turned in foot on gongbu

[Songshan]

Originally posted by Wang Rui Xuan


Two, taking an opposing position to my own statement without explaining yourself leads readers to believe that you see no fundamental differences between modern performance wushu and TCMA systems. Please explain.

Wang Rui Xuan

In regards to an opposing position.....

modern performance wushu tends to have very wide and open stances. For example the wushu gong bu stance and ma bu stance are very long & wide. The front foot of the wushu gong bu stance is pointed straight. My opinion for this is to help keep the balance because of the length and emphasis of the legs being "stretched out". The TCMA gong bu you see has the front foot pointed slightly inward. This could be used for a block (a sweeping motion inward towards the groin). Often you will see these image depicted in a lot of pictures of shaolin monks (just look at the postion of their feet) The wushu stances would probably not be used in a offensive or defensive situation. In TCMA the stances tend to be more narrow and shorter for obvious reasons and would be used in fighting situations. This IS the difference between TCMA and Wushu. The good thing about martial arts is that there are no rules set in stone. I do not believe this is disrespecting the old masters.

[Brad]

Modern chang quan stances came from traditional, and not all northern chang quan styles use the turned in foot on gongbu. Though over the years, the stances started getting even wider, and longer... I think it's better to say it's one of the differences between modern chang quan and traditional shaolin.

[Brad]

I practice modern wushu and the front foot in gong bu is turned 45 degrees. Open would be less stable. I think if you've seen open foot in wushu they were just being sloppy.

I actually find the open stances more stable(if you're doing long stances). The front foot pointing staight ahead is the general standard for modern chang quan gongbu.