9th Duan holders

[Taijiren]

Can anyone direct me to a list of China's 9th Duan holders? Preferably a list with both their names and styles (and short bio would be even better!)

[brothernumber9]

why would you ask a KUNG FU forum about a list of 9th Duan (Dan)?!?

[Oso]

actually, there is a list, saw it once a long time ago but can't remember where.

it listed like, 7th, 8th, and 9th duan levels for particular people.

seemed like a chinese govornment thing

[GeneChing]

...I can't remember which issue though. It'll come to me.

Meanwhile, we've done cover stories on two 9 duan masters. See our articles on Ma Xianda in our Nov/Dec 2002 and Cai Longyun in our issue on stands now (Nov/Dec 2005)

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

i have 10 9th dans.

i'm a fu cking badass.

[GeneChing]

The early 9 duan holders are Cai Longyun, He Fusan (deceased), Liu Yunhua (deceased) Ma Xianda & Zhang Wenguang. The next group of 9 duan holders were established recently: Wu Bin, Pang Lingtai, Cang Shouyan, Lu Zijian, Qu Pixan & Liu Yuhua.

[Oso]

Gene, was it a govornment appointment type thing like I'm remembering?

[GeneChing]

...but you have to remember that PRC's organization of martial arts and the duan system is very different then what you might imagine. Of course, it's very political. The national duan system is divided by government levels. 1-3 is city or muncipal, 4-6 is provincial, and 7-9 is national. That being said, all the 9 duans are quite extraordinary, given the huge population of China and that there are only a few of them. When the duan system was initiated, there were only three 9 duans. Also, Shaolin has it's own independant duan system. I've heard of some organizations outside of China that have established there own duan system too, ironically going to 10th duan, which doesn't make sense from a Chinese cultural standpoint. Anyway, we've been trying to get all the 9 duan holders in the mag for some time now. It's one of our longterm goals. All the 9 duan masters are absolutely fascinating. And before anyone jumps on these guys as being wushu, note that they are all old men, trained from childhood. That means that their foundations are all traditional, given their age. They are all treasures to the field of CMA.

[Oso]

Thanks, Gene.

Organization is organization. From a govornment standpoint that stratification totally makes sense.

The 10th level thing has to do with the idea that '10' is perfect in some way????
Just recently read a reference to that so I don't really get it as a concept.

[brothernumber9]

Ahh I see

I thought it was a karate thing. So I learned something. Now I know.




And knowing is half the battle.

"G.I. Joooooeeeee, A Real American Heroooe"

[GunnedDownAtrocity]

yeah but to win the battle you still have to be completely ****ing badass. like me.

[GeneChing]

The 'perfect 10' notion is very western, which is why I made my comment above. Number 9 is held in more regard in Chinese culture. It's the number of the Emperor, the highest single digit (keep in mind, the one thing China didn't invent was zero). If you visit the Forbidden City, it's all laid out in patterns of nines. Anyway, that's why 9th duan is the highest.

Take a look at the cover stories I posted above to get a better sense of who a few of the 9 duans are. They are real heavy hitters in the CMA world. As for the rest of the duan system under 9, the 8's are interesting, the 7's aren't as interesting, below that there are just too many to keep track of. We've done some feature stories on some of the other 9 duans, but I'd have to dig for them.

[Taijiren]

Have you done any articles on Zhang Wenguang?

[Oso]

Thanks, Gene.

[GeneChing]

I've never written anything on GM Zhang Wenguang, but it looks like we'll be doing something for our following issue - watch for the Mar Apr 2011.

RIP Zhang Wenguang

In our upcoming issue, January February 2011, there's an updated list of all the 9 duan masters. There are almost 40 now, including the three deceased.