the rum soaked fist: internal martial arts forum

Rumsoakedfistians,

I present to you a new book for your Amazon wish list: A Study of Tai and Tuo Xing by Glen Board.

Tai and Tuo (Asian paradise flycatcher and Chinese crocodile) are two of Xingyi’s 12 animals. They’re considered advanced in the sense that the methods they use are difficult and subtle. The book is a thorough investigation of the fighting strategies and methods of both animals.

"The book covers the history, fighting methods and auxiliary concepts/methods which are rarely presented in books on Xing Yi. The book contains over 500 b/w photo's showing both the applications and potential linking sequences for both Tai and Tuo Xing."

I’ve had access to a pre-final draft and I think it’s shaping up to be an excellent book. The illustrations are great, there’s plenty of historical background on Xingyi as well as technical discussion. The book also features good quality photographs showing martial applications and linking sequences for both animals. All in all, it looks great.

Look out for it soon. It should be available to pre-order in the next few days on Amazon.

As you are on the sleeve recommending this book Grahame can you give me a brief summary of the characteristics and applications of these two animals
I would also like to know how long and what arts and lineages those recommending the book have practiced
Are they on youtube

You demand a lot of things don't you Wayne! Buy the book and your questions will be answered. Seriously it would take the book's contents to answer those correctly. They're both advanced, so it's hard to summarise.

I short - Tai - the bird uses its long tail to confuse predators, so it's often not where you think it's going to be. Bird-like in it's soaring nature and quick changes of angle. Tuo, like other crocs is an ambush predator, so stillness into sudden explosiveness, strong side to side action (the croc barrel roll). Big on opening and closing (jaws).

I don't think there's any of it on YouTube. You'll see Tai and Tuo done by other people if you search for it of course.

Lineage:

Our school of Hsing-I has been handed down to us through three different lines, for example: Ji Long Feng taught Cao Ji Wu, who taught Dai Long Bang, who taught Li Neng Ran, who taught Guo Yun Shen, who taught Liu Chi Lan, who taught Li Cun Yi, who taught Hao En Guang, who taught Luo Da Cheng, who taught Zhu Guang, who taught Damon Smith (our senior Hsing-I instructor). Damon Smith teaches Glen Board.


Just one thing - after I don't know how many years, can you at least get my name right? There's no e. It's "Graham". It's even in my user name.

GrahamB

Not Grahame

That's not even a spelling of Graham. It's "Graeme" if you spell it with an e.

Thanks,
GRAHAM

edit:

oh I see Paul has done a Tai video before - here it is - note, this is not Glen the guy who wrote this book, it's Paul:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqXA1A4YHJk

Sorry for the misspelling of your name I blame predictive text
I have seen Paul before I was just wondering about the other two
Are they of a similar standard
I think if you are or emoting a book on this site it is just common courtesy to give a little detail
I get it that the author has 15 years training I just wondered how long his teache had been training before he taught him and likewise with Paul
I don't think that is too much to ask
I would imagine someone giving liner notes on the book would know that and be more than happy to share it
Sorry if I touched a nerve
Believe me I try not to tussle your feathers
It is good to see you supplied the YouTube so others can see the basis of the forms in the book

It's the problem of written communication - you come across different in text than you probably would in real life - no worries - sorry if I sound flustered (I am employing Tai strategy showing you my tail feathers to create confusion!)

Damon started XY in the 1980s before anybody had heard of it. People thought he'd made the whole martial art up

I think if you are or emoting a book on this site it is just common courtesy to give a little detail

i think we all come here to emote; courtesy has nothing to do with it

Luo Dacheng is also Luo Xingwu's son - another famous disciple of Luo Xingwu is Liu Jingru, whose xingyi has a lot of animal variations as well. I wonder if you have seen similarities with his line?

Yes tom I did mean promote
I should proof read
I think rose lee was teaching hsing I in the uk in the 70's
When we started teaching tang shou Tao here in Australia in 1973 we called it Chinese karate
Not only had no one heard of hsing I they didn't even know what Kung fu was

edededed wrote:Luo Dacheng is also Luo Xingwu's son - another famous disciple of Luo Xingwu is Liu Jingru, whose xingyi has a lot of animal variations as well. I wonder if you have seen similarities with his line?

Hi edededed,

I just had a look for Liu Jigru on youtube

It's mainly bagua but I found a couple of XY clips. Animals shown in this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8_wHQsRT_A

Yes, I can see similarities between the Swallow link at around 35 minutes and the Swallow link we practice. I believe that Swallow was Master Zhu's favourite animal - he had thighs like tree trunks apparently.

Cool - that swallow set does have a few movements in there that are rare to see.

Liu Jingru wrote a book on xingyiquan, which I believe has a lot of variations and linking sets in there - I flipped through it long ago in a bookstore in Zhuhai (I think), but for whatever reason I did not buy it...

By the way, tuo and tai are the 2 animals that were "added" to the 10 animals of xinyiliuhe - so they are interesting in that sense, too.

Yes, they were later additions. My teacher maintains that they were added by Guo Yun Shen of beng quan fame. I suspect he's worked this out by researching which lineages they appear in most. Or it might have been an oral transmission from one of his teachers. I don't know.

Different animals appeal to different types of people - I've always liked Tai but Monkey and Bear are my personal favs. Never really been a fan of Croc myself.

I have this “silly” idea of preferring the practice of Horse and Chicken because I’m a horse and wife a chicken………according to the Chinese zodiac.… I do like the reptilian ones too……hell, sometimes i go through the whole zoo

Hmm - both Horse and Chicken are big on blasting straightforward. Chicken is hyper-aggressive (it lives to attack) and Horse is more defensive (it attacks when pressed), so it's a good combo

Yup, that’s pretty much wife and I