Neijia

The term internal martial arts (内 家 拳Chinese, Pinyin Neijiaquan, short neijia ) some styles of Chinese martial arts are called derived according to legend of the Wudang mountains and to go back to a common origin style. The term is used (short Waijia外家 拳Chinese, Pinyin Wàijiāquán, ) to define these styles from the external styles, which are descended from the Shaolin Kung Fu.

According to legend, the original style of Daoist immortals Zhang Sanfeng Neijiaquan from the Wudang Mountains ( Wudang Shan) was developed as he watched the fight between a snake and a crane. The snake gave way to the crane again and again, until the crane had to give up exhausted.

Historically, the term Neijiaquan and its connection to Zhang Sanfeng for the first time are detectable in 1669 authored a " grave speech at Wang Zhengnan " by Huang Zongxi ( 1610-95 ). There is " the Daoist Immortal Zhang Sanfeng from Wudang Shan mountain, founder of the school of interior struggle" mentioned.

A group of martial artists to Huo Yuanjia and Sun Lutang in Beijing then beschäftgte the early 20th century with the history of Chinese martial arts as a Chinese cultural heritage. They identified the martial arts Taijiquan, Baguazhang and Xingyiquan as descendants of the original style of Zhang Sanfeng, and called it by the term Neijiaquan ( martial arts Internal Family ). In contrast, they used the term Wàijiāquán ( martial arts of the outer family), to denote the styles are descended from the Shaolin Kung Fu. During the 20th century this division was very popular in internal and external martial arts.