YiQuan

Most of people should know XingYi Quan (Hsing-I Chuan). So what is Yi Quan?

YiQuan was an old name of XingYi Quan. In one of early books it was said: ‘General Yue Fei experted spears, he created a form and taught his officers, named YiQuan.’ (General Yue was mentioned as the spirit founder of XingYi Quan)

So today the YiQuan is actually derived from XingYi Quan. Not far last century, Great Master Wang Xiangzhai learned XingYi from the famous Master Guo Yunshen (they’re relatives), while those days Guo asked him to practise hard in Zhanzhuang but not regular Xingyi forms. Based on this, Wang later visited lots of kung fu adepts including Shaolin, Xinyi, Liu He Ba Fa, Crane fist. To identify his arts from popular Xingyi forms, he named it as YiQuan, to emphasize the importance of Yi on the side of Xing.

Today YiQuan is coming with some special training methods, the main difference comparing others is one: No any forms.

  • Zhan zhuang, the posts, also a kind of meditation practice.
  • Shi Li, testing strength in low speed, harmony training as a whole body except legs and feet.
  • MoCa Bu, friction walking, additional harmony training for legs and feet.
  • Fa Li, testing strength in fast speed.
  • Push hand, different with Tai-chi’s push hand and some relatives with Southern martial arts.
  • San Shou, free boxing, includes using fists, using legs, step methods.
  • Voice, for strength enhancement.

My teacher Yao Chengguang teaching YiQuan in Beijing.