Shanghaiist traveled to Xiamen this past weekend. On our more-pleasant-than-usual China Eastern Airlines flight, we noticed an extra special article in the "The Shanghai Tale" section of the in-flight magazine. This article chronicles the life of Lu Songgao (卢嵩高, 1875-1961), a master of the wushu discipline of martial arts.

Master Lu, a Hunan native of the Hui minority, began practising wushu as a teenager and, after rising to prominence as an armed escort, moved to Shanghai and opened a school to teach both wushu and "morals". Lu is credited with popularizing a form of wushu known as both xinyiquan (心意拳) and xingyiquan (形意拳), a style whose founding is credited to the famous Chinese general of the Song Dynasty, Yue Fei (岳飞).

Three famous events that highlight Master Lu's illustrious life are detailed below, excerpted from the in-flight magazine:

During the Japan and Puppet Army Times, a boxer from Henan Province was ill-affected on hearing Master Lu's fame. One evening he came to challenge Lu, only to be thrown out of the door by a simple action of Lu. The challenger was ashamed of his thorough defeat and left without a word.
After the Anti-Japanese Aggression War was ended, there were many American soldiers in Shanghai, and they were very insolent. One day upon seeing two American soldiers waving their fists on the road to frighten passersby, Master Lu was irritated and decided to give them a lesson. He slowly approached to the two soldiers with hands hidden in the sleeves. Before they could realize what happened, the two fell to the ground immediately after Lu moved his crotch a little bit.

After liberation, Master Lu was often invited to perform wushu for some wushu amateurs. Once his performance deeply impressed a special audience -- Master Haideng, another great master of wushu. Haideng paid a visit to Lu the second day and Lu also paid a return visit afterwards.


As you can see, Master Lu performed many noble feats and deeply impressed the lives of many Chinese citizens. He also left many American soldiers crying on the ground with small movements of his crotch.

Master Lu, Shanghaiist salutes you!