Xingyi Quan

Five Element Fist - Pi

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Wild Cat Climbs a Tree

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Five Elements Fighting Form

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Santi Shi

Xingyi Quan, also known as Yi Quan, Xin-yi Quan, or Xin-yi Liuhe Quan, is a traditional Chinese martial arts. No one can really say who was the inventor and when it was invented. Today we are sure that Master Ji Jike (Longfeng) was the first person to teach Xingyi Quan. We believe Ji was the founder of Xingyi although he claimed he got this skill from General Yue Fei's book. Thus we always say Ji was the first generation master of Xingyi. Later Xingyi Quan spread out into two groups: northern group and southern group. The southern group is usually also called Henan Style. It started from Ji's disciple Master Ma Xueli. The southern group is small but really famous. Many masters from different generations of the style earned their repution from hard fighting. In the northern group, Master Cao Jiwu was only one famous student of Ji. Cao taught this skill to Master Dai Longbang, and then Dai passed the skill to his son Dai Wenxiong. Dai family lived in Qi County of Shanxi Province. Today people call Xingyi from this area is Dai Style or Older Shanxi Style.

The fifth generation Master Li Luoneng was the greatest Xingyi master. He studied Xingyi with Dai Wenxiong for about ten years and then taught in both Shanxi and Hebei provinces. Most of his students became very famous. They won the reputation for this skill and made Xingyi became popular. Today more than ninety percent Xingyi practitioners are in Li's lineage. Because most of his students are in Shanxi and Hebei, people call these two groups are Shanxi Style and Hebei Style. In Shanxi Li's disciples Che Yizhai and Song Shirong were the best and they were the leaders of Shanxi Style. In Hebei Li's disciple Guo Yunshen and Liu Qilan were the most famous. They traveled and challenged many famous masters, and they won the great reputation for Hebei Style. Today there are four main styles. They are Henan Style, Dai Style (or Older Shanxi Style), Shanxi Style, and Hebei Style .

Master Wang Peisheng studied Shanxi Style from Master Zhao Runting and Hebei Style with Master Han Muxia. Zhao Runting was Master Bu Xiekuan's disciple and Bu studied with Master Che Yizhai. Han Muxia was Master Zhang Zhaodong (Zhankui) 's disciple and Zhang was Master Liu Qilan's disciple. Han Muxia became famous as a teenager and won his great reputation for his fighting skills. He was respected as one of three best masters in his generation. Han was also a great Bagua master. Besides studying Xingyi with Han, Master Wang also received intensive Bagua training from Master Han.

There are two main practice sets in Xingyi Quan. One is called Xing Quan, it includes twelve animal fighting skills. The other is called Yi Quan, it includes the five element fists which follow the Wuxing idea of Taoism and are the basic skills of Xingyi. The most important basic gongfu (kungfu) training is Santi Shi which is a pole standing practice. It is the source and the foundition of all skills. All Xingyi skills are simple but useful. People usually practice each skill over and over again until they really feel it, There are some linking forms and two persons application sets in Xingyi also.

Hebei Style Xingyi, including empty hand forms and weapons, is taught in YCGFA-NAH.