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 early June I sat down for a fun conversation centering on Song style xingyiquan in Beijing with Raphael Smith (dialling in via Zoom), ably hosted by xingyiquan lover Byron Jacobs, who is an accomplished 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…
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…
Below is a translation of an excerpt from this article: “The Song-style xingyi master Li Guoliang is a noted fighter who received the full transmission from Hao Zhanru, who was a student of Jia Yun-gao (one Read more…
Song style xingyi, noted for its unique power generation and relatively ‘softer’ approached compared to Hebei variants of xingyi, is one of the rarest of the main xingyi styles, even in China. The vast majority Read more…