Having studied Xing Yi Quan with Guo Yunshen in his childhood, Wang Xiangzhai travelled China, meeting and comparing skills with masters of various styles of kung fu. In the mid-1920s, he came to the conclusion that Xingyiquan students put too much emphasis on complex patterns of movement, while he believed in the prevalent importance of the development of the mind in order to boost physical martial art skills. He started to teach what he felt was the true essence of the art using a different name, without the 'xing'. Wang Xiangzhai, who had a great knowledge about the theory and history of his art, called it "Yiquan". In the 1940s one of Wang Xiangzhai's students wrote an article about his "school" and named it "Dachengquan", which means "great achievement boxing". This name was not used by Wang Xiangzhai. Wang thought the name was a poor choice as it was boastful and not very descriptive of the intent. In the 1930s in Shanghai, Wang's school became famous. A few of his core students were training with him at that time. Brothers Han Xing Qiao and Han Xing Yuan, Shao Dao Sheng, all came together during this period. Han Xing Qiao, who was formally adopted by Wang as a son and lived with him for 15 years, was studying One Finger Tui Na with Qian Yan Tang, a famous scholar and doctor. Wang Xiangzhai and Qian Yan Tang hit it off and studied medicine and culture together, becoming brothers in researching many mysteries. It was here that Qian introduced the idea that further exploration of Zhan Zhuang, a standing practice first and most foundationally taught by Wang's uncle and teacher Guo You Sheng, might be fundamental to the development of Yiquan. Wang Xiangzhai researched this idea in Qian's library, which was full of classic texts. Wang was always changing the practice and method of Yiquan, always innovating, based on natural principles. Much of the development of Yiquan was done in Shanghai. With the help of Han Xing Qiao, Wang set the Zhan Zhuang in order, creating a system seven stages. Later, the basic eight postures were refined into Ju, Bao, Peng, Tway, An, Hua, Ti and closing with Jia So Su. These basic eight postures are still the core of Zhang Zhuang. When Wang Xiangzhai moved to Beijing, Han found that Wang was only teaching three Zhuang. Bao is the universal Zhuang, and so Wang only really taught Bao from that point on. Most of the other practices were dropped as well. However, students still tried to use Fa Li improperly. When the students saw Wang move fast, they thought of it as Fa Li, or issuing force. There is actually no difference in practicing fast or slow. There is no force at all. The misconception is caused by the mind. The mind conceives of the result as based in two different states, hard and soft, as well as fast and slow. As long as the mind clings to this dualistic model, the student will break everything into two. But the moment of experience is only one. Wang continued development of his art, but few, if any, could follow. Only those who could grasp the one state, and keep it, can move with it. Schools that were founded by students who never progressed this far are numerous to this day. This has always been the social factor of true transmission.
The style
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 is a distillation of the internal aspects at the core of all arts that Wang was exposed to, including Fujian hèquán, T'ai chi ch'uan, bāguàzhǎng, 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.
Overview
The actual training in yiquan can generally be divided into:
Zhan zhuangStanding 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 liTesting force moving exercises, trying to bring the sensations of hunyuan li developed through Zhan zhuang into movements.
All of the other practices can be put into one of these two methods. Different schools practice some degree of different footworks,, and different movements leading towards free expression of the collected state. Principle of Nature: All truth and action occur in Shunjian, the split second of now. Everything before and after this moment is 'Wu', the Void, and thus, uncontrollable or unknowable. All objective and preconception is fixed and not in accordance with this undetermined state of Nature. "The Dao that is called the Dao is not the eternal Dao".
