Yiquan
Yi quan, also known as Dacheng quan, is a system which was founded by the Chinese Xingyiquan master, Wang Xiangzhai.
Yiquan is essentially formless, containing no fixed sets of fighting movements or techniques. Instead, focus is put on
developing one's natural movement and fighting abilities through a system of training methods and concepts, working to improve the perception of one's body, its movement, and of force. Yiquan is also set apart from other eastern martial arts in that traditional concepts like qi, meridians, dantian etc., are omitted, the reason being that understanding one's true nature happens in the present, and that preconceptions block this process.
Yiquan seems to have been influenced by various other arts that Wang was exposed to, including White Crane (Fujian), Tai chi chuan, Baguazhang, and Liuhebafa. Other arts, as well, such as the swimming dragon posture, present in shiao jiao, is transformed through feeling, understanding, and the condition of the practitioner. In fact, typical movements and postures from other systems abound in yiquan. It was the internal core of these other arts that made them effective. This core is what Master Wang decoded. In essence, there is only one principle of merit in all martial arts, one core, one moment of truth, one Natural Fist.
Overview
The actual training in yiquan can generally be divided into:
Zhan zhuang -Standing pole postures- where emphasis is put on natural condition, working to improve listening to the body and on developing Hunyuan Li,"Natural living force" or "all things that make the whole".
Shi li -Testing force- moving exercises, trying to bring the sensations of Hun Yuan Li developed through Zhan zhuang into movements.
Moca bu-Mud stepping- Shi li for the legs.
Fa li -Emission of force- a practice later dropped by Wang.
Shi Sheng -Producing sound with voice- a high level occurrence, only relative to those with formidable understanding already in place.
JiJi Fa -Real combat- not sparring.
Yuejiaquan
Yuejiaquan (Yue Family Fist, alternately Yue Ch'uan) is a style of Chinese martial arts
attributed to Yue Fei, a noted General and patriot from the Song Dynasty.
History and philosophy
Legend claims Yue taught the style to his soldiers who passed it down for generations after his death. It contains mostly military-oriented attacks, and is based primarily upon the principles of combining internal and external techniques, theory and application. Its various tricks stem from its principal philosophy of the positive and negative and the five elements of the heart, liver, lung, spleen and kidney in the human body.
In popular culture
The style is mentioned towards the end of Yue Fei's highly popular folklore biography The Story of Yue Fei published in 1684. In the novel, Yue Lei, Yue's second son, uses the style in a brawl against the martial instructor of a group of bandits who forcefully took over residence of a local Taoist temple to Lord Guan. During the fight, "The instructor went forward one step to catch up with Yue Lei. Yue Lei turned around and used his right hand to push away his opponent's two hands whilst using his left hand to give a push on the chest. The instructor was startled and quickly dodged the blow, shouting, 'Stay your hands! This is the Yue Family's Pugilistic Fight. Where did you learn this from? I beg for your name!'" After Yue learns the instructor is Zhong Liang, the grandson of the famous Song General Zhong Ze, Zhong muses: "My family and the Yue family have been friends for three generations. Commander Yue had often discussed pugilistic skills with my father [Zhong Fang], so I could recognize your move as 'The Black Tiger's Theft of the Heart,' which comes from the Yue Family."