Description: This style is believed to have originated in Jining in the Shandong Province. It is said that during the Kaiyuan reign of the Tang dynasty (731-741 A.D.) there existed a Mount Hua knight, named Cai Mao, who was famous for his prowess in combat and swordplay. Apparently Cia Mao had killed an enemy, a noble of the Chang'an family, and had to go in hiding to escape the families wrath.

400 years later Cai's descendants, Cai Tai and Cai Gang, emerged. Both were also proficient in combat and competed often in local and national contests. It was Cai Tai and Cai Gang that eventually developed their style into the present-day Hua Quan.

However, it was Cai Wanzhi of Jining that put the finishing touches on Hua Quan during the reign of Jaiqing of the Ming dynasty (1522-1566 A.D.) by writing the book The Secrets of Hua Quan. Cai Wanzhi had based the book on the traditional philosophy of combining spirit, breath, and ego.

In 1877, during Emperor Guangxu reign of the Qing dynasty, Cai Guiqin, grandson of one of the few remaining martial artists of Caixing, was born. He was very fond of martial arts as a little boy and he learned the fighting arts from his grandfather. But after his grandfather's death, he was forced into poverty and had to move away from Caixing to a district outside the southern gate of the city wall of Jining. It was there that he met Ding Yushan, a well-known expert in the Shandong Province for his mastery of Hua Quan. It was this fortuitous encounter that enabled Cia Moa's distant descendant, Cia Guiqin to continue the family tradition. After three years of training with Ding, Cai eventually became a contemporary Hua Quan master during the late Qing dynasty.

In 1897 Cai Guiqin traveled in the Southern regions of China where he would eventually meet Qiu Jin, a woman revolutionary with whom he discussed and further refined his knowledge martial arts. Interestingly enough, Qiu Jin would later participate in a revolt in Shanghai in 1906.

In 1920 Cai Guiqin would meet with Dr. Sun Yat-sen before going to teach martial arts to government officials in the headquarters of the Republic in Guangzhou. After the death of Sun, Cai went on traveling before settling in Shanghai for the rest of his life. Hua Quan was spread as he traveled through Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, and Henan provinces and thus many scholars attribute the modern proliferation of Huan Quan to him. In many ways the development of Hua Quan is a great example of how deeply family traditions run in China and the important role these traditions have had in developing its culture, as well as martial arts.