Definition of Five Ancestors Fist and Its Origin   五祖拳和它的来历
　

The Five Ancestors Fist (Wu Zu Quan) is a martial art that comprises five different sects:
1. Mysterious Goddess Fist (Xuan Nu Quan): A soft style of fighting, which is characterized by being relaxed immediately before and after attacking, maintaining contact with the opponent and sticking to him like glue yet soft as cotton, and shaking the body with an electricity-like force.
2. The Bodhidarma Fist (Da Mo/ Da Zun Quan): Named after the first Bodhidarma, who came to China from India to impart health-preservation exercises to the Chinese people (these exercises were incorporated into existing Chinese exercises and were later known as Shaolin martial arts and Qi Gong). The footwork of the Bodhidarma fist is a front-bow back-arrow horse stance. The arms are like iron, the hands and palms are like those of a dragon playing with water, and the advancing-attack is like entering through a side door.
3. Great Ancestor Fist (Tai Zu Quan): The characteristic of this fist style is its solidness and hardness, the stance is that of the “character eight” horse stance, the arms are like iron, the twisting of the abdomen is like a tiger claw, the legs are like iron sticks, and the body is like a copper wall and iron shield. The advancing step is like a live dragon and tiger, with a force that looks as if it cannot be blocked. A student who wishes to study this fist will not be able to succeed without 3 to 5 years of dedicated practice. Attacking and defending moves are executed simultaneously. Although it seems you are working with hard (stiff) stems and leaves, their transitions between movements are smooth. Beginners must study arduously.
4. Monkey Fist (Hou Quan):
5. Crane Fist (He Quan): “The essence of the crane is the feet.” The characteristic of this fist is as follows: the eyes are quicker than the hands, the steps are quicker than the eyes, the footwork IS the movement of the body itself.

The Monkey Fist focuses on the hands while the Crane Fist focuses on the feet. The
Mysterious Goddess Fist emphasies the twisting of the body and using the energy of the shoulder blade. The Bodhidarma Fist focuses on Dan Tian (abdomen) and the stance is front-bow and back-arrow stance. The Great Ancestor Fist focuses on the training of body and the stance is “character eight” stance.
The principles, hand movement and footwork of each of the five ancestral masters’ fists are unique in style in its own way. Master Chai combined, refined, and transformed them into a new fist style known as the Five Ancestors Fist. Master Chai wanted to advance his martial art skills and heard that Master He Yang, a skillful martial art master from Shangdong province, was living in Zhangzhou city, Fujian. Master Chai visited Mater He and became his deciple. When Master Chai mastered the skill Master He Yang was already old and suffered from chronic illness. Not long after, Master He passed away. His wife (Chai’s Shimu, or wife of Shifu) wanted to return to Shandong so Chai escorted her home. Upon her return, out of gratitude she taught him how to treat traumatic injuries using bone-setting and herbal medicine.
After bidding his Shimu farewell, Master Chai returned to Zhangzhou and heard about a martial art expert, who was the wife of an official. She specializes in fighting skills on the ground, that is turning a disadvantageous situation to an advantageous one. So Master Chai learned from her.
The new style of martial arts combines the Northern and Southern sects and becomes more aggressive and powerful. And it is now known as “Wu Zu He Yang Quan” （Five Ancestors He Yang Fist）.