Guo Shilei is our chief instructor. He holds a bachelor's degree in mechanical and electrical engineering but is now a full-time martial arts teacher.
“My family is from Pingding Shan in Henan province, but later moved to Zhengzhou (the provincial capital). I was really weak when I was little, so I started to learn external martial arts like Shaolin boxing. When I was around 10 or so, I used to love practicing iron arm, I would knock my arms against trees whenever I could. ” Upon inspection by our reporter, Guo’s forearm was indeed extremely hard.
” When I was 15 I met my teacher Shi Chongying and, thinking that my iron arm was already pretty awesome, I asked him to hit my arm. To my surprise, a light touch from him was enough to numb my arm for an entire afternoon. After that experience, I was determined to study neijiaquan (meaning xingyi, bagua and taiji) with Shi.
Guo Shilei’s idol, his teacher Shi Chongying
Guo Shilei's idol is his teacher, Shi Chongying, a 66-year old retired martial arts professor from Zhengzhou University.
“I can’t mention my teacher without talking about my shiye (grand-teacher) Wang Jiaofu. Wang was from Shandong and had originally studied praying mantis before he met Hu Laiyi. He studied from Hu for 34 years, right up until his passing. Wang was a strict, strange man, who in teaching his students would never say something more than 3 times. Even so, he produced a fair number of excellent martial artists.”
“My teacher took his training really seriously, a lot of other people thought he was a weirdo. For example, one time he was taking the train with his colleagues, instead of playing cards with the others he locked himself in the toilet to practice his gongfu! Also, my teacher is a bit of a hermit, he very rarely makes public appearances or enters martial arts tournaments, so the only people who know about him are other martial arts masters.”
The Search for High-Level Masters
After he graduated from college, Guo worked as a biology teacher at a middle school. Almost no-one knew that he was a martial arts expert, nor did he mention it to anyone. It was in this period of his life that he used his holidays to look for other high-level martial artists all over China. In his search, he visited Sichuan, Yunnan, Hebei, Shenzhen amongst others.
The real masters are not the ones producing the DVDs, they’re hidden amongst ordinary people.
In a farming village, that old man using a walking stick to walk could very well be a martial arts master who could kill a man with one blow.In my search, I met 5 or 6 real high-level masters, but the problem is they were all getting on in years by the time I met them. On one occasion when I was in Shenzhen’s Lychee Park (Lizhi Gongyuan) I met a 76-year old gentleman surnamed Fei who had practiced taiji for over 50 years.
That day, he was pushing hands with some other people in the park, when someone urged me to have a push with him. The moment he made contact with me, he said “You’ve been practicing for at least 20 years”. This kind of ability (to discern how long someone has been practicing) is something that only comes with mastery.”
“That said, however, I still think that the highest-level master I’ve ever met is my own teacher. Fighting him is like fighting a shadow, I can never land a blow on him, yet his every move is targeting a vital point.”
C.J.W. wrote:I've been aware of this teacher for quite a few years. Definitely someone I'd love to meet one day.
Btw, the Singaporeans in the PH demo you posted seem to be his students.
windwalker wrote:The real masters are not the ones producing the DVDs, they’re hidden amongst ordinary people.
Trick wrote:windwalker wrote:The real masters are not the ones producing the DVDs, they’re hidden amongst ordinary people.
Does this also count for "Masters letting them being filmed and having it put up on the web"? For sure there are people out there that have deep knowledge but whish to keep a low profile, one of my teachers is very much like that but the others have clips on the tubes and they have some pretty good skill too....just find it a little confusing when as above statement are highlighted but yet videos are posted
GrahamB wrote:I think what he's showing is fine, but I had two observations:
1. The attacker is doing the classic 'punch, leave your hand out and don't move' attack. That's ok, it enables the guy to demonstrate his moves. But he's not a live attacker.
2. His characterisation of xingyi is a bit simplistic. My experience is that timing, footwork and evasion, as you step in, was really key to making xy work. It might look like you just charge blindly in trying to overwhelm with power, as he's suggesting, but really it's done with subtle evasion - smaller that's what he's showing with his big side to side steps, but they work too.
windwalker wrote:
and yet hes produced a sanda team with people who win the events
that's also part of his experience.
wayne hansen wrote:I agree Grahame
I quite like this guy but think ba kua should show the same subtlety as hsing I ,if not more
By the time he runs around the guy he would have realigned and be facing him
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