Liu Yi in Xin Yi Quan(II)
Dragon' s waist
    Dragon has got the huge power in turning his body and the excellent technique of crimpling his bones.
    Xin Yi Quan adopts the dragon's vigor and technique of turning body with all its movements dominated by its waist. The human body could be parted as three sections, the head (upper part), the waist (middle part) and the feet (lower part). The motion of the waist should be the guide of your whole body no matter in self-practicing or fighting with others. A saying in Quan scripture reads "a single branch moving can make about hundreds of branches' swinging", illustrating that the moving of your waist drives the action of the whole body. In actual fighting, once you and your rival are in deadlock, you may have already been close to him before he could sense your moving. Here is the application of your waist action. For example, in Xiong Xing Dan Ba (bear-like single holding movement) of Xin Yi Quan, your strength seems to be produced from your upper part, but actually it is assembled and sent out from your waist. When you move upward, you have to shrink your waist and sink it down, round your chest, pull your back upward and droop your elbows down. It would burst out powerful strength as a strong spring compressed down and then being explosively rebounding.

Introduction to Wang Qihe’s Tai Ji Quan
 Master Wang Qihe(1889-1936),from Huanshui village, Ren County, Xingtai City in Hebei Province, had founded a style of Tai Ji Quan on his own. He was interested in Kung-fu even in his childhood and had mastered well-knit external Quan at his young age. Having learned Kung-fu from several famous teachers from different schools and mastered it well, Wang seldom met his matching adversaries. But in one Kung-fu challenge, he was completely defeated by one of the disciples of Mr. Hao Weizhen, a famous Tai Ji Quan master. After that, Wang had great interest in Tai Ji Quan. With a good chance, he had the opportunity to learn Tai Ji Quan from Hao Weizhen for six years.
    In 1914, Wang Qihe followed Master Hao visiting Master Yang Chengfu in Beijing. He was agreeably accepted by Yang as his apprentice for his Quan skills and achievement. Afterward, Yang's disciples Dong Yingjie, Cui Yishi, Jiang Tingxuan etc. followed Yang going south without Wang Qihe, as he was suddenly afflicted with intestine diseases. Wang went back to his hometown then. With no more intention in fame and gain, he stayed where he was born from then on till his death. Nevertheless, he had persisted in digesting and researching Tai Ji Quan especially striving for the assimilation and amalgamation between Yang's and Wu's Tai Ji Kung-fu with his whole vigor. Based on Wu's Tai Ji Quan, he took advantage of Yang's and associated them together in one. Stretching with grace, getting deft in elegance, combining the merits in various schools with his unique understanding, Wang had finally worked out a special set of Tai Ji Quan not only good in forms and spirit but also practical for exercise and fight. This set of the Quan is agile in footwork, easy in movement conversion and prudent in one's footwall as well as springy and stout. It requires the player stretching his upper part gracefully, smoothly and gently. Since its being, Wang Qihe's Tai Ji Quan had been spreading wide more and more both in the neighborhood and farther areas. Currently it has been flourishing in many provinces of China as its 3rd and 4th generations of successors making effort for its prevalence.
    In the formation and development of Wang Qihe's Tai Ji Quan, one of his apprentices, Master Liu Renhai, and Wang's son, Wang Jingfang, had made enormous contribution, especially in the promotion work while Liu was more influential. The most remarkable feature of Wang Qihe's Tai Ji Quan is combining skills and movements two in one. The Quan routine developed by Master Wang Qihe that combined Wu's and Yang's Quan movements had integrated all the essences of Tai Ji Gong Fa. Each generation of successors had laid great stress on practice, claiming that real Kung-fu come from long-term of hard practicing of movements. All the disciples therefore have been required to make painstaking effort in movement and Quan frame practicing as basic training, rather than practical use ahead.
   During the long processes in practicing the Quan and its refinement, those successors playing Wang Qihe's Tai Ji Quan had formed numerous assistant Gong Fa with various characteristics further developed into individual systems, such as reverse practice, pace-down practice, pace-up practice, free practice and interior practice etc. These Gong Fa and Quan frame practicing supplement each other in achieving skills and movements two in one. Reverse practice means doing practicing the movements in a reverse direction. Pace-down practice means to practice the Quan much slower than usual speed. Pace-up practice is practicing quicker but not mixing up any movements. Pacing-up rhythmically alternates with pacing-down. Free practice is letting you go with your movements regardless of any speed or form fixed but just to be natural. Interior practice is to practice through your volition and minding.
                                 

