Wang Zhengyi

Who was Wang Zhengyi?

Wang Zhengyi was a martial artist and hero during the late Qing dynasty, hailing from Cangzhou in today's Hebei Province, Wang was of Hui ethnicity. Being the fifth by seniority of his master's students, Wang came to be called Wang Wu, i.e. Wang the fifth. His use of the dadao would lead to him earning the sobriquet by which he is best known, Dadao Wang Wu. Liang Qichao also called him the Hero of Yānzhào from the traditional name for Hebei.

In the fifth year of the Guangxu Emperor's reign Wang opened the Shunyuan Protection Agency just outside Beijing's Zhengyangmen. A secure courier business, Shunyuan, served a broad area, from Shanhai Pass in the north to Huai'an in the south. Wang Wu was chivalrous in nature and became friends with members of the reform movement, including a young Tan Sitong to whom he taught martial arts. In 1898 with the failure of the Hundred Days' Reform, Wang and Tan Sitong attempted to rescue the imprisoned Guangxu Emperor, but failed. Following Tan Sitong's execution Wang recovered Tan's body for burial.