Chapter 9 Section 4 Xingyiquan

Xingyiquan is a kind of boxing that imitates the image of animals.This kind of boxing requires not only to imitate the appearance of animals' activities vividly on the outside, but more importantly, to imitate the inner meaning of animals' actions, that is, to imitate the inner world of animals.The combination of appearance and inner meaning, through training the shape and then training the meaning, so it is called Xingyiquan (Figure 5). Xingyiquan was developed from "Xinyi Liuhequan". "Xinyi Liuhequan" is also called "Xinyiquan" or "Liuhequan". Inner three-in-one" and "outer three-in-one" requirements.The so-called inner sanhe refers to the close combination of several factors inside the body, that is, "heart and mind, mind and qi, qi and strength"; outer sanhe refers to the coordination and cooperation of various parts of the body when performing boxing. , that is, "shoulders and hips, elbows and knees, hands and feet".

Just like people once said that Tuodama created Shaolin Boxing, the saying that Yue Fei, a famous anti-gold general in the Song Dynasty created Xinyi Boxing, was also widely spread.Yue Fei is a national hero whose name goes down in history, with superb martial arts skills and outstanding military exploits.However, there is no historical data to show that Yue Fei ever created Xinyiquan.Yue Fei Chuangquan said that he obviously wanted to use Yue Fei's high reputation to improve the status of Xinyiquan.In particular, Xinyiquan was founded in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, when the struggle against the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty was on the rise. It is more meaningful to say that the founder of Xinyiquan is Yue Fei, a well-known national hero.In fact, the real founder of this kind of boxing was Ji Longfeng (1602-1680 A.D.), a martial artist in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.

Ji Longfeng, also known as Ji Jike, was born in Puzhou, Shanxi (now Yongji County, Shanxi).Proficient in martial arts, especially his spear skills are very good.It is said that Ji Longfeng liked to ride a horse and gallop along the small roads in the village, stabbing the rafters under the eaves with a big gun.There are 10 rafters in each room, and none of them is missed. This is his specialty "Pegasus pointing the rafters", which shows the speed and accuracy of his marksmanship.Therefore, people gave him the nickname of "Sharp Gun".Although Ji Longfeng has such superb marksmanship, it is difficult to meet opponents, but he still has a concern.He felt that if a person lives in a chaotic world, he can naturally carry a gun with him to protect himself.But in the peaceful world, if you always go in and out with a long gun or other weapons on your shoulders, not only will you feel ridiculous, but people will also be surprised.But if you don't bring a weapon, what can you use for self-defense in case of any accident?After much deliberation, he decided to change his proficient Liuhe Spear into Liuhequan.The original form of Xingyiquan "Xinyi Liuhequan" was born in this way.Since Xinyiquan was changed from spear technique, some characteristics of spear technique are still left in the technique.

There is another romantic legend about Ji Longfeng's creation of boxing: one day, Ji Longfeng was collecting medicinal materials in Zhongnan Mountain, and suddenly saw an eagle fighting a bear, and the eagle danced with the bear. It was a fierce battle.Ji Longfeng was fascinated by it, and suddenly came up with inspiration, imitating the shape of an eagle and a bear fighting, and created Xinyiquan.In order to increase the influence of Xinyiquan, he pretended to find Yue Fei's boxing score in a cave. After the fall of the Ming Dynasty, Ji Longfeng went to Shaolin Temple and performed the boxing art he created in Shaolin Temple, which was praised by Shaolin monks, so he lived in Shaolin Temple for 10 years and taught boxing skills in Henan.Later, seeing that there was little hope of restoring the Ming Dynasty, he returned to his hometown.Shaolin martial arts already existed in the Ming Dynasty with the dragon, tiger, leopard, snake, and crane five fists, which have many similarities with Xinyiquan. Therefore, the emergence of Xinyiquan has a certain relationship with Shaolin martial arts.

