The Big Dragon with the Magic Fists
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The Big Dragon with the Magic Fists China's Great Grandmaster Cai Longyun by Gigi Oh and Gene Ching November 13th, 1943, the Phillip Coliseum in Shanghai: The first-ever public match between Chinese and Western fighters is packed to the rafters and the arena is going absolutely nuts. Sitting in the front row is a crowd of non-Chinese, mocking the Chinese martial arts. They are eager to see the Chinese humiliated in the ring and taunt their fighters with jeers and catcalls. The Chinese are worried. Can their venerated fighting arts withstand the bullying of these monstrously-huge foreigners? As the matches begin, a huge 25-year-old internationally-renowned Russian fighter named Marceau Love squares off against a skinny, unknown 14-year-old Chinese boy. The Russian's gargantuan frame makes his white towel look like a napkin. He enters the ring with the carefree attitude of a seasoned fighter, calmly draping his menacing black-gloved meat hooks over the corner ropes. The boy, Cai Yunlong, is far from the picture of a professional. He is dressed in common grey athletic shorts and tiny training kid gloves, and the same white towel looks like a beach towel on him. "Might as well throw it in now, kid," the foreigners laugh hysterically. The Chinese are really worried now. They hate to lose face like this. Round One At the sound of the bell, the referee waves both fighters to the center of the ring. Despite being on Chinese soil, not one of the referees or judges is Chinese. As they stand toe-to-toe, Cai immediately punches the Russian's left ear. The crowd bursts into laughter. This little boy doesn't even know the rules. It's the opening handshake, not time to start fighting yet. The embarrassment quickly passes and the fight starts for real. Cai begins defensively, dodging punches and searching for weaknesses. The Russian attacks with an aggressive left straight punch. Cai turns left, and unleashes a left to the Russian's face. The Russian backpedals to avoid more punches, but Cai strikes the Russian's left leg with a right hook kick, and Love falls. Love gets up. Just as he gets his hands up, Cai closes and kicks him on the left side of the chin, flipping Love into the air. Again, Love falls. Again Love gets up. This time Cai delivers a kick to the right side of Love's chin, and again Love flips through the air to the mat. The ref steps in and gives Love time to recover. Love retaliates with a barrage of head punches. Cai retreats, pivots 360 degrees, and surprises Love with a left kick to the right side of his face. Once more, Love falls. Cai claims the first round. Round Two Love is clearly shaken, so he opens with a vicious combination of hooks and punches. He drives Cai into the turnbuckles. Cai can't counterattack. He can only block. The audience is shouting madly. Cai suddenly ducks under Love's right jab and gets behind him. Love tries to turn but is met with a left back fist that sends him reeling into the ropes. Cai opens up on Love, but the ref breaks them up and brings them back to the center of the ring. Cai feints with a left to the head. Love leans to evade and counters with a right, but Cai sets up a right kick to Love's head. Love drops his head to escape the kick. Cai shifts to a reverse sweep and again Love is lying on the mat. Again, Love gets up. He attacks with a left to the head. Cai blocks with his left elbow and delivers another right kick to Love's head. Love is in the same trap as before. He anticipates the sweep; he jumps. Cai changes it up with a right front kick to the stomach, catching Love in mid air and sending him hurtling to the canvas once more. Now, Love is very slow to rise. Cai attacks with a jumping front kick, but Love catches it and throws Cai. Cai uses the Russian's momentum to flip completely over and land on his feet, unharmed. The audience - Chinese and non-Chinese alike - goes wild at this amazing display of skill. Now everyone is cheering for the skinny teenager. Round Three Love enters the ring defeated. His swagger is gone. The best he can do is block. Cai is pumped up, fighting stronger and faster than in the earlier rounds. In the future, spectators will look back on this fight and compare Cai's fists to shooting stars and his kicks to thunder. Cai throws a left kick just under Love's ear. Love tries to evade by leaning left and turns into a powerful right jab, followed by a knock-out