Lingnan boasts a profound heritage of martial arts, and its intangible cultural heritage is shining with renewed vitality. On December 19th, the 2025 Promotion and Exchange Competition of Mok Family Boxing, a national-level intangible cultural heritage (ICH) under the theme of Vibrant Zhongkai, Inheritance of Martial Charms, was held at the Cultural Square of Lilin Town, Zhongkai Hi-tech Zone. This cultural grand gathering, gathering participants from Guangzhou, Huizhou and Dongguan, builds a platform for martial arts exchange with boxing as the bond and consolidates the cultural foundation with heritage as the mission. It not only showcases the more than 300 years of profound martial arts accumulation of Mok Family Boxing, but also highlights the vigorous vitality of the fine traditional Chinese culture. The event was hosted by the Guangdong Intangible Cultural Heritage Promotion Association, and co-organized by Huizhou and Dongguan cities.
Tri-city Synergy, Stunning Martial Arts Competitions on Stage
On the event day, ICH inheritance groups, martial arts gymnasiums from Guangzhou, Huizhou and Dongguan, as well as participating teams from five schools in Zhongkai Hi-tech Zone gathered together, presenting a cultural feast that blends traditional lasting appeal with contemporary vitality for the on-site audience. At the opening ceremony, the Chenjiang Zhangwu Dragon-shaped Qilin Troupe staged Qilin Brings Auspiciousness, a municipal-level ICH traditional dance, conveying propitious meanings through vivid leaps and rolls; the Shuangxi Band performed their original ICH-themed music Mok Family Boxing, enabling the audience to feel the youthful vitality of intangible cultural heritage in rhythmic melodies.
In the competition segment, five school teams took the stage in turn, demonstrating the fruitful results of Mok Family Boxing routine training with high spirits. Shouting resounding slogans including Strengthen cultural confidence and inherit traditional skills and Make friends through martial arts and convince others with virtue, the teenagers, dressed in unified costumes, delivered each punch and stance with firm strength and smooth movements. Finally, Dieshilong Primary School of Lilin Town won the First Prize; Puxin Primary School of Lilin Town and Yingguang School of Zhongkai Hi-tech Zone claimed the Second Prize; Qiling Primary School of Lilin Town and the Fourth Primary School of Zhongkai Hi-tech Zone were awarded the Third Prize. It is truly gratifying to see so many children loving Mok Family Boxing, which proves that our promotion work has achieved remarkable results, said Mo Yulin, the 9th-generation inheritor of Mok Family Boxing. He expressed his hope to select promising young talents and provide them with systematic advanced training to carry on the heritage of Mok Family Boxing.
Featured performances by inheritance groups such as the Fushan Qilin Martial Arts Gymnasium in Liaobu Town, Dongguan, and the Changshantou Qilin Troupe in Qingxi Town, Dongguan were equally splendid. As an important inheritance base of Mok Family Boxing, Qiaotou Town in Dongguan has integrated the boxing art into the National Fitness Program. Its martial arts gymnasium has been successively rated as a provincial and municipal-level ICH inheritance base, setting a remarkable example for the daily-life inheritance of intangible cultural heritage. The Huogang Mok Family Boxing Association of Zhongkai Hi-tech Zone presented the performance Resounding Boxing Moves with powerful and sturdy skills. It is reported that the association once appeared at the National Southern Shaolin Martial Arts Exchange Activity and won the Gold Award for the ICH Martial Arts Performance.
Speaking of his first participation in the exchange event in Lilin Town, Yin Xuequan, a Mok Family Boxing enthusiast from the Fushan Qilin Martial Arts Gymnasium, spoke highly of it. Such events should be held more frequently to further carry forward Mok Family Boxing, he said.
Rooted in Campus, Innovative Expressions Vitalize the Culture
Originated in Huogang, Lilin Town of Zhongkai Hi-tech Zone and spread to places such as Dongguan, Mok Family Boxing was founded by its originator Mo Dashi in the Qing Dynasty. Having a history of over 300 years of inheritance, it is one of the Five Great Famous Boxing Styles of Guangdong. With its martial techniques combining hardness with softness and the spiritual core of upholding morality and righteousness, Mok Family Boxing embodies the wisdom of traditional Chinese martial arts and the cultural genes of Lingnan. In 2021, with the joint efforts and recommendation of Huizhou and Dongguan, Mok Family Boxing was included in the Fifth List of National Representative Intangible Cultural Heritage Items, becoming the third national-level ICH heritage of Huizhou City. For years, the two cities have adhered to the concept of collaborative inheritance, forming a protection and inheritance pattern featuring laying a solid foundation in campus, building a platform through competitions, and empowering development with innovation.
