Books written by modern @-@ day martial artists make many claims that are not congruent with historical documents or current scholarly thought . For instance , internalist Yang Jwing @-@ Ming say Zhou was a scholar who studied martial arts in the Shaolin Monastery and later took Yue as his student after the young man worked as a tenant farmer for the official @-@ general Han Qi ( 韓琦 , 1008 – 1075 ) . During this time , he learned all types of military weapons , horseback riding , and hand @-@ to @-@ hand combat . The General later created Xingyi and Eagle Claw boxing from his internal and external training under Zhou . However , history Prof. Meir Shahar note that unarmed boxing styles did not develop at Shaolin until the late Ming Dynasty . He also state that Ji family memoirs and Qing Dynasty records suggest Xingyi was created hundreds of years after the death of Yue by a spearplayer named Ji Jike ( fl . 1651 ) . In addition , the appearance of Han Qi in the story is a chronological anachronism since he died nearly 30 years before Yue 's birth . Yue historically worked as a tenant farmer and bodyguard for descendants of Han Qi in 1124 after leaving the military upon the death of his father in late 1122 , but he learned from Zhou well before this time .