In the Western Zhou Dynasty, Congyang County was a state of the patriarchs. In the fifth year of the Western Han Dynasty (106 BC), it was established as a county. In the Jin Dynasty, Tao Kan served as the magistrate of Congyang. In the 18th year of Kaihuang in the Sui Dynasty (598), Congyang County was changed to Tong'an County. In the second year of Zhide in the Tang Dynasty (757), Tong'an County was changed to Tongcheng County. At the end of the Sui Dynasty, the county seat was once moved to Chengshan, Huigong Township; at the end of the Southern Song Dynasty, the county seat was moved to Congyang Town. In 1951, it was renamed Hudong County, and on July 1, 1955, it was renamed to its current name. Congyang is "the cave of poets, the home of articles, and the hometown of integrity". It not only respects literature, but also advocates martial arts. Congyang County is the Dongxiang and Nanxiang of ancient Tongcheng. In the old days, there was a saying that "literature is not as good as Nanxiang, and martial arts are not as good as Dongxiang". "Dongxiang" includes Zhoutan, Hengbu, Xiangpu, Tanggou, Laozhou, Baihu, Jinshe, Baimei, Chenyaohu and other towns in our county today. Zhoutan is the birthplace and dissemination center of Dongxiang martial arts. The Zhang family of Dashan Village in Zhoutan is the most martial. According to the "Zhang Family Tree", the Zhang family's ancestors lived in Pucheng, Fujian, and their ancestral martial arts belonged to the Fujian Shaolin School. His ancestor, Zijun Gong, was a military general in the Tang Dynasty. At the end of the Tang Dynasty, a branch of Zijun Gong's descendants moved to Mayuan, Jing County, Anhui Province and settled there. In the Song Dynasty, they also produced military officers of all sizes. In the Yuan Dynasty, the brothers Tianwu and Tianlu of the Zhang family in Mayuan moved to Hongshan (now Dashan) in Zhoutan and settled there. The trend of practicing martial arts was greatly promoted, and there were many people with high martial arts among the descendants, such as Zhang Mubin, who was the second place in the Jiazi year of the Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty. Around the early Ming Dynasty, the Zhang and Zhou families married, and the third-generation ancestor of the Yaoshi Zhou family was a girl from the Zhang family in Dashan. Since then, the Zhang and Zhou families have married for generations, and the trend of practicing martial arts has been passed on to the Zhou family. When the Zhang family's martial arts were passed on to the Zhou family, it was the period of the budding of "Dongxiang martial arts". When the Zhou family members generally practiced martial arts in their own clan and taught it to other surnames, martial arts became a local social fitness activity, which was the period of the formation of "Dongxiang martial arts". It is speculated that the formal formation of "Dongxiang martial arts" may be in the late Ming Dynasty. After the formation of "Dongxiang martial arts", it attracted the attention of feudal clan leaders. In order to safeguard the interests of feudal clans, clan leaders of various clans focused on the development of martial arts. However, their "family inheritance, not outside", "passing on to daughters-in-law, not to aunts" and the so-called "door-keeping boxing" and "house-keeping boxing" and other bad rules affected the popularization and development of "Dongxiang martial arts". From the early Qing Dynasty to the Xianfeng period, about 200 years, it was a prosperous period, with 36 boxing teachers famous in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. From the end of the Xianfeng period of the Qing Dynasty to the outbreak of the Anti-Japanese War, about 80 years, it was a period of decline. The advantages of "Dongxiang martial arts": focus on hands, eyes, body, method, and steps, and are good at breaking the opponent's formation and number of routes. Breaking moves and fighting, combining offense and defense, and emphasizing practical technology. Nowadays, under the tide of market economy, the trend of practicing martial arts has gradually become cold. At present, most people who practice martial arts are over 40 years old, and young people no longer practice martial arts. Many boxing and weapon routines are on the verge of being lost. Information source: Anhui Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center Information source: Anhui Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Center