punch to his abs. Love goes down for the count. The whole audience leaps and shouts, tossing their hats in the air and applauding young Cai. Within five minutes, or two-and-a-half rounds, Cai Longyun knocked the Russian kick boxer down thirteen times. Each was a blow of confidence for the Chinese people. Young Cai won the hearts of the Chinese that day, forever earning the nickname "Sheng Quan Da Long" (literally "spirit fist of the big dragon" but commonly translated as "big dragon with the magic fists"). The Dragon who Knocked Out Foreigners Today, over six decades after that historic fight, Cai Yunlong is a retired professor of the Shanghai Physical College and one of the most renowned living masters of all China. In the living room of his modest apartment, only two small black-and-white fight pictures adorn the wall. "All my other pictures and souvenirs were lost during the Cultural Revolution," reflects Cai wistfully in Mandarin. "You know, in the 1940's, many foreigners looked down on Chinese martial arts. It was labeled as ?flowery fists and embroidered legs.' They didn't think we could take a hit from a western boxer. In general, the Chinese were called ?the sick men of Asia.' The foreign boxers publicly challenged Chinese martial artists. Master Wang Ziping and my father, Cai Guiqing, chose eight of us students to enter the competition." Those fights were not divided into weight classes. Matches were selected by random drawing. It was three two-minute rounds, with a one-minute break in between. Fighters could use hands and legs to strike above the waist and to the head. Only hooks and sweeps were allowed below the waist; heel kicks and side kicks were prohibited. It was a gloved fight. A landed punch or kick earned one point; a take-down earned three. Fighters had a ten-count to get up or they forfeited the match. "The results of 1943 fight were that Chinese won five bouts, drew one, and lost two," recounts Cai. "We should have won all eight fights but referees were all foreigners and the rules were set by them as well. After they counted the ?points,' we lost two and had the one draw. I knew my only guarantee of winning was to knock out my opponent. My punches are fast, ruthless, heavy and accurate." Of Cai's two remaining photos, the one on the left is from the second fight. "Three years later - 1946 - they set up another fight between me and the world heavyweight champion "Black Lion" Luther. I won both fights by knock outs." The Birth of a Dragon Cai Yunlong was born in 1928 in Shanghai, China. His father, Cai Guiqing, was a well- known martial arts master, a philosopher and an educator. His family came from Shandong Jinling where martial arts are woven into the fabric of daily life. Hua Quan, Cha Quan and Hong Quan are popular styles here. Cai began learning from his father at age four. At that time, his dad was teaching in the Shanghai Martial Arts Club and Jing Wu Association. "I started training with kicks, back and waist stretches like bridge bending, pressing leg stretches, stances and so on," recalls Cai. "Later I learned Hua Quan, Shaolin, Xingyi and Taiji." His father was very strict and focused on the basics. "My father would make me stand in horse stance, often holding weights, for at least half an hour before a break. Two hundred to three hundred kicks were the minimum requirement." If Cai didn't perform perfectly, his father would beat him with a stick until it became perfect. "At that time, I couldn't understand my father's approach - it was wang zi cheng long ("to look at a child becoming a dragon"). I even doubted if he was my real father and thought about running away from home many times. I was only stopped by my mother's love." But it was this strict discipline that forged a mighty warrior. His father often inspired him with stories of Chinese revolutionaries like Sun Yatsen who the elder Cai had met and followed to Guangzhou. He also told his son of Qiu Jin who fought with her life for democracy. The walls of their home were covered with portraits of martial heroes like Yue Fei, Qi Jiguang, Shi Kefa, Xue Rengui and others. Cai was taught to be proud of his Chinese heritage and was often guided by the ancient Chinese saying, "shi nian mo yi jian" ("it takes ten years to polish one sword"). It took ten years of training to prepare Cai for his first challenge match against that Russian fighter. Despite his celebrated victories, Cai's career followed the scholarly path over the martial one.