In recent years, Zhongkai Hi-tech Zone has taken multiple measures to promote the inheritance and innovation of intangible cultural heritage. Since 2021, the Mok Family Boxing Enters Campus program has been fully launched in five schools of Lilin Town. By offering after-school clubs and inviting inheritors including Mo Yulin, the 9th-generation descendant, to teach in person, the zone has enabled Mok Family Boxing to take root among teenagers. Starting from 2022, the zone innovatively choreographed a campus Mok Family Boxing exercise, deeply integrating martial arts moves with aesthetic and physical education. It has also organized teacher training sessions to cultivate a team of backbone teachers, and held martial arts exercise competitions for consecutive years. In addition, relevant departments have systematically sorted out core materials such as the historical origin, inheritance pedigree and move decomposition of Mok Family Boxing, and compiled promotional brochures for its protection, providing strong support for cultural dissemination. In terms of innovative expression, original works inspired by Mok Family Boxing, such as the dance The Sound of Reading and Boxing and the skit Hero Mo, have won awards in provincial, municipal and even national competitions, enabling the intangible cultural heritage to step into people’s lives in diverse forms.
The holding of this Mok Family Boxing Promotion and Exchange Competition fully demonstrates the fruitful results of Zhongkai Hi-tech Zone’s practice of centering on teenagers in the inheritance of traditional culture. The Guangdong Intangible Cultural Heritage Promotion Association commented that Zhongkai Hi-tech Zone has attached great importance to guiding teenagers to participate in ICH inheritance, with remarkable and fruitful achievements in relevant work. In the future, the association will continue to deepen inter-regional collaborative cooperation across the province, integrate high-quality resources, strengthen practical innovation and theoretical empowerment, and inject stronger impetus into the protection and development of Mok Family Boxing.
Reporter’s Observation
Teenagers Continue to Write the Legend of Intangible Cultural Heritage
When the powerful boxing moves of Mok Family Boxing meet the youthful vitality of teenagers in Zhongkai, this national-level intangible cultural heritage, bearing 300 years of martial arts wisdom and Lingnan cultural genes, is integrating into people’s daily lives in a vivid and tangible way.
The foundation of ICH inheritance lies in teenagers. Teenagers from five schools in Zhongkai stepped onto the stage to compete in Mok Family Boxing, showing solid and powerful skills in every move. In recent years, Zhongkai Hi-tech Zone has been committed to the ICH Enters Campus program, laying a solid talent foundation for cultural inheritance.
The key to revitalizing ICH lies in innovative expression. Award-winning original ICH-themed music, dances and skits have enabled Mok Family Boxing to move from martial arts gymnasiums to the stage and into daily life. Meanwhile, Qiaotou Town in Dongguan has integrated the boxing art into the National Fitness Program, truly embedding traditional culture into people’s daily routines.
The driving force for the continuity of ICH lies in collaborative linkage. Huizhou and Dongguan have jointly promoted Mok Family Boxing to be inscribed on the national ICH list; the three cities have jointly built a platform for martial arts exchange and resource sharing, learning from each other’s inheritance experience, thus enabling Mok Family Boxing to spread and develop on a wider scale.
The inheritance practice of Mok Family Boxing vividly interprets the profound connotation of coexistence of tradition and modernity, and simultaneous advancement of inheritance and innovation. Only by rooting in teenagers, embracing innovation and deepening cooperation can more intangible cultural heritage items, just like Mok Family Boxing, gain great vitality and shine with more splendid brilliance in the new era.
Such events should be held more frequently to further carry forward Mok Family Boxing.
—— Yin Xuequan, Mok Family Boxing enthusiast, Fushan Qilin Martial Arts Gymnasium, Liaobu Town, Dongguan
I hope to select promising young talents and provide them with systematic advanced training to carry on the heritage of Mok Family Boxing.
—— Mo Yulin, the 9th-generation inheritor of Mok Family Boxing
