书剑同源 -----谈傅彪的武德文风
傅彪,字兴中,笔名少林彪。他四岁习文,九岁练武。因腹有诗书,其武功虽刚劲威猛而不失高士之儒雅风范;缘身怀绝技,其作品既文采斐然又彰显大将之赫赫威仪。傅彪喜创新而厌泥古,好开拓而恶墨守。和而不同的思想贯穿他独特的文武之道,勇于进取的精神伴随他壮丽的创业生涯。所谓非常之人建非常之功,亦必有非常之经历。傅彪人生历经坎坷饱受磨难而至今日之辉煌成就,极具传奇色彩。
“蜀道难,难于上青天”,“巴山蜀水凄凉地,二十三年弃置身”。在唐代大诗人李白和刘禹锡的诗中,将川蜀之地盘若龙蛇的蜀道的艰险难行描述得淋漓尽致,然而这险峻壮阔的巴山蜀水却孕育了无数的高人雅士和英雄豪杰。傅彪出生在重庆开县(刘伯承元帅故乡)一个书香世家。他天性好动,灵秀雄奇的巴山蜀水赐予了他无限的活力与才气,书香门第的良好教育孕育了他的远大理想和不凡抱负。他的祖父和父亲皆为博学之士,在古典文学和书法方面有很深的造诣。从四岁起,祖父和父亲就教他学习书法。祖父给他讲大书法家王羲之“临池学书”和“吃墨”的故事,他用楷书亲笔书写陈毅元帅的律诗《吟反攻形势》作为傅彪的书法课本。天资聪颖、悟性极高的傅彪不仅喜爱书法,更对古典文学情有独钟,他熟读唐诗宋词和《三国演义》《红楼梦》《东周列国志》等中国古典名著,对历史上征战沙场建功立业的英雄人物如曹操、关羽、岳飞、辛弃疾等推崇有加。
傅彪嫉恶如仇,好打抱不平,这种性格在他少年时代即显现无遗。有一次他在集市上看到有人偷东西,便挺身而出想要制止,结果却被恼羞成怒的小偷一顿暴打。这次经历并没有让他对暴力屈服,反而激发了他的斗志,从此,他迷上了习武,而且一发不可收。俗话说“穷文富武”,家境的贫寒,生活的磨难使他的习武之路一开始就充满艰辛。祖父并不赞成他习武,希望他走文学之路。父亲虽对他的习武热情不置可否,不过在行动上却给予了他锻炼的机会。他找出厚厚一沓纸固定在墙上,让傅彪练习冲拳。一张张纸被打破的同时,傅彪的手也皮开肉绽,鲜红的血染在纸上,溅在墙上,见证了他与武术的“初恋”。
傅彪幼年丧母,姐弟四人跟着父亲过着愈加清贫的日子。每天天不亮父亲就催促他起床到外面拣狗屎(农村用来沤肥),干完活儿后傅彪还要赶几十里山路上学。学习之余,大姐让他上山砍柴、打猪草,有时柴砍得少了或猪草打得少了,大姐就会“赏”他一番拳脚。当地有句俗话“煤炭贩子一碗米,半夜都搞起”,意思是说,挑煤的人为了挣到一碗米饭,半夜就要起来干活。为了减轻家里经济负担他下过煤窑挑过炭。后来,大哥大姐相继成家,分家另过。祖父年迈,弟弟年幼,家里的生活重担落在傅彪肩上。每日凌晨四五点,傅彪要起来烧火做饭。他一边烧火,一边读书,偶尔打盹,不小心书就掉入火笼坑——傅彪既要完成学业,又要承担家庭生活的重担,其中艰辛不言而喻。正是这些磨难锻炼了他坚强的意志,也赋予了他无穷的斗志。
少年时,在父亲的逼迫下,傅彪跟着一个亲戚去安徽学手艺。初到合肥,未及学艺,傅彪认识了一位名叫王先法的大哥。王大哥要介绍傅彪认识一位民间老拳师王立申。傅彪多次登门拜师,都未谋其面,但他并未因此作罢。张良有进履之谦。最终傅彪用诚心打动了这位老拳师,从而走上了习武之路。傅彪很珍惜这个难得的习武机会,他边认真学习文化知识,边刻苦训练武功,几年下来也算小有所成。20世纪80年代初,电影《少林寺》在全国各地上映,少林寺成为人们心目中的武学圣地。自古道“天下功夫出少林”,傅彪决定辞别师傅,去少林学艺。
傅彪拜少林寺方丈释永信为师,开始学习正宗少林功夫。在少林寺这个武术的最高学府,他与师兄弟共同切磋技艺,印证武功。去少林之前,他的武术功夫已经达到很高的境界,经过在少林寺的进修,再加上频繁的实战,傅彪的技术和体能都达到了巅峰状态。期间,傅彪学习了一套“天山昆仑剑法”,为了寻找天山昆仑剑法的发源地,他离开少林,远赴新疆。
天山那巍峨的高山冰川、浩瀚的林海,激荡着傅彪的少年雄心。他在冰川林海间尽情挥舞宝剑,一遍遍演练“天山昆仑剑法”。激情难抑的他挥笔写下了这样的诗句:“天山昆仑剑,雪里梅花贤。十年练一剑,功夫绝不凡。“傅彪被新疆某部队聘作武术教官,传授少林功夫。业余时间,他凭借卓越的轻功攀援峭壁、登临绝顶采摘世间盛传的“天山雪莲”,在当地传为佳话。
为了进一步提升功力,傅彪仗剑下天山,再去少林。修炼了一个阶段后,他到开封一家武校任教。当时,全国各地有很多武术馆校,少林寺周边地区更是馆校林立。傅彪在执教的同时多次参加中州擂台赛,成绩斐然。在此期间,他开始为参加全国武术散打比赛积极备战。但是,一次突发事件改变了他的命运。一个名叫张文新的师兄弟开玩笑偷袭傅彪,造成他左前臂双骨折。全国冠军梦随之破灭。傅彪并未从此消沉,而是考虑向其他方向发展。他考察少林寺周边武术馆校的发展现状并注意到这些馆校只注重武术课而忽视文化课。他认为这不利于中华传统武术文化的传承和发扬,于是萌生了开办一所文武双修的学校的念头。为此,他三进少林寺修炼功夫。在潜心修炼期间,他也在谋划着创业的蓝图。
