Xú Běnshàn (徐本善) was a Daoist master, martial artist, and the last great abbot of the Purple Cloud Palace (紫霄宫 Zǐxiāo Gōng) on Wudang Mountain during the late Qīng dynasty and early Republic period. As a fifteenth-generation master of the Quánzhēn Dragon Gate lineage (全真龙门派 Quánzhēn Lóngmén Pài), he served as the critical bridge between the older Wudang martial traditions and their survival into the modern era. Without his preservation and transmission work, much of what constitutes the Wudang martial curriculum today would have been lost.

Note on dates: Multiple sources give his lifespan as 1860–1932. Some accounts record his birth year as 1851. The discrepancy has not been resolved in available scholarship.

Early Life and Training

Xú Běnshàn was born in Bā County (巴县), Hénán Province. He received a classical Confucian education in his youth and also studied Chinese medicine and the fundamentals of martial arts. His father took him to visit Wudang Mountain as a boy, an experience that left a lasting impression.

At approximately twenty years of age, Xú Běnshàn entered Wudang Mountain and became a Daoist disciple under Masters Wáng Fúmiào (王复妙) and Liú Fúbǎo (刘复宝). Over many years he studied the Daoist scriptures, Chinese medicine, and the comprehensive Wudang martial arts curriculum. He eventually rose to become the abbot of Zǐxiāo Gōng — the largest and most important Daoist temple on Wudang Mountain — making him the de facto custodian of the mountain's spiritual and martial heritage.

Martial Transmission

Xú Běnshàn is recognized as the most important figure in Wudang martial arts of the early twentieth century. He was the repository of a comprehensive body of martial knowledge that had been transmitted through the Dragon Gate lineage for generations, and he taught aspects of this knowledge to numerous disciples and visiting martial artists.

His known students include Hú Hézhēn (胡合贞), Liú Lǐshān (刘理山), Wáng Lǐxué (王理学), Liáng Héqǐ (梁合启), Lěng Hébīn (冷合斌), Shuǐ Héyī (水合一), Duàn Héyān (段合烟), Lǐ Hélín (李合林), Lǐ Héqǐ (李合起), and Fù Héshān (傅合山), among others. The "Hé" (合) generation character in many of these names indicates they were sixteenth-generation Dragon Gate disciples — Xú Běnshàn's formal successors.

A notable transmission occurred in 1929, when the Xíngyì and Bāguà master Fù Jiànqiū (傅剑秋), together with his disciple Péi Xīróng (裴锡荣), traveled to Wudang Mountain on the recommendation of the famous swordsman Lǐ Jǐnglín (李景林). They studied Wudang martial arts under Xú Běnshàn, creating one of the documented cross-pollination points between Wudang and other internal martial lineages.

Because Xú Běnshàn typically taught different aspects of his knowledge to different students, no single disciple received the complete transmission. This selective teaching — common in traditional martial arts — meant that the full picture of his martial knowledge could only be reconstructed by gathering the pieces from multiple lineage branches.

Key Transmissions

Several martial arts practiced in the Sānfēngpài (三丰派) today trace directly to Xú Běnshàn:

Tàijíquán (太极拳). Xú Běnshàn is credited with preserving and passing down the Wudang Tàijíquán routine. The modern 108-form sequence is considered orthodox in part because it maintains the traditional posture names and oral formulas (歌诀 Gējué) preserved by Xú Běnshàn and his predecessors.

Tàiyǐ Wǔxíngquán (太乙五行拳). This form was transmitted from Xú Běnshàn to his disciple Lǐ Hélín (李合林), who taught it to Àixīn Juéluó Pǔ Xuān (爱新觉罗溥儇, also known as Jīn Zǐtāo 金子弢). From there it passed to Zhào Jiànyīng (赵剑英) and eventually into the broader Wudang revival. The form itself is traditionally attributed to the eighth-generation Dragon Gate master Zhāng Shǒuxìng (张守性).

Tàihé Quán (太和拳). Xú Běnshàn transmitted this form through multiple channels. One line passed through Chén Hélóng (陈合龙) to Wú Jiào Péng (伍教鹏, 1890–1990) and eventually into the Sānfēngpài curriculum. The form was first published in Wudang Magazine in 1992 based on notes compiled from this transmission line.

Historical Context

Xú Běnshàn lived during one of the most turbulent periods in Chinese history. The Qīng dynasty was collapsing, warlords competed for territory, and the foreign powers were carving up China's coastal regions. On Wudang Mountain, the Daoist community was shrinking as imperial patronage disappeared and modernization pressures mounted.

In May 1931, General Hè Lóng (贺龙) led the Third Red Army to Wudang Mountain after suffering a defeat. Xú Běnshàn personally led over fifty Daoists to welcome the soldiers. He arranged for Zǐxiāo Gōng to serve as a rear hospital and command headquarters. He organized his disciples to gather medicinal herbs, nurse the wounded, and transport supplies to the troops.

Xú Běnshàn and Hè Lóng developed a friendship. In gratitude, Hè Lóng presented Xú Běnshàn with gold and a commemorative banner. This connection to a Communist leader later had significant consequences for Wudang Mountain — during the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976), the mountain was targeted less severely than many other religious sites, in part because of its historical association with the Red Army.

Legacy

Xú Běnshàn died in 1932, before the worst disruptions of the twentieth century reached Wudang Mountain. But the lineage he maintained and the students he trained became the seeds from which Wudang martial arts were eventually reconstructed.

When religious practice was legalized in 1979 and Wáng Guāngdé (王光德) put out a call for dispersed Daoists to return to Wudang Mountain, the martial knowledge that came back was largely traceable to Xú Běnshàn's teaching — either directly through his surviving students or indirectly through their students and practice brothers.

The current Sānfēngpài system, led by Grandmaster Zhōng Yúnlóng (钟云龙), draws on the martial heritage that Xú Běnshàn preserved. The Tàijíquán, Tàiyǐ Wǔxíngquán, Tàihé Quán, and other forms taught today carry his fingerprints. His role was not that of an innovator who created new arts, but of a custodian who maintained old ones through a period that destroyed much of China's traditional culture. In that role, he was irreplaceable.