On 1^st - 3^rd Jan last year (2004), Master Zhu Baode had flown to Spain to conduct an invitational Baji seminar. During the seminar, there were form demonstrations as well as free sparring sessions. Master Zhu demonstrated his Bajiquan form as well as Feng Mo (berserk devil) Staff 疯魔棍 form, to the loud applause of the spectators. Unknown to them, he had won gold medals competing with these 2 forms in the HK International Wushu Invitational in Feb 2003. Besides Bajiquan, Master Zhu also instructed the participants and enthusiasts in the Miao (2-handed) Saber 苗刀 form (see below).

However, what I want to report to the readers is of course not the form instruction, but the fateful meeting of Master Zhu with the legendary Rafael Matute in free sparring. As we all know, Matute (Martin), the Venezuelan disciple of Master Su had his name immortalized by winning the championship 7 times in Muaythai World Tournaments. And Master Zhu could sense that the audience was waiting for none other than the invincible Matute, even though the sparring session was delayed for a day. But before Matute, the organizers had arranged another challenger, Colombian Materov to test him. This Materov was of course no easy opponent; he was also a Kickboxing champion who had fought and won in Europe.

But let us come back to Matute. At 32 yrs old this year, with a tall and muscular frame, Matute was schooled in Boxing, Taekwondo & Karate in his youth. Later he had also studied Bajiquan and Tanglang (Mantis) quan under Master Su. Soon after Matute arrived in Spain, he went to visit Master Zhu at his quarters. Master Zhu was of course not surprised; it was more a session of testing out the ability of one's opponent rather than a friendly greeting. After the initial pleasantries in half-baked Mandarin, Matute cut right to the point. Before this meeting, Master Zhu had only known of his younger challenger through the Jingwu CMA magazines he read. As an ex-Muaythai World Champion, Matute was superior to Master Zhu in all areas, whether in terms of age, fighting experience, strength or size. In terms of age Master Zhu was old enough to be his father. Having heard of Master Zhu from his own Master, Matute was hardly impressed by the small old man (at only 60kg) with zero Ring experience. During the conversation with Master Zhu, Matute hardly bothered to conceal his pride. He told him straightforwardly: "Among all the people present in this seminar, I am the only one qualified enough to ask to spar with you." Master Zhu replied he was more than willing to spar with anybody present here; only through such exchanges can they better understand each other and improve their fighting skills at the same time. When it was time to leave, Matute attempted to test Master Zhu by tightening his grip during their parting handshake. Unperturbed, Master Zhu executed the "Conqueror sends away his guest" technique, pulling Matute's hand towards his bosom and turning his own arm upward at the same time. The moment Matute's back was facing him, Master Zhu gave a light push with his left palm, sending Matute tottering out of the door.

The first meeting between Master Zhu and Matute ended with initial satisfaction for the former. On the surface Master Zhu was an old man close to 60. He could not compare to Matute, who was still in his prime. When asked how much he knew about Muaythai, Master Zhu humbly replied not a lot. However this gave Matute the false impression that he was not mentally prepared to face with the fierce striking of Muaythai. The old CMA saying goes "Fight not the unknown". This means if you do not know what you are dealing with, you will most probably be beaten up. Rafael Matute had made exactly such a mistake. But he was not the only one; in fact most people did not know how good Master Zhu really was in actual combat.

Master Zhu had studied under Masters Li Er-tang "The Lightning Hand", Chen Fengqi "The Little White Ape" and Wang Xuemeng "The Divine Hand of Baji". Practicing diligently for the past few decades, Master Zhu had never stopped training, even during the difficult 10-year period of the Cultural Revolution. Due to his age, Master Zhu knew that during the fight he must fully utilize his skill and experience accumulated over a lifetime to defeat his opponent as quick as possible, within the limited timeframe. Since 1987, there had been Martial Artists from Japan, Australia and other countries visiting him in Cangzhou (Hebei Province), asking to spar with him. And Master Zhu had always defeated them with a single technique. Throughout the years, Master Zhu had never stopped researching on other CMA styles as well as those of other countries, especially Muaythai, the fighting art undefeated for 500 years. He had observed that the strongest weapon of Muaythai is its kicks, which are simple to use, yet extremely damaging. Against an untrained opponent, usually one kick is enough to knock the person down. There are also not too many rules in Muaythai; the hammer fists, palm strikes and spinning back fists of Kungfu are all allowed in their competition. Besides the kicks there are also the distinctive elbow & knee strikes, which are equally devastating whether in attack or defense. Thai fighters use these 2 weapons from the clinching position, the knees going for the breadbasket and the elbows aiming for the face and neck. From the Muaythai fighting stance one could tell that this was a simple, effective and fierce fighting style. It offers the body the greatest amount of protection possible, yet not sacrificing balance and mobility in attack or defense.