1990年深秋,寒风萧瑟。在少林寺方丈带着果林、延瑞几个师兄弟出访日本的时候,傅彪怀揣170元钱偷偷下山,踏上了赴京办学的道路。初期的办学之路充满坎坷——选校址、租校舍、招生……每一个环节都有意想不到的困难,但他凭着坚定的信念和必胜的信心坚持了下来。通过朋友的介绍,傅彪在大兴西红门成立了京都少林武术馆。当时,由于资金限制,师资力量不足,他自己几乎负担了文武全部教学课程。为了不断充电,在办学的同时,他每天骑着自行车往返一百多里地到中国武术院进修散打;每逢双周休,他还要到中国书法大学进修书法课程。创业之初,百事待举,工作繁重,但稍有闲暇,他就挥毫泼墨,奋笔疾书。在艰难的环境下,他创作出了大量优秀的书法作品。一个苍劲有力、骨格雄奇的“武”字写得堪称前无古人、后无来者,包括《人民日报》在内的多家媒体竞相刊登他的“武”,某电视台的一个栏目把这个“武”字作为直播间背景,北京电视台《搏击擂台》《京城健身潮》长期使用他的“武”字作为片头题字。他书写的“龙”字被称为书法界的一绝。有一个工程师看到他写的“龙”字后,叹为观止,翻遍古今书法典籍未发现如他这般写法,更有人不惜重金求他的“龙”字。因书法而结缘,傅彪认识了不少志同道合的朋友,这对他的事业起到很大的促进作用。
随着学校规模不断扩大,办学条件不断改善,学校又搬到了昌平花塔和平寺。初到昌平时,为了租赁场地,傅彪找到了有关负责人。当时该负责人正参加一个书法笔会,对他的到来不以为然。颇受冷遇的傅彪挥笔写下了“艺海朝阳”和“海天一色”,落款“少林彪”,一收笔,满座皆惊。因为欣赏傅彪的才华和勇气,负责人商量后同意将和平寺先租给他办学,待学校盈利后再收取房租。尽管如此,学校的办学资金还是比较困难。为了节省办学经费,学校自己养猪, 傅彪还经常骑马出山到外面集市上买菜以保证后勤供应。后来,学校又迁到了昌平自行车赛场。到赛场时,学校的规模相对来说已经比较大了,办学条件也比以前好多了,但却又面临着同行的竞争。当时昌平也开了几家武校,有一家还开到了赛场,跟傅彪的学校形成了直接竞争。傅彪根据当时的形势,及时调整了战略战术,把学校从昌平自行车赛场迁到了回龙观地区。后来,其他几家武校都倒闭了,只有北京少林武术学校一直坚持下来。就这样,学校三易校址,经历了西红门、昌平花塔和平寺、自行车赛场直到今天,走过了 “从无到有,从小到大,从弱到强”的艰辛之路,至今已发展成为一所现代化新型的特色学校,实施小学、初中、高中学历教育和职业教育。尤其是近几年,乘着《民办教育促进法》的强劲东风,学校得到了迅猛发展,2003年兼并了北京市昌平区宏福武校,又创办北京、山东、上海、南京、河北等六所分校,成功走上集团化办学道路。
为了开发上海武术教育市场,傅彪曾不下十次赴上海考察,在对整个上海市的武术教育市场进行全面调查和周密分析之后,在松江开办了上海分校。上海分校的成立为北京少林武术学校打开了华东地区的市场通路。2006年初,北京少林武术学校又成立了华北武艺分校,并先后收编了河北大厂燕赵艺术学校和廊坊市艺术学校。2008年,傅彪借北京举办奥运的大好机会,在大兴区又开设了一所分校。
傅彪高度重视学校教学与社会实践的结合,他带领武校学生先后参加了中央电视台庆祝申奥成功晚会、大学生运动会、德国柏林中国文化周、中央电视台春节联欢晚会、中法建交40周年中国文化年北京文化周、北京2008年残奥会会徽发布仪式等大型文化文艺活动表演,并多次受到党和国家领导人的亲切接见。尽管外事活动频繁,傅彪仍坚持诗词创作。在随同国家领导人赴法国参加中法建交40周年中国文化年北京文化周的班机上,他写下了这样的诗篇:“欧亚横跨八万里,风雪茫茫照天地。朝辞北京云上走 ,日未落海到巴黎。凯旋门外雄狮起,香榭丽舍华人居。喜庆建交四十载,两国元首谋大计。”由傅彪亲自创编导演的大型武术节目《上下五千年——中国功夫》、大型武术节目《奥运中国》等优秀作品,上演后引起了强烈反响,获得巨大的成功。由傅彪作词的奥运歌曲《奥运中国》更是广为传唱。2006年,为了庆祝中加建交36周年,由文化部指定北京少林武术学校创编了大型功夫剧《美猴王大闹天宫》。该剧开创了中国武术史上的一个奇迹,公演之后受到了社会各界的一致好评。学校组织的少林武术表演团远赴德、法、美、俄、日、韩、泰、非洲、东南亚等几十个国家和地区进行巡回演出,向世界展示中华武术的博大精深。傅彪为中华武术这一民族瑰宝走向世界作出了重要贡献。
