The problem with Xingyiquan

The way I see it, Xingyiquan as a fighting art is dying out. You might think I am being too dramatic, overreacting or that I have no clue what I am talking about. I have been living in China for the past 12 years and during this period I have been studying XYQ full time. I've also had the privilege of meeting some very skilled masters, exchanging, debating, crossing hands and discussing with many of them. Therefore, my opinion is based on direct contact and experience with XYQ inside China, and to be more precise, Shanxi province, the birthplace of XYQ. That being said, I wish I could give a different opinion about the state of XYQ as a fighting art, but I'm afraid I can't. The way I see it, the art is dying and I am not sure if there is enough time, people or even the desire to keep it alive. I'll try to briefly explain my point.

When I write "Xingyiquan as a martial art" I have to admit that it feels strange, because if not a martial art what else could Xingyiquan be? Nothing really. In it's essence XYQ is brutal, vicious and violent. One needs only to glance at the direct nature of its movements or the clear brutal instructions passed down generation after generation and its nature becomes crystal clear. There is really no room for interpretation here, but still there are many that understand XYQ as a kind of fitness exercise, some activity that might be somehow related to the "new age" and all that, in fact, doesn't relate at all to XYQ. It's really interesting how at times we feel we are into something when in fact we now little about it. But the truth is that most of these people that don't understand the nature of the art can't be blamed, because they are only one more link in this misinformation chain that spreads with great speed. The reason why these people are led to believe what they do is because they have been thought so by teachers that, like them, understand little of the art they profess to teach. Of course there are teachers out there that understand the art, but I have also met people , seen videos read and articles written by people that, in my opinion, understand little more than their own students. Where did this misinformation chain begin? Where is the first link? I will leave this for later. For now I'll try to concentrate on the current state of affairs.

Misunderstanding the art's nature is one problem, but I'm afraid that actually understanding the art's nature, indispensable as it is, might be only the beginning of it. Understanding it's nature is important because it gives the practitioner a course, a set objective, but after having understood the art's nature one needs to learn of to express it both physicality and mentally. Here lies a bigger problem and one of the key points in XYQ practice, one of the places where many that I have met or seen on video might, in my opinion, fail to understand. It might have been because of the non willingness of old masters to pass on the art, because of to much secrecy, because of social changes, but the fact is that this key part of XYQ seems to be missing. Not being able to mentally and physically express the principles upon which XYQ was created is no small problem, on the contrary is a goal that every serious practitioner should have throughout his whole training life. In here there is no room for lineage differences or poor excuses (the movements are to small to bee seen, we move in a different way etc) and these principles must be mentally and physically evident in practice (both solo or with a partner) or in combat. The expressions of such principles is what gives XYQ its flavor, and not having it is an indicator that something is seriously wrong and one's practice should be rethought.

When it comes to the usage of XYQ combat thee is the common mistake of getting to attached to certain techniques. Being that XYQ is principles based it's certainly easy to understand why this is a huge mistake. Many people understand XYQ as a set of techniques, the 5 elements or the 12 animals, and even some of those that say they understand that the art is based on principles show different when they move. You can write as many articles as you see fit, participate on many forums as you like or upload as many videos as you want, but it all goes down to weather you can mentally and physicality express the art's principles. Weather you can or you cannot it's evident in a video. So the problem is that for many people, when they move, the only thing that might give away they are actually moving in the XYQ manner might be the title of their video or the resemblance of the movements they are performing. The point here is that without a correct understanding of how to express principles, you can pretty much imitate the movements of any martial arts and you would look the same, flavorless. Learning the movements of a certain martial art is easy, but actually acquiring its spirit, this is the difficult part. I hope that those interested in studying the art will look closely and choose teachers that have understood the essence of the art. There are certainly competent teachers out there.

A third problem, that commonly arises after on passes the second obstacle is how to express the art in combat. This will be the topic of a subsequent article.