Li Jinglin (李景林, 1885–1931) — the "Sword Saint" and patron of the jian

Li Jinglin (李景林 / Lǐ Jǐnglín, 1885–1931), courtesy name Fangchen (芳宸), was a warlord general turned the great patron of the sword — the "Sword Saint" (劍仙) whose Wudang-sword (武當劍) art, and whose founding role at the Central Guoshu Institute, did more than anyone's to make the jian (劍) a living martial art again in the Republican era.

Life — the general

Born in 棗強縣 (Zaoqiang County), Hebei, Li was a serious military man, not a martial hobbyist. He rose through the Fengtian (奉系) and Zhili (直系) cliques, commanded the 直魯聯軍 (Zhili-Shandong Allied Army), and in 1925 served as military governor of Zhili. After the wars turned against his faction in 1927, he poured his remaining years and prestige into 國術 (the national art).

The sword

The martial world called him 劍仙, the "Sword Saint" — a popular honorific that attached after his death. His command of the Wudang straight-sword was real and consequential, but his sword lineage is genuinely disputed:

The Central Guoshu Institute, and the held text

Li was a co-founder and the first vice-director (副館長) of the Central Guoshu Institute when it opened in Nanjing in 1928, and his personal network is credited with attracting its star faculty. He went on to found the 山東國術館 (Shandong Guoshu Institute) in Jinan in 1930, where he died of dysentery in 1931, aged 46.

His sword survives chiefly through 黃元秀 (Huang Yuanxiu, 1884–1964) — who studied the sword under Li and taiji under Yang Chengfu — and who compiled the 《武當劍法大要》 (Essentials of Wudang Sword Method, 1931). The codex holds a scan of that very book, in Sources/northern-kungfu-manuals/ — making Li's transmission one we can read at the source.

See also

Central Guoshu Institute — which he co-founded and first co-led

The Long Saber (單刀法選) — the codex's other major bladed-weapon text

A Short History of Chinese Martial Arts

Sources

[1] 李景林, Chinese Wikipedia (zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/李景林_(1885年)) — the military career, the Guoshu Institute role, the Song Weiyi tradition.

[2] 黃元秀 (Huang Yuanxiu), 武當劍法大要 (Commercial Press, 1931) — held in the codex; the primary source, with its appended biography crediting Chen Shijun of Anhui. English: Paul Brennan, Wudang Sword.