At first, the content of Xinyiquan was relatively simple.The basic boxing methods include the first six postures which are based on strength and the last six postures which are mainly soft and vigorous.The basic essentials of action postures are chicken legs, dragon body, bear arms, eagle claws, tiger hugging head, and thunder.Since Ji Longfeng, Xinyiquan has spread, and after the development of Nanshan Zheng, Cao Jiwu, Ma Xueli, Li Shiming, Dai Longbang, etc., it has become more and more influential in Shanxi, Henan and other places. Among the later descendants of Xinyiquan, Li Feiyu (approximately 1808-1890 AD) of Shenxian County, Hebei Province made important contributions.Li Feiyu is also called Li Luoneng. He has been a martial arts fan since he was a child, but what he practiced were just some ostentatious routines, which are often called "fancy fists and embroidered legs".Therefore, I really want to learn real martial arts.Later, he heard that the Dai family in Xiaohan Village, Qixian County, Shanxi Province had ancestral Xinyiquan, and there were many talents, especially Dai Wenxiong, who was almost ancient, was even more exquisite in boxing. He was hired by some firms as a bodyguard (senior bodyguard) In Beijing, Zhangjiakou, and Baotou, I did not know how many Jianghu heroes and green forest heroes I defeated, so I made up my mind to learn Xinyiquan.However, it is not easy to learn boxing.Ancient martial artists generally did not pass on their skills to others casually, especially their own unique moves were kept secret and refused to show others easily.Xinyiquan is a boxing technique with strong combat effectiveness, so naturally it cannot be easily learned by others.It is said that after Ji Longfeng created Xinyiquan, he was afraid that others would steal the boxing, so his family generally did not hire long-term workers, only short-term workers.In this way, every few days, it is difficult to peep into the mystery of boxing.The Dai family also has a family rule not to pass on boxing to people with other surnames. Xinyiquan master Dai Longbang only passes on the art to his son Dai Wenliang, nephews Dai Wenying and Dai Wenxiong.In order to learn boxing, Li Feiyu came to Xiaohan Village disguised as a vegetable grower, and tried every means to ask someone to intercede.In the end, it was God who paid off, moved Dai Wenxiong, and broke Dai's rule that Xinyiquan should not be passed on to people with foreign surnames. In 1845, he accepted Li Feiyu as his apprentice.Li Feiyu was very happy.It is often said that "you don't learn art at thirty", but Li Feiyu was 37 years old when he became a teacher, and he has obviously missed the best period of learning art.But he studied very hard and practiced hard for 10 years, and he has developed excellent kung fu.Once, a friend who was close to Li Feiyu came to visit. This friend has great strength and excellent martial arts.The two chatted happily together.The person who came wanted to make a joke, and also wanted to take the opportunity to test Li Feiyu's skills, so he took advantage of Li's inattention, grabbed Li Feiyu from behind, and tried to lift him up by luck.Unexpectedly, Li Feiyu was as stable as Mount Tai and did not move at all, while his own body rose into the air ("Che Jun Yizhai Memorial Inscription").Later, Li Feiyu seriously summed up the experience of his predecessors, combined with his own personal experience of practicing boxing for many years, put forward a new view, and changed the name of "Xinyiquan" to "Xingyiquan".Since then, a technique and theoretical system of Xingyiquan based on Xinyiquan and different from Xinyiquan has gradually emerged.

In the late Qing Dynasty, Xingyiquan was widely spread in Shanxi, Henan, and Hebei, and various schools of different styles gradually formed in the process of spreading.For example, Shanxi's boxing is compact; Henan's is brave; Hebei's is stretched and steady.Due to the difference in the master's biography, there are also many differences in the routines in different places. Among the successors of Xingyi Quan, there are many masters who are famous in the martial arts world. For example, Guo Yunshen, a master of Xingyi Quan in Hebei Province, has put forward unique views on the principles, strength, breathing and exercises of Xingyi Quan. played an important role in its development and promotion.Guo Yunshen is not tall but has a very strong body. He loved martial arts since he was a child. Later, he took Li Feiyu as his teacher and practiced Xingyiquan hard for 12 years, and his skills have reached the point of perfection.His Bengquan is particularly exquisite, and he has a great reputation of "half-step Bengquan hits all over the world".His internal strength is excellent, and "Fist Intention Shuzhen" describes him as "the form is as heavy as Mount Tai, and the body moves as lightly as a bird".Once, he asked five strong men to support his stomach with wooden sticks, and then, suddenly lucky, the five strong men fell a foot away.

