the Shanghai Red Cross Hospital, where he died two weeks later.
20.
However, it is difficult to ascertain whether Huo Yuanjia's death was caused by malicious poisoning or by the prescription of medicine.
21.
Huo Yuanjia died months after co-founding the Chin Woo Athletic Association.
22.
Huo Yuanjia's life has been adapted into films and television series.
23.
Huo Yuanjia is secretly poisoned to death by foreigners, usually the Japanese, who see him as a threat to their exploitation of China.
24.
Huo Yuanjia brings his teacher's murderers to justice and ensures that Huo's legacy, the Jingwu School and "Jingwu Spirit", continues to live on.