北京少林武术学校在傅彪的带领下,锐意进取,不断创新,稳扎稳打,永不懈怠,学校声誉和社会影响力迅速提高,在国内历次重大比赛中屡创佳绩。多年来,学校为社会和部队培养了数千名武术人才,为各大体院、专业团队输送了许多优秀队员。截至目前,武校累计获得奖牌数已达千余枚。2002年,武校代表队在韩国忠州国际武术节一举夺冠,获特等奖;同年在全国武术散打王争霸赛中获得散打王和四个单项级别冠军;在北京市第五、第六届农运会上夺得十余枚金牌;北京市第十届、第十一届运动会上夺得数枚奖牌;在中美、中韩、中日、中泰自由博击对抗赛中,武校代表队员多次击败对手获得金腰带;在连续四届香港国际武术节、三届澳门“文武中国”武术比赛中获得奖牌数百枚。几年来,傅彪和少林武术学校的骄人成绩受到了中央电视台、北京电视台、《人民日报》《中国教育报》《北京日报》《北京青年报》等数十家刊物的高度关注,傅彪的事迹也在多家新闻媒体上多次报道。
傅彪在事业蓬勃发展的同时,不忘回报社会,始终热心社会公益事业。2003年重庆开县发生重大井喷事件,傅彪作为在京第一发起人,召集重庆籍在京工作者和社会各界人士为井喷灾区募捐了584万元,缓解了灾区燃眉之急。2004年11月13日,开县“9·4”特大洪灾北京片区救灾募捐活动中,他号召武校全体师生捐款3万元支援灾区;2004年重庆发生特大旱灾,他又带领全校师生踊跃捐款2万元;2008年 “5·12” 汶川大地震,他组织全校师生捐款20余万元,其中,他个人捐款12万元;由民政部社会工作委员会发起的书画界名人捐赠活动中,他现场书写9幅作品全部捐出。此外,他先后资助贫困山区和失学儿童数百人到北京少林武术学校学习,吃、穿、住及学费全部由学校负责;收留多名流浪儿童在武校免费学习、生活;为数十名从北京少林武术学校毕业后考上首都体育学院、武汉体育学院、上海戏剧学院的学生提供全部学费资助;从开县选出10名德、智、体比较优秀的贫困生,由傅彪个人资助这些孩子从小学到大学的全部生活费用、学习费用。2003年,他又捐助10万元为重庆五一村建起了希望小学。武校每年支出巨额资金用于助学扶贫,为服务社会、关爱弱势少年尽已所能,做出了突出贡献。
在出国访问和与外国友人交往中,傅彪以一颗拳拳爱国之心用实际行动维护着国家和民族的尊严。2002年9月,傅彪作为中国武术代表团团长率队参加在韩国忠州举办的世界武术节。会议期间,韩国提议成立“世界武联”,由傅彪任“武联”重要职务。傅彪指出,国际惯例,现已有“国际武联”,“国际武联”(设在中国)是经过国际奥委会批准,被各国武协所认可的,成立“世界武联”无疑是与“国际武联”相对立。傅彪当即起草反对意见书,言明利害关系,致使会议成立“世界武联”的提案未被采纳。回国后,傅彪维护国家荣誉和民族荣誉的行为受到了“国际武联”主席李志坚,“中国武协”主席李杰和社会各界的高度赞誉。
傅彪虽然事务繁多,但工作之余仍不忘书法和诗词创作。为迎接党的十六大胜利召开,傅彪应《人民日报》记者约稿,满怀激情写下了讴歌我党丰功伟绩的诗词《满江红·日出东方》,发表在2002年11月4日《人民日报》第六版上。该词从中国共产党第一次全国代表大会一直写到十六大,通篇大气磅礴,雄浑豪迈:“日出东方,起南湖。八一枪烈,惊长夜,红旗如血。遵义决策,四渡赤水飞金江,辽沈淮海平津捷。乾坤变,有伟人指点,雄才略。邓小平,大改革,理论新,华夏崛。总书记兴业,致富强国,十年开创铸辉煌,三个代表奇飞跃、奇飞跃。盛会十六大,万众悦。”诗词发表后,先后被《中华英才》《世界杂志》《中国教育报》等报章杂志转载。他为“神六”飞天创作的七绝,“神州载人上太空,直破云天万里红。华夏高科称盛世,崛起飞天九州同”曾发表于《中华英才》《世界杂志》《情商家教》等多家报刊杂志上。《人民文学》杂志等文学类刊物刊载过他的多首诗作。《中国教育报》用一个整版刊登了他的学术文章《我的办学思想与实践》。
2007年第九届亚洲艺术节开幕式晚会上,由上海文广集团副总裁滕俊杰先生和著名导演李建平先生共同创意,傅彪亲自表演了空中飞人书法绝技。他身着一袭长衫悬于舞台上空,手执如椽巨笔,在四米多高的巨大画板上写下了一个顶天立地的“艺”字。字写得酣畅淋漓,一气呵成,一时间台下观众掌声雷动。这个“艺”字彰显了书法的神韵与武术的气势,成为整场晚会的点睛之笔,受到了董建华、孙家正、李源潮以及日本、韩国文化官员的一致好评。
傅彪自身蕴含的巨大能量使得他的事业不仅仅局限在办学方面,从他担任的社会职务以及所获得的荣誉中我们不难看出他的社会活动范围之广,涉猎行业之多——北京市职教体育协会主席,北京市青联委员,中国武协馆校指导委员会委员,北京市武术协会副秘书长,北京市关心青少年教育协会副会长,北京书剑科技集团董事长,北京少林武术学校上海松江分校、华北分校董事长,第五届中国改革百名优秀人物,第六届中国改革十大杰出人物,第五届中国时代十大影响力人物,第六届北京十大杰出青年提名奖获得者,北京市优秀教育工作者……尽管傅彪事务繁多,但始终不忘学习。他曾在中国武术研究院进修,先后毕业于中国书法大学、首都经贸大学企业管理系、北京大学马列学院政治经济学专业,美国加州大学MBA研究生并获硕士学位。