Insisting in Tradition & Getting Successful in Kung-fu----Li Shujun, a Traditional Tai Ji Kung-fu Master
    I had the chance to enjoy Master Li Shujun's wonderful Tai Ji Quan performance for the first time at the 3rd Chinese Tai Ji Quan Masters' Seminar & the 1 st Intemational Tai Ji Masters' Forum held in Ma'anshan City, Anhui Province in 2006. His unique moves of Tai Ji Quan with his special vigor inspired a strong feeling in me, reminding me of the similar flavor of Chen Fa'ke's style. Later when I interviewed him I revealed to him what I had felt about his performance.
    Why would I decide the performance of Tai Ji Quan played by Li had probably resembled that of Chen Fake's in my imagination? As an editor engaging in researching modem martial arts and traditional Kung-fu for nearly thirty years, I have managed to get accesses to many traditional Kung-fu masters of different schools, gained intimate knowledge on the similarities between different schools of Kung-fu, and familiarized the history of traditional Kung-fu in the last century. Actually, some have branched into martial sports and wellness exercise. At that time when Chen Fa'ke first came to Beijing as a traditional Kung-fu practitioner, it was his high-level Quan skills widely recognized that help establish his huge fame over there. Many Tai Ji Quan descendants had practiced their Kung-fu for various sakes especially aiming at real Kung-fu fighting rather than for wellness in their leisure time within the later period of Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) and the early years of the Republic of China. Whatever they had practiced was far from what is known as playing Tai Ji Quan or wellness nowadays. Making some necessary analysis and comparison, we should place Chen Fa'ke among those traditional Kung-fu masters during the period of the Republic of China (1912-1949), such as Li Cunyi, Shang Yunxiang and Yu Hualong. All of them had shared common beatings, including their braveness, vigor, spirits and others such as body moving methods and acting responses. Their appearances and aspects would be presented in their motions, postures, and even daily demeanors and behaviors. Had a practitioner failed to present any of these shared aspects, he would not be recognized as a Kung-fu master indeed. This is not an overstatement, for those who have had comprehended and experienced the facts they met for ages would agree so.
   Hence, when we watch people practicing or performing the so-called Chen's style Tai Ji Quan in some sporting matches, in the parks or other occasions, we cannot compare it with the great master Chen Fa'ke who had been recognized among a galaxy of masters in Beijing. Had Master Chen Fa'ke played Tai Ji as what most people nowadays usually do, he would have had to find his living elsewhere after he came to Beijing. He would never have had been accepted by his contemporaneous Quan masters of Xing Yi Quan, Shao Lin, and Ba Gua. All of them were not playing games but real Kung-fu in Beijing then.
    Those who play Tai Ji for their wellness and so-called Tai Ji sports could not present the characteristics of traditional Chinese Kung-fu in their practicing, thus they should be excluded from the genuine masters, and we should not expect them to reach the standard for being traditional Kung-fu masters.
Li Shujun is one of the rare masters who have been insisting in practicing traditional Tai Ji Quan Kung-fu for more than fifty years. Master Li had been directly taught by Chen Fa'ke for two years in the early 1950s. After Master Chen retired because of illness, Li Shujun had earned some special attention from his grand master Wang Ziying, who wished to pass down Wang Maozhai and Wu Jianquan's school of Tai Ji Kung-fu to him. As a result, Li Shujun learnt Tai Ji with Wang Ziying for another three years. Since then, he had only taken part in limited Kung-fu matches in Beijing in 1959 and 1962, and never showed up in the national martial arts circle from then until Tai Ji Seminar & Forum mentioned above in Ma'anshan City in 2006. It was the first time for him in appearing in the Kung-fu communication event after a few decades, and it was through this Seminar and Forum that the Kung-fu essence of the last masters Chen     Fa'ke and Wang Ziying could be recognized by the masters in Chinese Kung-fu circle.
    Master Li Shujun is of his personal charm. He accepts limited disciples with the object of passing down Chen Fa'ke's style Tai Ji Quan. In order to make him take part in the communication event, I have tried hard to persuade him for many times. At last he agreed to perform to the public, to talk about something important regarding Tai Ji Quan and, to communicate with other masters later on. This is how we could know about him today, through videos and words, about his studying ways with Chen Fa'ke, and about what Master Chen had practiced then.
    From any aspect whatever, the appearance of Li Shujun help us learn more about the real story of such important persons as Chen Fa'ke, Wang Ziying and Li Jingwu--his father. Whatever they had done is of substantial influence in researching and developing modem Tai Ji Quan Kung-fu.      

Huang Long Bai Wei
    It is widely accepted by most practicers that the process of Xing Gong Zou Jia ( the practice of movements, strength and Kung Li) is a most important proceeding in a complete Kung-fu training. Every Tai Ji practicer is required to practice every day to gradually uplift his overall Gong Li (level of the mastery of Kung-fu).
    It is tree that slow and consistent Tai Ji practices can build up the player's health but it is surely not a guarantee. The only way to achieve the purpose of body-building and fit-keeping is to practice Tai Ji in a correct way.
    Practicing Tai Ji Quan in a fast way and practicing Tai Ji Kung-fu will be considered different from the other with varied demands indeed. When Master Chen Fa'ke taught Quan, the impartment of Tai Ji Kung-fu came as the first other than all the styles or external movements. I was required to accurately pose the process of every stand, to understand the reason why I have to attack in such a manner, how to summon and exert strength together with the ultimate purpose and, to comprehend all the targets in attacking and defending to ensure winning. My opponent should be supposed to be moving, stepping, backing, squatting, attacking and defending before me, and I have to act by following his moving respectively.
   Take the movement of "Huang Long (yellow dragon) Bai Wei (swaying its tail)" as an example. It is aimed at the practice of flexibility of body movements and footwork. Even though the opponent is in motion, you can still maneuver easily, detect any or all weak points in his moving, withstand the incoming hitting or other manners of attack. Convert his attacking forces and ultimately attack him by elbow techniques.
   The accuracy and completion of this movement should be emphasized. Full comprehension in making your own flexible responses to deal with different attacking or various moving made by your opponents is also needed. More importantly, quick responses to all your opponent's actions and the harmoniousness of your eyes, hands, body, feet and your speed are of crucial significance in actual fighting