Gan Fongchih was a famous martial arts master in the early period of the Cing Dynasty. He became well known when he was young. Once there was a Hercules, Jhang Dayi, who visited him and then wanted to have a contest with him. Gan refused at first, but finally he reluctantly accepted this challenge.

      Jhang was very tall with strong arms. Wearing iron gloves, he furiously started. Gan calmly leaned on a column, waited for his rival's hand, then he clutched Jhang's hand. Immediately Jhang started bleeding. When they took off the gloves, they found that the shape of five fingers indented on the iron glove.

      Ma Yulin was the guard of a rich family in Yangjhou. Although he was tall and heavy, he could move fast like a monkey. He envied Gan, because he was older to Gan, but Gan's position was higher. So he irritated Gan and asked for a contest. Gan only used two fingers and easily defeated him.

      Master Gan was particularly famous for his finger gong fu. He could liquidize lead and tin nuggets by simply squeezing them. But he always said that he was not particularly powerful, merely it was he knew how to employ his strength. He was gentle and polite; in addition to that, he never took advantage of others. So people did not know that he was in fact a sia.

      Gan's stories were very popular in literary writings and in the martial arts circle at the beginning of this century, especially in the folktale about the case of the decapitated Emperor Yongjheng. The tale states Yongjheng's head was cut off by the martial arts mistress, Lyu Siniang. Lyu was one of the eight sia group, Jiangnan Basia, and Gan was said also to be one of them. Lyu was a created character, but Gan was a real man.