2005年,傅彪继市教委副主任李观政之后当选为北京市职教体育协会主席,首开民办学校校长担任该协会主席之先河。他对协会体育教研和运动竞赛两方面工作予以高度重视,亲自听取、观摩教研课并进行现场指导;不断完善、提升运动会的规模与水平;通过健全组织机构,广泛合理开辟协会经济来源,全面提升协会服务水平;指出协会在发展中存在的问题,提出解决方案,并亲自组织实施。他对体协的新闻宣传工作给予高度重视。傅彪认为,体协以前是默默无闻做工作,新闻宣传是弱项,在全国社团组织与政府脱钩转向市场化的大形势下,必须抛弃“酒香不怕巷子深”的传统观念,要有品牌意识,要主动宣传自己,让社会各界都了解体协,树立起“北京市职教体育协会”的品牌。他针对体协原有宣传部媒体资源不足、宣传力度不够的缺陷,成立了新闻部,聘用《中国体育报》记者任新闻部长,专门负责协调电视、报章杂志等媒体资源,对体协进行全面宣传报道,提升体协的品牌形象和知名度。《人民日报》《人民政协报》《中国体育报》《中国青年报》《北京日报》等数十家媒体多次报道体协的活动;《中央电视台》一套、五套、七套节目,《北京电视台》一套、六套节目多次播出体协的专题片,网络上关于体协的信息也越来越多。在他的带领下,协会先后成功举办了职教系统三届学生田径运动会、三届教工运动会、“迎奥运”北京市学生精神文明啦啦队比赛等运动会, 2005年、2006年协会被评为市级先进体育社团、全国群众体育先进单位。
许多人惊讶于傅彪的文采武功和骄人业绩,曾有人问他是如何做到这些的,他说,我只不过是把别人喝酒娱乐的时间都用来习文练武做事业。他有一句格言说得好:“凡好文武者,必终身求之而不懈,只有这样,才能永立于群雄之巅”。傅彪武功文学并长,胸怀宽广,视野宏大,堪称“书剑雄才、武坛儒将。”
一路走来,傅彪以人格的力量教育人,以人格的力量领导人。他的武德文风成为人们学习的典范,他的思想为他的事业点亮了前进道路上的一盏盏明灯,更为追随他的人铺垫了一条光明大道。让我们为他喝彩,为他加油,祝愿他在中华武术教育事业的道路上日行万里,再铸辉煌!
Calligraphy and swordsmanship sharing the same origin---on Fu Biao’s Martial Morals and Literary Style
Fu Biao, also named Fu Xing Zhong, uses ShaoLin Biao as his pseudonym. He started schooling at 4 and martial art training at 9. Because of his learning, his gest, though vigorous and powerful, is full of the elegance of a well-read scholar; due to his unique skills, his words, brimming with literal brilliance and grace, is expressive of the impressive majesty of a general. He loves creating and exploring new things and hates sticking to the old rules. Varied yet related ideas are found throughout his unique gest and literary works; and the pioneering spirit has been felt all the way in his splendid career. It is said that extraordinary person with extraordinary success must have had extraordinary experience. Fu Biao is such an extraordinary person who has been leading a legendary life all the way from various difficulties to today’s success.
