Yin Style Baguazhang
尹式八卦掌A branch of baguazhang bearing the name of Yin Fu, one of five students of Dong Haichuan who, according to Green, founded today's baguazhang schools.
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What the style is built from
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About Yin Style Baguazhang
The Yin school of baguazhang bears the name of Yin Fu, a student of Dong Haichuan. In his martial arts encyclopedia, Green counts Yin Fu among the five students of Dong who took over the art whole and founded schools taught to this day, and he names the Yin family school among the five that now seem most popular. The Beijing listing of baguazhang on China's national intangible heritage list from 2011 names Yin Fu first among Dong's successors whose teaching was widely passed on, but it does not explain the order in any way.
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We found the other details on Yin Fu only on Wikipedia. The Chinese edition gives the years 1840 to 1909 and says that Yin Fu earlier studied luohanquan and tantui. The Chinese Wikipedia calls him Dong's first student, who joined him at the residence of Prince Su, the English one his first student at the palace of Prince Duan. Both write that he served as a palace guard. The Chinese one adds that during the campaign of the armies of the eight powers Yin Fu accompanied Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi out of Beijing. Because Yin Fu lived in the eastern part of Beijing, his style is also called the East City Palm according to the English Wikipedia. Both Wikipedias link the Yin branch with the ox-tongue palm, and the Chinese one adds that the practitioner holds it flat while walking. The Chinese Wikipedia adds that the Yin branch has fewer palm sets than the Cheng branch and simpler movements. Today's lineages differ from one another: according to the English Wikipedia, the Xie Peiqi lineage practices eight animal styles linked to the eight trigrams, other lineages build on sixty-four palms or only on the eight main palms.
History
In his encyclopedia Martial Arts of the World, Green lists Yin Fu among the five students of Dong Haichuan who took over the whole art and founded baguazhang schools still taught today. The Beijing listing of baguazhang (Xicheng district) in China's 2011 national intangible heritage list says Dong taught in Beijing in the Xianfeng and Tongzhi eras, and names Yin Fu first among successors whose teaching spread widely. The listing does not explain the order of names.
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Further details come only from Wikipedia. The Chinese one gives the years 1840 to 1909, a native village in Jizhou, and says that before Dong, Yin Fu studied luohanquan and tantui with an escort-service master. According to it he became Dong's student in Prince Su's residence in the Xianfeng era, calls him Dong's first student, and writes that at Dong's death, as the first to enter, he headed the eight main students and arranged the funeral. The English Wikipedia calls him Dong's first student in Prince Duan's palace. Both Wikipedias write that Yin Fu served as a palace guard. The English one adds that after Dong's departure he took charge of the guards in the Forbidden City, the Chinese one that he taught court members and accompanied Emperor Guangxu and Empress Dowager Cixi from Beijing to Chang'an during the campaign of the eight powers' armies. According to the Chinese Wikipedia, the Yin branch was called the palace branch and the Cheng branch the branch outside the palace.
How it differs
According to the Chinese Wikipedia, the Yin branch differs from the Cheng branch in palm shape. The Yin branch holds the palm flat when walking, like an ox tongue, the Cheng branch spreads all five fingers into a dragon palm. According to the same article, it has fewer palm sets and simpler movements. The English Wikipedia states that the Cheng school stresses throws, the Yin one strikes. The English Wikipedia says the Liang branch took Yin's ox-tongue palm and added Cheng wrestling elements.
Technique
The English Wikipedia states that Yin's style is also called the East City palm, because Yin Fu lived in the eastern part of Beijing, and the ox-tongue palm. The Chinese Wikipedia explains that when walking the practitioner holds the palm flat, and adds that the Yin branch has fewer palm sets than the Cheng branch and simpler movements. According to the Chinese Wikipedia, Yin Fu kept teaching luohanquan as an entry method even as Dong's student. The English Wikipedia writes that some knew him for his penetrating palms and for qinna called the iron bracelet, but that he taught very diversely, and this shows in today's diverse Yin lineages.
Training
How Yin's style is practised is described only by the English Wikipedia, and by lineage. In the form passed on by Xie Peiqi it has eight animal styles linked to the eight trigrams: lion, monkey, rooster, dragon, phoenix, snake, bear and qilin. Each has eight striking methods of seven strikes each, 448 strikes in all, plus a system of the penetrating palm and back-of-hand strikes. Other lineages differ: Cao Zhongsheng's system rests on sixty-four palms, the lineages of Liu Zhenlin, Li Baosen and another lineage of Men Baozhen focus only on the eight main palms, and Gong Baotian's version stresses Yin's luohanquan sets.
Today
Green names the Yin family school among the five baguazhang schools that seem most popular today, alongside Emei, Wudang, the Cheng family school and Yin Yang. How Yin's style was passed on is described only by the English Wikipedia. According to it, Yin Fu taught behind closed doors, and therefore had fewer students than the teachers connected with Cheng Tinghua. After his death his art was passed on in Beijing by Men Baozhen and Li Baosen, Men Baozhen on to Xie Peiqi and Li Baosen to Meng Lianfu. According to the same article, Yin's first student was Ma Gui. In an interview from 1999 Xie Peiqi called Men Baozhen the third best student after Li Yongqing and Ma Gui.
Did you know
The Chinese Wikipedia states that Yin Fu twice had a memorial stele erected for his teacher Dong Haichuan, in 1883 and in 1904, and left on them a record of Dong's background.
Frequently asked questions
Whom is the Yin branch of baguazhang named after?
After Yin Fu. Green counts him among the five students of Dong Haichuan who took over the art whole and founded today's baguazhang schools.
What is the ox-tongue palm?
It is a mark of the Yin branch that both Wikipedias mention. According to the Chinese Wikipedia, the practitioner holds the palm flat while walking, whereas the Cheng branch spreads the fingers into the dragon palm.
Why is the Yin style called the East City Palm?
According to the English Wikipedia, because Yin Fu lived in the eastern part of Beijing.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.