Military history of hsing yi chuan

Famous practitioners of this art in China were almost always connected to some military organization or another. With that in mind, notice that it is possible to do all of the movements in Hsing yi chuan standing shoulder to shoulder with someone else. It would be easy for rows and rows of men to fight next to each other in an infantry situation. The moves are easily translated into a variety of infantry type weapons like the spear and sabre. The body mechanics required for the practice of hsing yi allow a person to put a tremendous amount of force into a weapon which would be necessary to fight someone with armor. Also the percussive strikes and drag down/takedowns would probably be useful. The percussive hits allow you to transfer force through armor. The drag downs, lateral throwing, and takedowns disrupt the men in front of you which would cause major diruption in the opposing armies ability to mount any sort of organized resistance.
After keeping this pet theory in my head for a few years I happen to come across a U.K. practitioner and teacher named Damon Smith. He confirmed my theories as his teacher taught him how to use all the animals and elements with weapons. Each animal has teachings of specific associated battlefield strategies. Hsing Yi practitioners interested in the historical origins of that art should definitely obtain a copy of his first book. It really gives a lot of history that many of the U.S.lineages just don't know about or have access to.

It is important to keep the historical application of your chosen art in mind.
Next I hope to talk about Sun Lu Tang's contribution to the development of the art.

Old School Counter throwing

Cool old Judo Clip

Traditional Medicine for Martial Arts

Bagua Zhang

My teacher doing Cheng Style Bagua Zhang