I know Im not so welcome on this forum anymore... but Im interested in this topic!
kenneth fish wrote:"These are systems that have been practiced in this area for a long time - probably going back to late Ming or early Qing dynasty. They are well known here and throughout Hebei." "That teacher (indicating a gent on the CD) is the grandson of one of Wu Yihui's teachers." "Yes, we know about Wu Yihui and LHBF. LHBF was developed by Wu Yihui and his teachers. It was developed from these two systems, and other things that Wu Yihui learned (Chinese: 六合八法 这个拳 是 由 六合拳和八法拳 这两个拳法变化出来的)
We don't know where the whole Daoist myth came from - its a myth. This was developed here (meaning rural Hebei), and Wu Yihui was the person who developed and spread it."
Kenneth fish, you had a great experience there, I envy you!
My very first teacher of Liuhebafa way back was from Qingdong and taught me a version that wasnt transmitted through Wu Yi Hui. His form contains 100 movements, among which are the 66 that are found in Wu's form, and I still have the poetry of the movements he gave me. From my own comparison it is the same form but performed with very different mechanics, which I think reflects the teacher and not the style. I havent yet sought out that teachers teacher yet to further investigate but Ive been told my version (former version) is similar to what Jiang Jian Ye teaches. There is either some historical significance to the style here, or it did actually come from Wu and received alterations and a re-routed lineage (others have done that before) to give it some weight.
I wouldnt doubt the possibility that Wu Yi Hui was the actual formulator of Liuhebafa though. Actually Ive heard other older generations say that this is what they believed too. However... it also seems to be inconsistent with what we know of Wu's character. From what others like his wife have told Wu wasnt interested in what people thought about him and many close to him had no clue he was a martial arts master, and getting him to teach Liuhebafa was like pulling teeth! If he did devise Liuhebafa then that means he also created several generations of lineage, constructed a system of roughly ten forms, wrote all the poetry and the 5-character secret, and researched an interesting taoist (Chen Xiyi) to attach it to. Seems that if he went through all this effort he would have tried to take the system further and train more students to proficiency, not to mention name himself as the founder... Im just saying.
Kenneth fish, is there anything else about your experience you could share? How did you find these people? Its the kind of research that I usually do myself but I dont get to the north much recently.