In the poem of Li Bai and Liu Yuxi, two famous poets of the Tang Dynasty, Si Chuan province was described as a place troubled by dangerous typography. However, it is in this arduous and vast Sichuan, many heroic people with ability and vision were born. Fu Biao was born to a family of learning in Kai County of Chong Qing city (the hometown of General Liu Bocheng). He was born to be a naughty and smart kid greatly inspired by the beautiful and wondrous natural environment as well as the fine schooling offered by his family. He therefore grew into an ambitious and aspiring boy. His father and grandfather are all knowledgeable people, who are quite accomplished in classical literature and calligraphy. When he reached 4, his father and grandfather started teaching him calligraphy. His grandfather told him many stories about how Wang Xizhi, the famous and industrious calligrapher in ancient China had made his fame. His grandpa transcribed a poem by Marshal Chen Yi and made it Fu Biao’s calligraphy textbook. Gifted Fu Biao not only loves calligraphy but also enjoys reading classical literature. He read up with passion and interest poems from the Tang and Song dynasties as well as many Chinese classical literatures such as “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, “A Dream of Red Mansion” and “Records of Kingdoms of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty.” He therefore admired very much those heroic characters who had achieved attainments in the battle field in history such as Cao Cao, Guan Yu, Yue Fei and Xin Qiji.
Fu Biao abhors evil as a deadly foe and is always ready to defend someone against injustice. Such character was already quite obvious since his childhood. Once he spotted someone stealing in the market, and came to stop him only to be beaten by the angered and ashamed thief. This experience didn’t make him yield to evil force; on the contrary, it spurred his fight. Since then, he became a fan of marital art and nothing could stop him. The old saying goes “The poor learns literature and the rich learns martial art.” His poor family and difficult life made his pursuit of marital art very difficult at the beginning. His grandfather was not in favor of him learning martial art; in stead, he wanted him to focus on his literary schooling. His father, although did not say anything about his passion for martial art, offered him opportunities for practicing. He stuck a thick pile of paper to the wall and asked Fu Biao to practice straight blows. Again and again, the paper was broken, and Fu Biao’s hand was injured with blood stain on the paper and the wall. This marked his “fist encounter” with marital art.
Fu Biao lost his mother when he was very young. He and his other three siblings led an increasingly poor life with his father. Every day, before the day broke, his father would wake him up and ask him to go out and collect dog shit (used as decomposed manure in China’s countryside). After he was done with his work, he had to walk dozens of miles to school in the mountainous region. During his leisure time, his eldest sister usually asked him to go in the mountain to cut firewood and greenfeed for pigs. Occasionally, if he didn’t get enough firewood or greenfeed, his eldest sister would kick and spank him as punishment. The local people said that “those who made a living on picking coal balls had to get up at midnight for work and could earn money barely enough for a bow of rice.” In order to bring his family a better life, he used to go to the coal pit to pick coal balls. Later, his eldest brother and eldest sister established their own families one after another. His grand father was old and his younger brother still too young, so Fu Biao had to shoulder the responsibility of supporting the family. He got up at 4 or 5 in the morning every day to prepare breakfast for the family. He usually read while making fire, and occasionally, when he was too tired and could not help nodding off, his book fell in the fire and got burned. Fu had to continue with his schooling and also shoulder the burden of supporting the family. The hardship he encountered was simply beyond description. However, it is such hardship and difficulties that tried his strong will and triggered his enormous zeal for success.
When he was young, under his father’s order, he followed one of his relatives to Anhui to learn workmanship. When he first arrived in Hefei, he met a man called Wang Xianfa, who introduced him to a senior boxer---Wang Lishen. Fu made many visits to the boxer’s place but failed to meet him. Fu didn’t give it up and persisted in his pursuit. Finally the boxer was moved by Fu’s sincerity, and agreed to teach him martial art. Fu cherished this chance very much and worked very hard on literary learning and martial art training. Years later, he made some moderate successes. In the early 1980s, the movie “Shaolin Temple” was on all over China. The Shaolin Temple soon became the Holy Land for many martial art fans. So Fu decided to say goodbye to his teacher and went to the Shaolin Temple for more martial art.
Fu Biao then became a student of Shi Yongxin, the abbot of the Shaolin Temple, thereby beginning to learn the authentic Shaolin Kung Fu. In the Shaolin Temple, the best place for learning Shaolin Kung Fu, he compared notes with his fellow students for effective learning. Before he went to the Shaolin Temple, his Kung Fu had already reached a rather high level. After the learning experience in the Shaolin Temple, plus frequent practices, his skill and physical fitness all reached the peak. During his stay in the Shaolin Temple, he learned a set of “Tianshan Kunlun Swordsmanship”. In order to look for the cradleland of this swordsmanship, he left the Shaolin Temple for the remote Xinjiang.
The lofty icy mountain and immense forest of Tianshan Mountains triggered the ambition in the young Fu Biao. He wielded his sword passionately in the mountainous forestry, practicing again and again the “Tianshan Kunlun swordsmanship.” Inspired by his excitement, he wrote such liens : “Tianshan Kunlun sword is like a plum blossoming in the snow. Ten years of industrious practice makes extraordinary Kung Fu.” Fu Biao then was hired as martial art drill master by the military to teach the Shaolin Kung Fu. During his leisure time, thanks to his excellent qinggong, he climbed the steep cliff to pick the legendary “Saussurea of Tianshan,” which became a much-told story among the local people.
