The week-long National Day (国庆节) holiday is one of the longest public holidays in the mainland Chinese calendar, and traditionally is both a time when people make longer trips at home and abroad. Also in Read more…
In lieu of my May training update, I’d instead like to share a fun interview between myself and Robbie Coons, a long-time practitioner of the 3 internal arts (taiji, bagua and xingyi) and also a Read more…
Xingyi Roots Series – Dai Style Xinyiquan Anyone who has studied the history of Xingyiquan (形意拳) will know that the ancestor art to modern Xingyi is Dai style Xinyiquan (戴氏心意拳), where the name of the Read more…
Of course, as a student of Song style a visit to Taigu would not be complete without reporting in to the Song family courtyard to get corrections from the Song family. They very kindly allowed Read more…
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 Read more…
The next teacher in our Xingyi Roots series was Tang Shengjun, whose great-grandfather, Tang Weilu, was another prominent disciple of Li Cunyi. After being forgotten for most of the 20th century, Tang was again catapulted Read more…
I recently had the opportunity to be part of a mini-documentary series filmed by my friend Will, a fellow kungfu aficionado who runs the informative website and Youtube channel Monkey Steals Peach (https://monkeystealspeach.com/). As part Read more…
SONG FAMILY Readers of this blog may remember that I had previously visited the Song family home in December 2009. At that time I was still practicing taijiquan and had not even come into contact Read more…
I’ve just returned from a training trip to Taigu in Shanxi province, one of the cradles of xingyiquan in China and the stronghold of Song and Che styles. During my week-long trip, I managed to Read more…
One of the pleasures if doing IMA is meeting other fellow enthusiasts who often have travelled hundreds or thousands of miles to study the arts at their source. On my previous visits to Tiantan I Read more…