Some nice Tongbei drills

[kenneth fish]

I think I have mentioned this before - Qian Zhaohong, who is very highly skilled in XYlh, invested considerable time in learning (and has a great fondness for) Tongbei as well .

edededed:

The mechanics that I am referring to are shen/suo (stretching and contracting the spine and torso), rotation of the hips (both around the central axis and around a horizontal axis), spinal wave, extending from the bottom of the spine through the arms, connecting from the foot to the crown (and foot to the hand), opening and closing the joints of the shoulder and hips, extending from inside the joints etc. The three systems (XYLH, Xingyi and Tongbei) are the same in this respect - the mechanics are done the same way. The outward movements are somewhat different, but that does not change the foundation.


Re: Sha Guozheng - he is listed on Xiu Jianchi's student roster.

[Walk the Torque]

Yeah, I guess so! I have noticed a lot of Cheng stylists doing a rather close-range thing (perhaps a result of their preference for throws), which is quite different from my own experience of Cheng and other bagua styles (long-range with a preference for striking, especially the piercing palms). Still, the eight static palms done on the circle seem to be long-range as opposed to xingyi's close-range santi.

I was under the impression that the close in flavour of Cheng Bagua was a throw back from Cheng mixing with Hsing Yi Peeps.

[edededed]

Ken: Thanks for the explanation, makes more sense to me now. In my own (paltry) experience, I have seen some differences in mechanics between the xingyi/xinyi branches, though - for example, shen/suo is much more overt in Dai style than Hebei style (where it is hardly noticeable), and there is no hip rotation at all in the Hebei styles that I have seen (I think there was some in Dai style and the Bu branch of Che style). But of course I have much to learn yet, so perhaps I will notice something new later on!

Walk the Torque: Well, perhaps! Some Cheng lines did absorb the five fists of xingyiquan, after all (although changed a bit for baguazhang). Still, many baguazhang lines who mixed with xingyiquan are still long-range; from xingyiquan they still took some stepping methods, body methods (like shen/suo), and so on.

[Josealb]

Very interesting.

[Iron Apprentice]

I have heard the same. Xingyiquan could be a MIx of Xinyi + Tongbei.

..and that sounds absolutely delicious.

Indeed! Str8 Deliciouso!