The Forgotten Master Who Rivaled Huo Yuanjia and Lived to 119 吕紫剑

In 1920, a foreign shipping company hired a Japanese martial artist for a duel against China. A 27-year-old master accepted the challenge, and defeated him using a technique that hardly anyone practices today. His name, Lu Zijian. He lived to be 119 years old. But before I tell you how he did it, you need to understand something. Lu Zijian was no stranger. He was one of the three great swordsmen of the late Qing dynasty, alongside He Yuanjia and Du Xingwu. And his story begins long before that duel. He was born in 1893 in Yichang, Hubei, into a family with a martial arts tradition. He began studying under his mother at the age of seven. He traveled to Beijing, Mount Wudang, and Mount Emei, learning from various masters. At the age of 18, he trained with Li Changye, Later, he moved to Chongqing to study Chongqing under Li Guotao. That wide-ranging training, Wudang, Emei, Beijing, Chongqing, is key. Because Lu Zijian didn't master just one style, he fused them all. Competition at the Wuhua Terrace in Nanjing, 1920. Lu Zijian, age 27, wins the championship. That victory marks the end of his apprenticeship, and the beginning of his own school. But the moment that turned him into a legend didn't happen in Nanjing. It happened on the Yangtze River. The Minsheng Transport Company, founded by entrepreneur Lu Zhuofu, foreign shipping companies paid a large sum to hire a Japanese martial artist to face him. Lu Zijian accepted the challenge. He used the eight-trigram chain palm to defeat him. From then on, he was known as the great hero of the Yangtze River, on par with Huiyuanjia, the great hero of Tianjin, and Du Xinwu, the great hero of Guangdong. This was taking place at a time of intense tension between China and foreign powers. Duels were part of that atmosphere. Lu Zijian was not fighting against a country, he was fighting against a specific opponent in a specific ring. In 1924, after helping Lu Zhuofu win in the ring, the Minsheng Company offered him the position of Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors. Lu Zijian refused on the spot. His only condition was that impoverished individuals carrying letters written by him be exempted from paying the fare and be given five silver coins upon arrival to cover expenses. He created his own technique, the Fire Dragon Palm. 1979. Elected as a member of the Chongqing Municipal Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. 1982. Won the Golden Lion Award at the National Elite Martial Arts Tournament. 1986. Invited by the International Qigong Association to serve as a Senior Advisor. He served as General Advisor and Vice President of the Wutang Martial Arts Development Center in California, USA. He passed away in 2012 at the age of 119. His family held a very simple, private funeral. When the news spread online, representatives from the Chinese Martial Arts Association and the Chongqing Martial Arts Association, along with numerous figures from the martial arts world, came to pay their respects. Actor O Lihao, his disciple since 2007, became emotional as he recounted how he had wanted to invite him to see the film The Grandmaster of the Eight Trigrams, but that wish was never fulfilled. Many directors, both domestic and international, wanted to bring his life story to the screen. It never happened, because Liu Zijian maintained a humble and private lifestyle. Liu Zijian lived to be 119. He defeated rivals in the ring. He turned down the chance to be a millionaire. And he never wanted his story turned into a movie, perhaps because he knew that the greatest legend is not the one that is told, but the one that is lived.