Thanks to an introduction from a Song style kungfu brother (shixiong) who lives in Taigu, our group had the privilege of meeting several of the local teachers of Che style xingyi. As Che style is the ‘other’ big branch of Shanxi xingyiquan, I was very interested to compare notes with what I know from my own Song style practice.
Che style xingyi is relatively unknown outside China but is considered one of the major branches of xingyiquan in Shanxi province, and certainly in Taigu – the ‘cradle’ of xingyiquan – there are dozens of teachers from several different lines teaching. Che style is named after the founder, Che Yizhai, who was one of the most senior disciples of Li Luoneng. After learning xingyiquan Che worked as a professional caravan escort and bodyguard, and was famous in Taigu for his fighting skills, an emphasis which has been passed on to later generations of Che style. Che style is known for its comparative softness compared to Hebei styles, compact frame, emphasis on defensive skills and also for a set of kicking techniques (Yuan Yang Jiao) which has been incorporated into the style.
Starting from 3rd from left: Xu Wenhui, Hao Xiqing, Gao Baodong, Paul, Wil
The main vast majority of teachers in Taigu come from one or other of the 3 main disciples of Che Yizhai: Bu Xuekuan, Liu Jian and Li Fuzhen.
We were amazed to be led to a makeshift wuguan (dojo) which had been set up on the second floor of an old warehouse on the outskirts of town. Although not much to look at from the outside, inside was a fully functional wuguan with mats, weapons racks and even a wooden dummy (mu ren zhuang), which I had never seen in a xingyi wuguan before.
We were treated to a display of a myriad of different xingyi routines from several different local performers, some of which can be seen around 1:01 – 1:30 in the video below:
Later on, another local master, Hao Xiqing, was kind enough to demonstrate several applications of the xingyi animals (in dark blue at 1:35 – 9:25 on the video). Hao is well known locally for his fighting ability, as he was previously in the army and has beaten several amateur Sanda fighters in friendly contests. He was followed by Zhang Hailiang and a local teacher who mixed shuai jiao and xingyi.
At dinner later on that day, Hao gave an impromptu demonstration of xingyi’s shocking power which was eye-opening: he was able to uproot and launch Paul (the heaviest member of our group) a couple of metres away with very little effort.
Gao Baodong, another famous Che style master who is famous in China for his skill with the spear, was also at the same dinner and took the time to explain the different jin (power) in Piquan – apart from the usual rising and falling (qi luo) explanations he added that in Che style there is a ‘squeezing’ power (ji jin), which is the first time I have heard that explanation.
What impressed me most about the visit with the Che style practitioners was the emphasis on exchanging techniques, practice methods and applications openly and freely without being overly concerned as to which branch or lineage one was from – which unfortunately is all too rare in TCMA, and something I will definitely be putting into practice myself.
As usual, many thanks to Will of Monkey Steals Peach for his hard work in shooting and editing the video!