In Master Zhu's opinion, although the 3 main weapons of Muaythai (kicks, knees and elbows) are fierce and destructive, but compared to the profound and ingenious energy issuing (fa-jing) techniques of internal Kungfu styles, they were still somewhat inferior. If one can truly make use of such traditional techniques to its best advantage, he can surely overcome any Muaythai fighter. Master Zhu was confident of doing well in the impending fight. He wanted not only to win, but also to let the Westerners gain a deeper understanding of real Kungfu. This would be doing his part to sow the seeds of CMA in Europe. So Master Zhu would answer the challenge of Matute the next day with a smile.

So at 10am in the morning of 4^th Jan 2004, Master Zhu began his bout with Colombian fighter Materov. Retired and heading his own MA gym in Colombia, ex European Kickboxing champion Materov was already 45 yrs old and not very tall at 1.75m. Still, he had trained for 25 years in different arts like Boxing, Karate, Kickboxing and JKD. Besides these, Materov had also studied Baji & Tanglang under Master Su. Interestingly, his whole family was involved with MA, and for this occasion, he had brought all the folks there to watch.

Materov wasted no time in the attack. Thrusting a side kick at Master Zhu's waist, his back hand was ready to throw a cross the moment the Master retreated. But Materov did not know Master Zhu's style; when fighting with others he never uses the method of moving back and counter attack like conventional fighters do. Instead he would use his speed and years of skill to charge in, checking the opponent's force and counter striking at the same time. The moment Materov's leg was up, Master Zhu crouched his shoulder and burrowed forward, left hand hooking the attacking leg and right arm turning diagonally outwards along with the torque of his twisting hip and waist (Baji strapping fist technique). Materov reflexively raised both arms to cover his head, but the impact of Master Zhu's right arm on both his arms was enough to send him instantly reeling to the floor face up, bleeding from his mouth and nose. Master Su, who was refereeing the bout, helped Materov up. Despite being hurt, he was full of praise for the old man who defeated him with a single blow.

 After some rest, the confident Master Zhu went on to meet Matute in the afternoon at 4pm.With the ring of a bell, the fight commenced. Master Zhu steadily walked up to Matute with a traditional salute. He then lower both hands naturally, exposing his side to his opponent, instead of raising them to his chest in a defensive stance as one might expect. Matute slowly tried to close the distance, circling and looking for an opening. After several seconds of sizing each other out, Matute suddenly initiated his attack with a feinting jab followed by a low kick to Master Zhu's front leg. Again Master Zhu did not retreat or even tried to grab his leg like a Sanda fighter might - he held on to the Baji strategy of striking when the opponent struck. Besides, he was already quite familiar with the different types of Muaythai attacks. The moment Matute turned his hip to kick, Master Zhu moved in immediately with a Baji charging step. In the blink of an eye Master Zhu's left hand had trapped Matute's right leg, his right palm was at his neck and right leg hooked Matute's pivot leg (Baji single whip technique). With one single exhalation of chi Master Zhu threw Matute backward to the floor almost 2m away!

Amidst thunderous cheering from the audience, Matute stood up again and got right back into the fight. Again he tried to circle and close the distance. Matute was about to try something else he learned from Muaythai. Suddenly, Matute's body shifted to the side and he quickly darted in with both hands aiming to grab Master Zhu's head and knee up to thrust into his gut. Fast and furious as Matute was, Master Zhu still recognized this was the Muaythai clinching knee attack. Master Zhu reacted immediately by crouching and burrowing forward, avoiding Matute's hands. In the same instant Master Zhu's forearm also parried Matute's right knee, knocking him slightly off balance. Following the momentum of his attack Master Zhu hit Matute with a Baji body check, smashing his own hip into Matute's hip, issuing energy with his whole body. Matute was sent flying! But this time it took him a much longer time to get back up. When he eventually stood up, Matute went up to Master Zhu with a bowing salute; and the crowd was rapturous. Matute now had nothing but respect for the Baji fighting skills of this old man in front of him.

The result of Master Zhu's fight with Matute did not only put both their reputations at stake, but it also concerned the image of Bajiquan in the hearts of all the foreigners. Master Zhu felt this was much more important than his personal gain or loss. The purpose of him flying thousands of miles to Europe was to make use of this opportunity to spread traditional Kungfu around the world. If Master Zhu lost, the foreigners would think that Baji was ineffective in actual combat and find it hard to accept the ancient style. Then the collective will of his Baji forebears, and the entrusting of his fellow Kungfu brothers in Cangzhou would all have been in vain. Thus in the fights Master Zhu held nothing back, charging and knocking hard whenever he had the chance. Only in this way could he prove that he was well prepared, as well as to test whether his Baji skills were real or not.

The next few days were spent with more teaching of Bajiquan and Miao Saber to multi-national seminar participants, numbering almost a hundred. Among them were of course Materov and Matute, who even took video footages of Master Zhu performing the fist and saber forms. On 8^th Jan 2004, when it was time for him to go home, everyone present stood up and clapped for Master Zhu in appreciation of his instruction, followed by more video and photo taking. Through this seminar, Master Zhu had succeeded in his mission to show real traditional Kungfu to the foreign friends and also give them a deeper understanding of its efficiency. He had also come to the realization that only through the zealous propagation of the pure fighting techniques of his forebears and not closing one's own doors to others that traditional Kungfu can welcome a new golden age.

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