Gu La’s Wing Chun Quan in Heshan
    Gu Lao (a name of a place) Wing Chun Quan methods in practicing the Quan handed down and taught by Master Liang Zan in his hometown Gu Lao village in Heshan when he returned from Foshan in his later years. Its content and concerned theories are quite different from what he had usually imparted his diseiples in Foshan so forming a unique system of his own. Here we introduce Gu Lao style showed by Mr. Feng Zhen, one of the disciples of Master Liang Za's prentice. Gu Lao Wing Chun Quan imparted by Feng Zhen mainly contains twelve sets while each consists of several movements. According to Feng, the Quan stresses on the training of one's mind in attacking, defending and avoiding his opponent attacking. It also emphasizes the training of strength in Kung-fu. In this issue we would introduce Gu Lao Wing Chun Quan demonstrated by Hou Dexia, showing the basic practicing process in first two sets of the total. Our Magazine will continuously publish related contents about it.

Feng Shaoqing’s Ban Zhong Wing Chun Quan in Zhaoqing
    1. The characteristics of Feng Shaoqing's Ban Zhong Wing Chun Quan
     (1) Rapidness, accurateness, and powerfulness, are three principles of Ban Zhong Wing Chun Quan.
     (2) Avoiding heavy attacks made by your rival and taking advantage of his failings fighting back cleverly.
     (3) Avoiding three things: Avoiding having an insatiable desire for the amount, avoiding being negligent and deflective, avoiding being disengaged and desultory.
     (4) Three actions with rapidness: Keeping your eyes moving and hands acting rapidly. Stepping your feet quickly
     (5) Keeping your four movements in breaking down, blocking, forcing, and striking combined together in one. A saying goes that it's easy to hit someone but hard to let him go while even harder to control him. Ban Zhong Wing Chun Quan requires a practitioner to pay special attention to this skill. That is the joining in blocking and forcing.
     (6) Combining your internal and external mining and paying more attention to Ba Fa (eight methods). The internal training includes Jing (vigor), Qi (interior strength and breathing) and Shen (spirit), while the external, muscles, bones and skin. Ba Fa includes the methods of moving your hands, eyes, body, steps, spirit, breathing, strength and force.
     (7) Forming your movements slowly, but striking fast and fighting cleverly.
    2. The requirements and methods of Ban Zhong Wing Chun Quan.
     (1) When you study Ban Zhong Wing Chun Quan , above all, the master will let you relax your muscles, and practice every movement and skill repeatedly, slowly and freely. You can exert your power cooperatively and expedite your practicing process gradually after you have practiced the Quan well.
     (2) Keeping your body moved like the wind blowing and cloud changing. You might strike your opponent without your hands. Noticing your opponent’s attacking and making use of his strength to make him hard to escape. Although you make him exposed a lot, you can conquer him by striking him on one point on his body only. You can control his stronger body and his bigger circles with your relatively weaker body and your smaller ones and, strike him effectively without applying any corporeal movement of Kung-fu.
     (3) Advanced Kung-fu doesn’t require practitioners to use their hands. People with general-level Kung-fu skills normally fight with their fists, while the ones applying low-level Kung-fu only rely on their physical strength. The advanced Kung-fu emphasizes that one should fight without applying any fixed movements or some sets of Kung-fu but jointing his striking and melting the coming hitting successively and skillfully. Practitioners applying general-level Kung-fu fight with their every movement clearly going seesaw between themselves and their rivals respectively to and fro. The low-level Kung-fu has nothing to do with fighting skills but only relies on physical strength. Ban Zhong Wing Chun Quan emphasizes the way with advanced Kung-fu that one can conquer his opponent by striking only once without any parrying his attacking or any defending himself.
     (4) If you only know how to defense but not to attack, you would fail and lose your dignity and portliness while you fight your opponent. In case you know how to attack merely, your opponent will attack you efficiently in your neglect. If you know both attacking and defensing well, you can hit him and make him failed at once without any possibility of his escaping from your attacking.
     (5) Here are some methods of your exerting power. One’s power is the soul of his Kung-fu. There are many kinds of power and many methods of exerting power.
