Yiquan (Dachengquan)
意拳The internal Chinese art that alone abolished forms. Its basis is standing motionless; Wang Xiangzhai held that learned sequences bind the practitioner.
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About Yiquan (Dachengquan)
Yiquan, later also called dachengquan, was founded in the 1920s by Wang Xiangzhai, who did something without parallel in the Chinese arts: he abolished forms. Wang came out of xingyiquan but concluded that learned sequences of movement bind the practitioner more than they teach — one ends up knowing the form, not the fighting. So he struck them out entirely and kept only what he considered the substance. The basis of training is zhan zhuang, standing like a post: the practitioner takes a position and holds it motionless for long minutes. Outwardly nothing happens; in fact one is seeking the connection of the whole body, even tension and the ability to hold structure without wasted muscular work. From that follows shi li, testing strength through very slow movement, and mocabu, walking in the same tension. Only at the end come free movement and fighting. The name yiquan means fist of intent and points to working with the idea of a movement before the movement is made. The style still has a reputation for looking dull and being demanding, because without forms there is nothing to display and progress takes a long time to show.
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