Xinyi and Xingyi, how are they different?

[baji-fist]

I have heard about Xinyi and Xingyi. Ihave always thought they were the same styles, just spelled differently. Although I heard they are different. Just curious if anybody could give me some info on these two styles and how they are different.

You must eat bitter before you can taste sweet.

[Pakmei]

I believe that Xin Yi Quan (Heart & Mind Fist) is practised by the Shaolin Monks.

And Xing Yi Quan (Form & Mind Fist) is a style in it's self.

The styles may have some similarities but thats about it!

Dave Stevens

[Kevin Wallbridge]

The relationship between Xinyi Liuhe Quan and Xingyi Quan is a hard one to establish to any satisfactory degree. One tradition attributes both martial arts to Yue Fei (a figure from the Song dynasty), but another says Xinyi came from Ji Longfeng (from the early Qing dynasty), said to practice the art of Yue Fei. It may be that Six Harmony Xinyi may actually be the precursor to Five Element Xingyi. Since the early 18th century Xinyi has been practiced by Moslems and it bears no relation to the Six Harmony fist of the Shaolin.

In Six Harmony Xinyi there is no isolation of the 5 phases into seperate drills, but it is said that the 5 phases exist in every movement. The 10 animals of Six Harmony Xinyi are more varied and less static than the 12 animals of Five Element Xingyi (a bit like the difference between a wild animal and one in the zoo).

Xinyi has more lively footwork the Xingyi. The two person training is less formalized than the way something like An Shen Pao (a common two person fighting set) is and trains repetative partner drills that model the solo drills. Forms are always trained last in Xinyi and they are considered to be only templates to illustrate examples of free linking of the energies of the solo drills.

My Xingyi background has been with Xu Gongwei, who began Xingyiquan in about 1932 with Liu Anzhi. So its not that I haven't got a good Xingyi lineage for comparison, but Xinyi Liuhequan (I train with Eric Tuttle a representative of Yu HuaLong) is all I train these days.

"The heart of the study of boxing is to have natural instinct resemble the dragon" Wang Xiangzai

[Shaolin Master]

Xing Yi - Form & Mind
Xin Yi - Heart & Mind.

Shaolin Xin Yi Quan (Heart & Mind Fist) exists in the Songshan Shaolin Repetoire but it does not resemble normal Internal Xing Yi Quan in any way.

Xing Yi Quan
Dai Family - emphasises 5 elements
Shaanxi Province - 5 elements / 12 animals
Hebei Province - typical common Xing Yi
etc....
Yi Quan (no form only Mind/intention) derived from Xing Yi - No Forms just different drills etc emphasis on Zhan Zhuang.

Xin Yi Liu He Quan - 10 animals
Henan Province Muslims.

Though I have seen the name Xin Yi and Xing Yi name used interchangeably many times in chinese texts and articles.

[xingyiman]

Check out:

http://msnhomepages.talkcity.com/Spi...nyi/index.html

[fkchang]

There is a lot of confusion in a many sources
but the difference is actually quite simple.
There was no art known as xingyi before Li LuoNeng.

There are many more arts that go by the name
xinyi of which only really henan and dai family
are somewhat known. Most people are thinking
of the arts derived from LLN when they
say xingyi, and unfortunately many times xinyi.

Technically, the primary difference is that
xingyi has santi, 5 elements, 12 animals, and
the others do not. Most xinyi is based on the
forward weighted bow stance as opposed to
xingyi's usually back weighted santi. Dai
family stands out as having 5 elements --
it is supposedly the art that LLN learned
before creating xingyi, body aside from
it's unique body method -- shen fa-- more
resembles henan xinyi.

Fo