Tim and who ever would like to answer;
Which style of Xing Yi do you prefer and why?
Tim, Have you trained in the He Nan style?

I have never practiced the He Nan style. I think both schools of Five Element Xing Yi Quan have much to offer. I tend toward the 'flavor' of the Shan Xi school as it is most consistent with the principles I follow in all variations in the Art I practice.

i agree tim,which one do you do?(che,song,dai style of xingyi from shanxi.)what are the animals in henan xingyi.

He Nan Xing Yi has 10 animals; chicken, monkey, snake, swallow, eagle, dragon, tiger, horse, hawk and bear.My Shan Xi Xing Yi Quan teachers practiced the branch that goes back to the lineage of Song Shi Rong.

tim do you have much information on the song family,as i am trying to do a bit of research into xingyi,(lineage,methods,people,animals,) the one i have no information on is song hu chen.thanks tim.

sorry tim but also have you seen or heard of "goose" as one of the animals in the song style.

Unfortunately, I don't have any biographical info on Song Hu Chen. I have never heard of the goose as one of the animals in Song style. There is a stepping method in the Shan Xi styles of Xing Yi called "Yuan Yang" stepping. Yuan Yang is a Mandarin duck.

Tim,
Do you find the Five-element stances for He Bei to be narrower than Shan Xi?

I recently visited a He Bei school were the crossing fist is practiced with same arm/same leg forward. Can you comment on this since the Shan Xi style uses the opposite arm/leg forward when practicing Heng.

thanks,
Robert M.

Sunny,
We have a Goose form also called Phoenix-it is basically a linking form for the whole system and is the last form covered -my teacher Allen Pittman (student of Hung I Mien)showed it to us -it is a pretty long form.

Cheers,
Jason

Robert,
In general, the Shan Xi stances are higher and narrower than the He Bei stances. Most styles of Shan Xi Xing Yi Quan have a version of Heng Quan with the opposite hand and foot forward (Ao Bu Heng Quan) and with the same hand and foot forward (Shun Bu Heng Quan).

Tim,
What branch of Xing Yi do Mandarin duck kicks come from? Could you describe some characteristics of these kicks. Robert M.

The Mandarin Duck Kicks (Yuan Yang Jiao)are from the Shanxi styles of Xing Yi Quan. The kick is basically a low, toed out cross kick directly forward with the rear foot (usually aimed at about knee height). One of the basic practices, popular in the Che school, is to walk forward kicking alternately with the right and left feet as the arms simultaneously pull back and down to the side of the kicking leg. Since the feet are turned out as you walk forward kicking, the stepping resembles a duck walking, hence the name.

Tim, I train sung (song) style Shanxi Hsing-Yi, i would be intersted to know who you trained with and there lineage, to my knowedge there is only 4 grandmasters left who train this style.

I practiced with students of Li Guichang.

Thank you Tim, i had a look at your site and it looks like the style you teach and train is quite different to mine, could you tell me do you train the the new style of sung with modified postures in san ti ( and the five elements ) or due you train the old style with full body tension through the postures.

Regards
Brenden

Brenden, would you be kind enough to tell me with who do you practice Song style?
I'v been training it in Shanxi for quite a while already.
If convenient,ppleae contactme trhoug email:
admin@xingyiquan.org

Tadzio G.