In order to further improve his Kung Fu, he went down Tianshan Mountains and went back to the Shaolin Temple. After a period of sharpening his skills, he became a teacher at a martial art school in Kaifeng. Back then, there were many martial art schools all over China especially in the neighborhood of the Shaolin Temple. During his teaching at that school, Fu Biao participated in many contests held in Zhongzhou and achieved brilliant success. During this period of time, he started active preparation for the national Wushu and Sanda competition. However, an accident changed his life. A former fellow student called Zhang Wenxin broke Fu Biao’s left forearm in a prank, and thus ruined Fu’s dream of becoming a national champion. However, Fu didn’t give up; in stead, he started looking for other opportunities for development. He studied the situation of the martial art schools in the neighborhood of the Shaolin Temple and found that these schools only focused on the teaching of martial art and ignored the literary education. He thought that this was not good for the development and passing down of China’s traditional martial art culture, and started the idea of opening a school that teaches both martial art and culture. For this purpose, he went to the Shaolin Temple for the third time. While studying in the Shaloin Temple wholeheartedly, he was also planning for his future career.
In the bleak deep autumn of 1990, when the abbot went to Japan for a visit with several of Fu Biao’s fellow students, Fu Biao secretly came down the mountain with only 170 yuan. He left for Beijing to establish a school of his own. The beginning of his career was full of hardship. He encountered unexpected difficulties in almost every step, including choosing the location of school, renting a venue for teaching and recruiting students, etc. However, he overcame all these difficulties with resolute faith in success. With the help of a friend, Fu Biao established the Jing Du Marital Art School in Xi Hongmen of Daxing district in Beijing. Back then, due to the limited capital and the understaffed team, he himself taught almost all the courses of martial art and culture. For the constant improvement of his qualifications, every day, he biked to the Chinese Marital Art Institute located over one hundred miles away for the advanced study of Sanda. During the weekend, he would also come to the China Calligraphy University to improve his calligraphy. At the beginning of his career, there were many things for him to do. But whenever he had any spare time, he would practice calligraphy industriously. Under arduous conditions, he created numerous works of calligraphy. His calligraphy---the Chinese character “武” was matchless due to its bold, strong and unique strokes. Many media including “China Daily” competed for the permission to publish his calligraphy“武”, and one TV station even used this character as the backdrop of the studio. “Arena of Pugilism” and “The Body-building Trend in Beijing” ---two BTV programs have used his “武’’ in their head leader for a long time. His calligraphy “龙’’ is considered unique in the circles of calligraphy. An engineer, upon seeing this character calligraphed by him, admired it very much. He then searched all classics on calligraphy and didn’t find any style similar to his. Some even made a big bid for his “龙’’ . Because of his calligraphy, Fu Biao made acquaintance with many friends in the same camp, which has greatly helped his career.
As the school kept growing and improving, the school was moved to the Heping Temple of Huata in Changping district. When he first arrived in Changping, Fu Biao contacted the relevant person to talk about renting a place. However, that person was then attending a conference on calligraphy and simply ignored him. Fu Biao, though given a cold shoulder by that person, picked the brush and calligraphed “艺海朝阳” and “海天一色” and then signed his penname “Shaolin Biao”. As soon as he was done, the whole audience was awestruck. Filled with admiration for Fu’s talent and courage, the person in charge agreed to lease out the Heping Temple to him, and told him that he did not have to pay the rent until he started making profit. Despite this help, the capital was still very limited for running the school. In order to save money, his school started raising pigs. Fu himself often went on horseback to buy vegetable at the market outside of the mountain to guarantee the food supply at school. Later, the school was moved to the cycling track in Changping district. At that time, the scale and conditions of the school had already improved a lot. However, it was confronted with fierce competition against other martial art schools. Back then, there were some other marital art schools in Changping district too, one of them even had a competition area, thus constituting direct competition against Fu Biao’s school. According to the situation, Fu timely adjusted his strategy and moved his school to Hui Longguan area. Later, all the other marital art schools were closed, and only Beijing Shaolin Martial Art School (Fu Biao’s school) survived the fierce competition.
Just like this, his school moved all together three times, and had traversed a difficult path from scratch to success. Now, this school has already developed into a modern schooling system with new characteristics, offering primary and secondary schooling. Especially in recent years, thanks to the favorable “Law on Promoting Private Education,” Fu’s school enjoyed another surge in development. In 2003, his school bought Hongfu Martial Art School in Changping district in Beijing and opened six branches in Beijing, Shandong, Shanghai, Nanjing and Hebei, having successively embarked on a path towards education groups.
In order to develop the market for martial art education in Shanghai, Fu Biao came to Shanghai more than a dozen times for the first-hand information. After an overall research and thorough analysis of Shanghai’s market, he set up the Shanghai branch in Songjiang. The establishment of the Shanghai branch opened a path to the market in East China. In early 2006, Beijing Shaolin Martial Art School started the North China Branch, and successively annexed two art schools in Hebei province. In 2008, taking the good opportunity offered by the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Fu opened another branch in Daxing district in Beijing.