     For example, (1) Exerting your power as if you are touching the blaze and surge like the hot water being poured down over the snow. (2) Blasting your power suddenly and surprisingly like a golden lion shakes his mane or a jackdaw wobbles his body to throw off the rainwater on his fur. (3) Making the five parts of your body exerting your power simultaneously as a whole strength in one. (4) Storing your strength like opening a bow, while exerting your power like shooting an arrow. (5) Your boxing with your fists seems like fake while your Kung-fu is tree. You only need a little space to exert the whole strength. As Quan Pu (the boxing manual) says, the strength exerted by your upper body must be sent from the lower and middle parts of your body. The relationship among the three parts is like the one among the root, the mink and the leaves of a tree. (6) Sending out a attack like shooting an arrow, while withdrawing your fist like the fire bums it. (7) Exerting your power and giving out a cry. Your crying is useful because it helps your intention and your breathing cooperated with each other, ff your vigor is strengthened by your crying and your strength is enhanced by your vigor, you can overran all the fortifications made by your rival in any fighting. (8) You must be able to apply the fighting methods freely above all, and properly use your hands and feet together to fight. Your hitting should be like a cannon bombarding or a dragon shaking its body. You should fight your rival splendidly as if you are being burned by fire. (9) Exerting your force with the tips of your fists or feet.
Practitioners beginning to practice the Quan have to intently practice it. After roughly three years' practices, if they can apply the Kung-fu naturally and hurt their opponents without much effort, they will be supposed to be successful in learning this kind of Kung-fu.
The main method of Ban Zhong Wing Chun Quan in your minding could be summarized as the following sentences. Keeping the coming and letting the leaving go. You should pay special attention to hitting in your opponent's negligence and strike heavily. Notice every detail in fighting. Lower your style in bridge and exert power with the tips of your fingers. These sentences indicate the methods of Ban Zhong Wing Chun Ouan Practitioners can create many ways in fighting skillfully by combining these methods.

 

Disciples of Xing Yi Quan in Li Laoneng’s Hometown
    Mr. Zhang Yulin from Yangwo Village, Wangjing Township, Shenzhou City is the head of Li Laoneng Xing Yi (forming and minding) Quan (boxing) Association in Shenzhou. Douwangzhuang Village, the hometown of Li Laoneng who was the founder of Xing Yi Quan, is one and a half kilometers north to Yangwo Village. In those past years, Li Laoneng's grandsons, Li Wenxi (also Zhenbang) and Li Xishun (also Shunbang), had promoted Xing Yi Quan in their hometown having got several hundreds of disciples including Wang Zhendong, Wang Zhenxi, Wang Xiang, Li Xiaojun and so on. During the 1950s and 1960s, many people in Yangwo Village, including Zhang Yulin and Wang Jinsheng, learned Xing Yi Quan from Wang Zhendong and some other masters. Zhang Yulin, Wang Jinsheng and some other masters have become important persons promoting Xing Yi Quan in Li Laoneng's hometown nowadays. Zhang Yulin is a notable one in domestic Xing Yi Quan circle.
     Zhang Yulin lived in the Xing Yi Quan founder Li Laoneng's hometown in his childhood. Since there had not been much recreation and developed information circumstance during the 1960s and 1970s, he was attracted by the strong trend in practicing Kung-fu then. Although that local government didn't encourage Kung-fu learning at that time, traditional martial art as a part of Chinese traditional culture was promoted and spread through Shenzhou area. Zhang Yulin was gradually affected by the martial arts shown by those adults. At his fourteen, he began to learn Xing Yi Quan from Wang Zhendong and Zhang Kuijin,both of them also lived in the village.
      Zhang's teacher was one of Li Wenxi's prentices. The content of Li Wenxi's Kung-fu had got some different characteristics from others. For example, most beginners must learn Shi Tang Tan Tui (the tenth line of springing kicking). The Tan Tui Kung-fu issued from Li Wenxi in its content was different from the ones from Jing Wu Athletic Association. Their purposes in learn it were also discrepant. Taught by Li Wenxi, besides Tan Tui, his disciples also learned Wu Xing (Five Elements) Quan, Shi Er Xing (twelve forms), some Tang zi (sets of Kung-fu) and some applications of various Chinese Kung-fu weapons whereas they primarily learned the pole fighting
methods as well.
