Hsing-I Question

[Daredevil]

Heya,

I'm just looking to expand my knowledge of the art, since it's the one I know least of, of the three internal styles.

My specific question is, to the Hsing-I guys out there (or to those otherwise in the know), what kinds of different sub-styles of Hsing-I are there? What're the major lines and what're their characteristics?

Not looking to start or provoke a war among lineages, just genuinely interested. Thanks.

[The Willow Sword]

Hsingi has a lot of what you would call sub styles contained within. The main focus of the styles are derived from the 5 fists and the 5 elements theories,, Hsing- is ALL internal,the moves are very basic, and very forth right. the attacking is linear and hard drivin for it is a very focused system, there are the 5 fists the linkage of the 5 fists and the 12 animal steps that derived from the fist sets. the weapons:the ones i know,,are spear, broad sword(dao) and straight sword. there are others but i know not of them,,There is also the two man set which gives you the way the hsingi moves are done in a possible fight situation.
the element thoeries based on the 5 fists are
earth, water fire metal and wood. these elements correspond to a different organ and the meridian point of that organ, there are 2 organs per fist set,, a yin organ and a yang organ. for example:
the choppping fist;organs:lungs ans large intestine, lungs are yin LI are yang, the element is metal. the lung points run along the inside of the arm and the LI points run along the outside of the arm. see what i mean it is more than the moves,, the moves are simple yet complex for when doing the sets the chi is built and directed to the points mentioned.
i believe that it is a good system to learn, i am no longer into flashy forms and dancing around wasting my energy, i like to wait and evade and then when the opening presents itself, BAM!!
thats the whole thing with hsingi fighters.
they say that when a hsingi fighter punches you, they dont just punch you they punch you internally.
it is devastating and one hit usually does it(in theory)any way that is a smidgen of what i know,,others will contribute and im sure that they have good info for you as well.
Many respects, willow sword

Whatever you think i am or want me to be,,, i am.
oh and,,,Jesus loves you, everyone else thinks you are an a$.

[Mr. Nemo]

Check out this xingyi site (http://www.emptyflower.com). It has some info on different styles.

I believe the three major styles are hebei, shangxi, and henan.

[les paul]

****"obviously I had the day off from work"******

First there are three main styles of Xingyi, Hunan, Hebei and Shanxi style. From these come other seletive styles like jinks, six harmonie, Song etc... ****her from the main circle are unique versions that "propbably" stemmed from Xingyi, Yi Quan for example. I used the word "probably" because their is no difinite answer, except they appear to be in the same family.

Both the Hebei and the Shanxi branches have five elemental theory. The Hunan style stems from a Muslium sector in Hunan and doesn't possess the Five elements, however it's animal forms are quite developed Further: Shanxi style "can" possess a lot of Fa-jing in it's movements, but this depends on the instructor, like-wise in the Hubei style. Shanxi style San-ti Shi (three in one stance) is more 50/50 or double weighted for quick light evasive movements. The Hubei style San-Ti Shi is more back weighted to promote forward thrust inherent in all Xingyi attacks. All styles promote pole (stance) training with Shanxi being the least to Hubei the most(except for styles like Yi quan, these styles use pole standing/chi development more than any style I know [including Bagua or Tajiquan])

The Hubei style I practice has Five elemntal theory. Each element is a series of moves. They(the elements) contain various striking and kicking attacks, chin-na attacks and counters and finnally sweeps and throws. There are many exercise that combine two or more elements for training purposes. After these are known, one learns "Wuxing lianhuan Quan" that combines all of the elements into a shadow boxing rountine. A two man form that is called Wu Xing Pao Chui or "Five elemental cannons or poundings." (is used for practicing the techniques learned earlier against another person)

After this the Animals forms are learned. These contain many variations of the five elements as well as new adavanced techniques. I basicly learned how to fight with the five elements then started to supplement or add new attacks with the animals forms. Many of the animal forms I learned had several variations and are designed to do many things. I also learned "Ba Shi Chui" and "Za Shui Chui" Shadow boxing routines, taught to promote elemental and animal usage. Inside all this are special techniques under different headings. For example: "Sing long Shuai jiao" where one learns to to combine the Dragon, Tiger and Eagle-Bear into a defense against someone attempting to grapple with you. Finally: I learned "Ann Shenn Pau" which is a two man form used as a training guide ment to promote all elements and animals(combined attacks using both against another person). The last thing I learned was Pan Gen. A small circle walking routine with different exercises designed to promote many defensive movements as well a chi developemnt.

I left out alot of basic stuff like stepping patterns etc. I hope this gives you a good example of what "Hubei style" Xingyiquan is.


Paul
Michigan