Fu pays high attention to the combination of school education and social practice. He has led his students in participating in the CCTV Celebration Party for the Successful Olympic bid, the National University Games, the Chinese Cultural Week in Berlin, Germany, the CCTV Spring Festival Gala Evening, the Beijing Cultural week of the Chinese Cultural year for the Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Diplomatic Ties between China and France, and the Cultural and Art Performance for the Ceremony of the Releasing of the Logo of the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, etc. He and his students have been warmly received by the party and state leaders for many times. In stead of his busy schedule, he still persisted in writing poems. On the flight to France for the Beijing Cultural week of the Chinese Cultural Year for the Celebration of the 40th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Diplomatic Ties between China and France, he wrote: “Flying over eighty thousand miles from Asia to Europe, braving the wind and snow swirling between earth and sky; I bid goodbye to Beijing in the air this morning, I will say hello to Paris on the sea after sunset. Lions dancing outside of the Arch of Triumph, Chinese people living in the Champs Elysees Street. Celebrating with joy the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties, heads of state of the two countries are discussing great plans for a better future.” The martial art performance and programs directed by Fu Biao were very well received by the French people. The Olympic Song “the Olympic China” with its lyric written by Fu Biao was even more popular. In 2006, in order to celebrate the 36th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Canada and China, the Beijing Shaolin Martial Art School, designated by the Minister of Culture, directed and designed the marital art play “the Monkey King Snafuing the Welkin” This play became a wonder in the history of Chinese martial art, and was well acclaimed by the public. The school martial art team has been traveling to over a dozen countries including Germany, France, the US, Russia, Japan, South Korea, the Thailand, Africa, and southeastern countries for a road show, demonstrating to the world the rich martial art culture of China. Fu Biao has made his important share of contribution to the going global of the national treasure of Chinese martial art.
Under the leadership of Fu Biao, the Beijing Shaolin Martial Art School, with unremitting and steady efforts as well as a pioneering and creative spirit, have achieved great success in many major national competitions, thereby having rapidly increased the school’s prestige and social influence. During the past years, the school has trained hundreds of marital art personnel for the military and the society, and has yielded many excellent martial art athletes for various institutes of sports and professional sports teams. Up to now, the school has won hundreds of medals in marital art competition. In 2002, the school team won the first prize in the Zhongzhou International Marital Art Festival in South Korea. In the same year, in the National Marital Art Sanda Competition, the school team won the title of “Sanda King”, and the Championship of individual events at four levels. The school team has won over a dozen of gold medals in the fifth and sixth Agricultural Athletic Meeting, several medals in the tenth and eleventh Beijing Athletic Meeting, the gold belt for many times in the free fighting competition between China and other countries such as the US, South Korea, Japan and Tailand and several hundred of medals in four Hong Kong International Martial Art Festivals and three Macao Martial Art Competitions. Over the past several years, Fu Biao and his school, due to their outstanding achievements, have been paid a lot attention by many media including CCTV, BTV, and China Daily, Chinese Education Paper, Beijing Daily, Beijing Youth Paper, etc. Fu Biao’s story has also been reported many times by many media.
While at the peak of his career, Fu Biao has never stopped making contribution to the society by taking part in programs for the social commonweal. In 2003 when the serious blowout occurred in Kai County of Chongqing, as the first sponsor, Fu Biao convened a get-together of all Kai County natives working in Beijing and donated 5.84 million yuan for their hometown, relieving the disaster there. On November 13, 2004, at the disaster-relief contribution-soliciting activity for the “9·4” flood, he called on the teaching staff and students of his school to donate 30 thousand yuan for the disaster-hit area. In 2004, a drought hit Chongqing, he again led his teaching staff and students in donating 20 thousand yuan. In 2008, after the “5·12” earthquake, his school donated over 200 thousand yuan , among which 120 thousand yuan was his personal donation. In the sale of work for donation held among calligraphers and painters organized by the Ministry of Civil Affairs, he sold out all his nine works. In addition, he has also provided financial aid to several hundred kids who have dropped out of school in the poverty stricken mountainous region, and let them study and live at his school in Beijing. He also has offered accommodation for many homeless kids and let them study and live at his school for free. He has covered the tuition of dozens of graduates from his school who, were accepted by the Capital Sports University, Wuhan Institute of Sport and Shanghai Theater Academy. Ten kids from poor family with good grade have been chosen from Kai County, Sichuan, and Fu Biao is now taking care of all their tuition and life expense from primary through college years. In 2003, he donated 100 thousand yuan for the establishment of a “Hope” primary school in the Wuyi village of Chong Qing. Every year, Fu’s marital art school spends a big sum of money on financial aid for education, thereby having done its share in serving the society and caring about the underprivileged young.
While visiting abroad or dealing with foreign friends, Fu Biao, harboring deep love for his motherland, has been safeguarding the dignity of the state and the nation with his actual deeds. In September, 2002, the Chinese martial art team, headed by Fu Biao, attended the Zhongzhou International Martial Art Festival in South Korea. During the festival, South Korea proposed to establish the “World Martial Art Association” and assign Fu Biao to an important position in the association. Fu Biao pointed out that according to the international practice, the existent “International Wushu Federation” headquartered in China, approved by the International Olympic Committee and accepted by the martial art associations in various countries negates the establishment of the “World Martial Art Association” which constitutes an obvious opposition to the International Wushu Federation. Fu Biao immediately drafted the opposition letter, stating the things at stake, preventing the proposal of establishing the World Martial Art Association from being accepted. After Fu Biao went back to China, what he did was highly acclaimed by Li Zhijian, the Chairman of International Wushu Federation.
