Master Wen was born on March 13th 1960 in Zhaodong County,
Yunnan Province, South West China. As a boy Linjun liked
to fight with his friends. This came to the attention of
his Grandfather Peng Quing, a celebrated Wushu Master and
Army General, who told him he would teach him the fighting
arts, but if he used them on his friends or classmates his
lessons would end. Linjun agreed to this and so his training
began. He rose early to train before school, at midday and
again in the evening. His Grandfather taught him in the
traditional way, with no syllabus and no explanation of
the movements. Applications were only  transmitted
on perfection of the forms and the standards of Master Peng
Qing were extremely high. So after many years of diligent
practice and hard work Master Wen became one of Master Pengs'
most highly regarded students. Learning various Shaolin
forms, Wushu basics to increase strength, stamina and power
as well as Taiji Quan and Qigong. (A list of some of Shifu
Wen's forms can be seen at the end of this article.) Due
to Zhaodong being on the main route to Kunming Wushu Masters
would often pass through, many wishing to pay their respects
to Master Peng Qing. So the young Linjun met many of these
old Masters. Always being polite and courteous to them he
was highly regarded.
At the age of 14, in 1974, he took part in the first Provincial
Martial Arts Competition to take place after the Cultural
Revolution. Another competitor that day was the young Lei
Lianjie (Jet Lei), who went on to star in the 1980 film"Shaolin
Temple". At this event Master Wen was to meet, and begin
to train with, two of his future Masters. Sha
Guozheng, a native of Shandong Province who
sadly passed away in 1992, (Bagua Zhang, Xingyi Quan, Taiji
Quan, Taiji Jian and a very rare form called Tongbei Quan
literally "Back-through boxing", energy through the back
and out the arm. Master Sha was a student of Jiang Rongqiao
(second generation Bagua practitioner from Dong Haichuan,
the founder of Bagua Zhang) Master Wen also met He Fusheng
a Master of the Muslim school of Boxing of North West China.
Master He taught Linjun Cha Quan as well as Taiji Quan and
Xingyi Quan.
At that time he also studied with members of the Yunnan
Provincial Wushu team including Su Zifang and Quan Ruzhong.
Here he learned many national standard forms. He broadened
his knowledge by learning some local "folk" wushu,
the famous Yunnan Zou Jia Quan (including "Shuang Shi
Jiedai" and "Jincan Tuo Kuo"). Zou Ruoheng
and Peng Qing were both students of the Shaolin monk Ma
Desheng. Zou Ruoheng combined Ma Deshengs teaching with
other forms of boxing he had learned and developed a style
famous in Yunnan for it's speed and power of attack and
defence. Other "folk" teachers of Sifu Wen's include
Kunming Baguazhang master Jiang Xunpei, Beijing Wu style
master Li Bingci, and Zhang Xuilin a master of Chen style
Taijiquan in Jianxi Province.
There is a saying in Chinese Wushu which goes as follows
" To study fighting without healing is like studying
nothing". Wushu, Qigong and Traditional Chinese Medicine
not only have the same goal of strengthening the body but
are also based on the same theories of Yin/Yang, the five
elements, Qi and mind, internal organs, meridians and points
and can be traced to the same Daoist origins. Of the Ancient
masters there was not one who was not proficient in medicine.
Dr. Wen's Grandfather insisted he study to become a Doctor
of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He was fortunate to be
accepted into Chinese Medicine College where he trained
for five years in Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine,
followed by two years of post  Graduate
research in acupuncture and then seven years of clinical
experience. His education took him to University where he
became Wushu instructor for the Yunnan College of Traditional
Chinese Medicine (1977-1982). His female students won the
Womens' Group Prize at the "National Chinese Medicine Colleges
Wushu Competition". 1977 saw Sifu Wen become the youngest
wushu competition Umpire in Yunnan Province. He continued
to judge competitions anually. In 1983 he umpired the weapons
section of a National Wushu competition. The First National
Taijijian and Tuishou Competition was held in 1989 and Master
Wen again acted as Umpire.In 1983 he was part of a three-man
team which carried out an extensive survey resulting in
the compilation of "A History of Wushu in Yunnan Province",
and " A Register of Wushu in Yunnan Province". He also contributed
to the Yunnan section of "The Great Dictionary of Chinese
Wushu". In 1988 he was presented with a national award for
his thesis on Qigong.
Master Wen came to London in September 1991 where he has
opened three TCM Clinics as well as teaching from his vast
repertoire of martial arts. Some of his students here in
the U.K have recently graduated from an instructor-training
course and will now be assisting Master Wen with his future
classes.
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