Later, Guo Yunshen visited Dong Haichuan (approximately AD 1813-1882) who was teaching martial arts in Prince Su's residence in Beijing.The two had heard each other's name for a long time, so they began to fight with fists and legs.These two masters of martial arts have fought countless martial arts masters, but they have never met their opponents.Unexpectedly, this time it is a chess match, and a good talent.For three days in a row, the killing was indistinguishable, each of them was secretly amazed and admired each other.So, they stopped fighting and became brothers, and they spent several months discussing boxing principles together.They feel that although Xingyi and Bagua have different names, the principles of boxing are the same. These two boxing techniques should complement each other and complement each other.Therefore, at the moment, I decided to combine Xingyi and Bagua into one school. Those who learn Xingyiquan also use Baguazhang to adjust, so as to avoid excessive rigidity; and those who learn Baguazhang also learn Xingyiquan. .

Through the efforts of generations of ancient martial artists, Xingyiquan has finally developed into a very mature and important boxing style in Chinese martial arts. In September 1918, Russian Hercules Kanthal held a national martial arts competition in Zhongshan Park in Beijing. He heard that Han Muxia, who was proficient in Xingyi and Baguazhang, was going to compete with him.Some people also said that Kantel had previously fought against Han Muxia at the Liuguo Hotel, and was beaten badly, so he did not dare to appear on the stage.Che Yonghong (1833-1914), a master of Xingyi boxing in the late Qing Dynasty, once studied under Li Feiyu, practiced hard for 20 years, and developed a superb Xingyi Kungfu.In his later years, he once competed with the Japanese military instructor stationed in Tianjin in the arena, and defeated the Japanese instructor with slow speed.The Japanese instructor admired his superb martial arts very much, and wanted to worship him as a teacher, but Che Yonghong politely declined.Some people didn't understand why, he said: "How can I pass on my own country's unique skills to outsiders!"

Xingyiquan has the characteristics of both internal and external boxing. It not only pays attention to the combination of hardness and softness, the change of virtual reality, but also has the sharpness of direct attack and fast attack, and preemptive attack. too slow". Xingyiquan uses the three-body posture as the basic pile method.The three-body posture is a standing posture designed according to the essentials of Xingyiquan movements. All kinds of movements of Xingyiquan are based on this basic posture. There is a saying that "everything comes from the three-body posture".

The most basic boxing methods of Xingyiquan are chopping, collapsing, drilling, gunning and horizontal boxing, which are called "five elements boxing".Because most of the other styles of boxing are derived from these five boxings, Wuxing boxing is also called "Xingyi mother boxing".The name of Wuxingquan is based on the Five Elements theory in ancient Chinese philosophy.The Five Elements Theory holds that everything in nature is composed of five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.These five elements have a relationship of mutual promotion, such as metal produces water, water produces wood, wood produces fire, fire produces earth, and earth produces metal, which is called the five elements. Water restrains fire, and fire restrains metal. This is called mutual restraint of the five elements.The theory of Xingyiquan uses this relationship between the five elements to generate and restrain each other to explain the mutual transformation and mutual restriction between the five fists: the split fist is like an ax and belongs to gold, the collapse fist is like an arrow and belongs to wood, the drill fist is like electricity and belongs to water, and the gun fist like an arrow belongs to water. Cannons belong to fire, and horizontal fists belong to earth.Therefore, it is more smooth to change from Piquan to Drilling Fist, and from Drilling Fist to Bengquan, because "gold grows water" and "water grows wood". , "Turk Water".This five-element theory also specifically connects five-element boxing with fitness. For example, according to the five-element point of view to explain human internal organs, the lungs belong to metal, the liver to wood, the kidneys to water, the heart to fire, and the spleen to earth.Therefore, practicing Piquan can nourish the lungs, practicing Bengquan can soothe the liver, practicing Zuanquan can nourish the kidneys, practicing Paoquan can protect the heart, and practicing Hengquan can benefit the spleen.The practice route of Wuxingquan is mainly straight forward, and the footwork is steady and solid.

Xingyiquan also has the "Twelve Forms Boxing" that imitates 12 animals such as dragon, tiger, monkey, horse, 鼍 (tuo camel), chicken, harrier, swallow, snake, pigeon, eagle and bear.Twelve-shaped boxing is lively, interesting, lively and practical, and has distinct offensive and defensive significance.Each shape has its own meaning, for example, the dragon shape trains the body to be vigorous; the tiger shape trains the bravery of attack; the monkey shape trains the stretching and jumping of the body; Xingyiquan also has practice routines for various martial arts equipment.

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