余少體羸多病，十八患疔幾殆，乃始翟。然從友人習刺擊諸術，已果有效，而是時胥君心一以恆授余以王家拳，王家拳者，縣人王越羣氏字燕舟所剏，習焉者稀矣，惟胥君父兄傳其術獨精，余因詣其家謁其尊人懷澄先生，先生高年耽靜，喜余之至，忽超踊如少壯人，其兄吉六以謙亦出技遍肄之，用相娛樂，余之識吉六自此始，吉六隱市沽間，長不滿七尺，目光炯炯，能為顏真卿書，閒為文，辭簡而有意，望之踆踆焉如不勝衣，詎知其武藝之工如此，又焉能測其意之所至耶。其後余游江南，不相聞者十餘年，值風雨晦明之際，時時念吉六，以為若斯人果遂沉沒而不出耶，乙亥之秋，余館金陵盋山，有持所為書來見者，吉六也，大喜，詢之，則已從張公之江游，朝莫持盈尺之管，為國術館編拳術教本，成書數種矣。今年夏，又以所編三才劍見示，且屬為序。吉六技日專，文日工，不僅能狀其動作之形于外者毫髮無遺憾，又并其精微之意而傳之，雖其胸之所存未必遂止於此，然可藉此稍稍自見於世，余復何恨，惟余讀漢書藝文志，兵家技巧一門所列書目有百九十九篇，其所謂手搏者，疑即拳術劍道者，蓋劍術也，其一時之盛可知已，後世一命為文人，便以習武為羞，而椎魯之夫傳習於里巷，又不能文之以言其動作之意，以廣其流衍，而其用，亦僅限于自衛餬口，未有知為自強保種之資者，近日學校始曉然於體育之重，又但學外國距躍曲踊競走鬥泳蹴鞠擲餅諸術，莫有以此為意者，開設科目，比之附庸而已，夫外國之術或失之激，孱者為之窮力盡氣，顏沮色喪，扶持久而後復，此豈有益於身哉。中國武術，操之愈勤，而功愈見，練之愈熟，而效愈出，運及周身而不滯於方隅，出之和平而無分於強弱，健身之法，莫善於此，寶燕石而棄趙璧者，其為不知類歟。今中央國術館，成立有年，張公提倡于上，奇材異能之士日至，吉六復能文之以辭，一洗往日之陋，吾知國術之興殆不遠矣，若由是而推及寰區，使舉世之人，雲從風行，盡登壽域，豈不懿哉，豈不懿哉。
民國二十五年九月四日愚弟王煥鑣序於浙江大學
When I was young, my body was frail and I was often ill. By the time I had suffered the twentieth boil on my skin, I began to feel alarmed about the situation. I thereupon learned various martial arts from friends, which indeed had an effect on my health, but much more so when I learned Wang Family Boxing from the focused and dedicated Xu Yiqian.
　　Wang Family Boxing was created by Wang Yuequn, called Yanzhou, a native of Nantong. Practitioners of it are very rare and Xu’s father passed it down to him alone. I had visited Xu’s father, Xu Huaicheng, because of the achievements of their family. He was already an old man settled into his retirement, but he was happy to receive me and suddenly demonstrated a leap as impressive as that of a robust young man. His eldest son Jiliu, called Yiquan, had also learned many skills for his own enjoyment. My acquaintance with Xu Yiqian thus began because of this.
　　Xu is a somewhat reclusive man and does not stand out since he is not remarkably tall, though his eyes are very bright. He is skillful at calligraphy in the style of Yan Zhenqing and he writes compositions in language that is simple and deliberate. He has the unassuming look of a scholar, as though his clothes are about to overwhelm him, and so it is surprising and unexpected for such a man to also be skillful at martial arts.
　　I later traveled south of the Yangzte River and lost touch with him for more than ten years due to the distraction of various hardships, though I frequently thought about him and wondered if he had simply vanished into obscurity. In the autumn of 1935, I came to study at the Martial Arts Institute in Nanjing and was delighted to find that Xu Yiqian was there. He had come at the request of Zhang Zhijiang, who was unsatisfied with the Institute’s literary output. Xu has thus been producing boxing arts textbooks, several of which have since been published. In the summer of this year, he showed me his manuscript for the Sancai [“Three Realms”] Sword set, and he urged me to write a preface for it.
　　He both practices his skills and writes about them every day, and thus not only are his movements flawless in appearance, he is also able to transmit the deeper ideas of these arts. Instead of being satisfied at having obtained his own understanding, he goes further and shares this material with the world, which seems to me to be quite impeccable conduct.
　　I read in the “Bibliographical Records” in the Book of Han that there were a hundred ninety-nine chapters on military skills, among them “six chapters on bare-handed fighting” and “thirty-eight chapters on swordsmanship”, and so we can know that such things already had a strong presence in those early days. However, scholars in later generations became embarrassed to practice martial arts, and it was left to simpler men to pass it down in alleyways. These illiterate men were incapable of writing down the principles in order to further the spread of martial arts. The purpose of these arts was therefore limited to self-defense and bodyguard services, and their value as a means of strengthening the masses was not yet understood.
　　Schools have recently come to know the value of physical education, but have only been utilizing foreign forms of exercise, such as: long jump, high jump, running, swimming, soccer, discus throwing, and so on. To start a school without having these things in the curriculum would look downright amateurish. However, foreign exercises are too intense for weaker people, draining all of their energy until they look completely demoralized and then requiring they take a long time to recover. How can this be beneficial for the body?
　　The practicing of Chinese martial arts is very different. The more diligently you work at it, the more results you will see, and the more refined your skill becomes, the more the effects will show. It is a means of exercising the whole body rather than overemphasizing any particular part. It is a moderate form of exercise rather than being suitable only for the strong. There is no better method for invigorating the body. Those who do not understand this show a total lack of discernment, like someone who treasures stones from the Kingdom of Yan and discards jade from the Kingdom of Zhao.
　　It has now been a good many years since the Central Martial Arts Institute was established. Its director Zhang Zhijiang has been promoting it well and more martial arts masters are drawn to it each day, including Xu Yiqian with his literary skill which will help to wash away the uneducated past that is associated with practitioners. I am sure that a prosperous age for our martial arts is not far away, that they will spread throughout the nation and become so popular that they will live on forever. How marvelous it will be.
　　- written by Wang Huanbiao at Zhejiang University, Sep 4, 1936