Although busy with his work, Fu Biao was still interested in calligraphy and poem writing. In order to welcome the successful opening of the Communist Party’s Sixteenth Congress, Fu Biao, under the requirement of a journalist with the China Daily, wrote with passion the poem “Man Jiang Hong·Sunrise from the East”, eulogizing the great achievements of our communist party. The poem was published in China Daily of November 4, 2002. This poem, replete with a majestic and heroic air, reviewed the development of the Chinese Communist Party from the first National Congress to the sixteenth. After being published, his poem was then used by “China HR”, “World Magazine” and “IQ Family Education”, etc. The poem he wrote for the Shenzhou VI manned spaceship was also published in many newspapers and magazines. Many of his poems were published in “People’s Literature”. “China Education” devoted one whole page to his academic paper “My Thoughts and Practice of School-running”
At the opening ceremony of the ninth Asia Art Festival in 2007, Fu Biao performed the stunt of calligraphing in the air, which was jointly created by Mr Teng Junjie, the vice president of SMG and Mr Li Jianping, famous director. Bu Biao, dressed in the traditional Chinese long shirt, standing in the air above the stage and holding a giant brush, wrote a huge Chinese character “艺” on a huge painting board that is over four meters’ tall. The calligraphy was finished at one go with ease and verve, which was immediately greeted with thunderous applause from the audience. This character of “艺’’ demonstrates the vigor of calligraphy and the air of martial art, becoming the highlight of the whole ceremony. Fu’s calligraphy at the ceremony was well acclaimed by Dong Jianhua, Sun Jiazheng, Li Yuanchao and cultural officials from Japan and South Korea.
Fu Biao’s unusual ability enables his career to expand from school-running to other social activities. He takes many social positions, namely chairman of the Beijing Occupational Education Sports Association, member of the Beijing Youth Federation, member of the Martial Art School Consultant Committee of the China Wushu Association, vice secretary of Beijing Wushu Association, vice director of Beijing Education Association for the Care about the Young, director of the board of Beijing Shu Jian Technologies Group, director of the board of Beijing Martial Art School, Shanghai branch and Huabei branch, the fifth batch of the 100 excellent personnel of reform in China, the sixth batch of 10 outstanding personnel of reform in China, the fifth batch of the 10 influential newsmamker in current China, nomination for the ten outstanding young people of Beijing and the excellent educator of Beijing, etc. Despite his busy schedule, he still takes time for further study. He used to study at China Martial Art Institute, and has graduated from China Calligraphy University, the Corporate Management Department of the Capital University of Economics and Business and the Marx and Lenin College of Beijing University. He also received MBA degree from California University, US.
In 2005, Fu Biao was elected Chairman of the Beijing Occupational Education Sports Association, becoming the first president of a private school who has ever taken this position. He pays high attention to physical education and sports competition, and sits in on the class for on-the-spot direction. He makes constant efforts to improve the scale and quality of sports meeting and comprehensively enhance the level of the service of the association through bettering the organizational structure and exploring profit resources in an extensive and reasonable manner. He points out the problems existing in the development of the association, offers solutions and supervises the implementation of solutions. He also attaches great importance to the publicity of his association. He believes, in the past, the association was rather weak in publicity, but now in the grand environment of the market-oriented development of social bodies and associations, the traditional concept that “nice wine makes publicity unnecessary” must be avoided, and the importance of publicity must be realized. The association needs active publicity and its own brand name so as to make it known by the public. In response to the original poor publicity and limited media access, he set up a news department and hired a journalist from “China Sports Daily” to head this department, who is primarily in charge of coordinating various media resources, conducting overall publicity of the association and enhancing the public awareness of the brand name and image of the association. The association’s activities are widely covered by dozens of newspapers, magazines, TV stations and the internet press. Under Fu Biao’s leadership, the association has successfully held the Third Students’ Field and Track Sports Meeting of the System of Vocational Education, the Third Staff Sports Meeting of that system and the Beijing Student Cheering Squad Competition for Welcoming the Olympic Games, etc. The association was awarded the title of the Beijing Outstanding Sports Organization and the National Outstanding Sports Unit of 2005 and 2006.
Many people can’t help admiring Fu Biao’s literary grace and gest. Once, he was asked how he achieved all these. He answered: “When others are drinking and having fun, I am studying, practicing and working.” His maxim is that “Those who are interested in literature and martial art must make lifelong unremitting efforts. Only by doing so can they always stand out with supereminence.” Being accomplished in both literature and martial art and a man of broad mind and vision, Fu Biao is totally qualified for the title of “the heroic talent of literature and the scholarly general of martial art.”
Having come all the way to today’s success, Fu Biao has been educating and guiding people with his charismatic personality. His martial morals and literary style have become the example for others to follow, and his thoughts have lightened the path ahead for his career and his life. Let us cheer for him and may he achieve even greater improvements and successes in the grand cause of the Chinese martial art.