     Zhang Yulin was very assiduous and perseverant when he studied the Quan. He began to learn Xing Yi Quan from Master Wang Zhendong when he was in Grade 5 in his elementary school. He never stopped learning the Quan until he had graduated from senior high school. He didn't need to leave Yangwo Village as a high school had been available right there.
Graduated from senior high school, Zhang Yulin left the Village and worked in the downtown of Shenzhou. He met some disciples having studied Guo Yunshen's Quan there and often interchanged Kung-fu ideas with them. As his home Village was only ten kilometers from his working place, he told his master every week about what he had interchanged with other Xing Yi Quan Disciples and asked a lot of questions. Master Wang Zhendong told him that he should keep on learning, study Kung-fu diligently and comprehend its main spirit gradually according to the methods and ways taught by their own school but not reject the good qualities owned an issued by other schools. Because of Mr. Zhang's insistent pursuit in practicing Xing Yi Quan plus his perseverance, he had learned a lot, mastered a lot and accumulated rich practical experiences within the period of nearly four decades in Kung-fu training and thus he have been a notable expert nowadays in Xing Yi Quan circle lastly.
    Wang Jinsheng, elder Kung-fu brother of Zhang Yulin, had practiced Xing Yi Quan in a neighboring village following the adults when he was a child. At the beginning, he practiced Zhan Zhuang (training in standing like a tree stump), and later, the Kung-fu in kicking. Master Wang Zhendong had kept a strict hand over his prentices in training. All his prentices were required to practice basic skills, and then, Wu Xing Quan. When they had practiced basic skills well, they should practice various kinds of Gong Fa (training methods). Some were used in training Kung-fu with their fists or palms while some were applied to train kicking. For example, Zhuang Gong was divided into several kinds. They were Di Zhuang (low standing), Gao Zhuang (high standing), Huo Bu (active stepping) and Cuan Bu Zhuang (stepping in scurry). There was a very effective kind of Kung-fu Gong Fa practicing the upper part of one's body in protecting his whole body. Being proficient in practicing this kind of Kung-fu, he could naturally apply it for protecting himself against any attacking made by any opponent.
    Wang Jinsheng has kept on practicing Kung-fu everyday as long as he is busy dealing with lots of fanning works in the daytime till now.
Sun Yongjin comes from Wushan Village. His father Sun Zengrui was one ofLi Wenxi's prentices. In Sun’s family, a number of generations all studied martial arts. Sun Yongjin's grandfather, a friend of Li Wenxi, was a famous local Shao Lin Qmn master. Sun Zengrui leamed Shaolin Quan from his father in his boyhood. He had studied Tan Tui, Mian Zhang (soft and continuous palming) and so on. Later, his father sent him to learn Xing Yi Quan from Li Wenxi. Later generations of Sun’s family had accordingly entered the school of Xing Yi Quan due to this proper way. When Sun Yongjin was still a youngster, he learned Xing Yi Quan from his father. He has practiced the Quan for more than fifty years.

    Chui GuangYuan’s Cai Li Fo Quan
    Master Cui Guangyuan's passion for Chinese Kung-fu was half from his known responsibility for inheriting the quintessence of Kung-fu whatever the elder's had achieved. When he was young, he loved the fine arts very much. He had learned painting and designing then. Afterwards, he quitted learning painting in order to inherit Cai Li Fo (Cai school, the Li and the Buddha) Quan (boxing) from master Cui Zhang. He had been studying Chinese Kung-fu with all his heart.
     Cui Guangyuan wasn't a tall, strong and powerful man. He did not have got any brawny arms and stout body but actually be able to send out violent forces with his fists striking his rival. He had undergone a typical succession process in practicing traditional kung-fu. He had learned basic skills at the very beginning, then practiced Kung-fu with his hands and fists and studied the applications of various kinds of weapons. He had also practiced some sets of the Quan and methods for how to attack and defend. Cui had been researching and practicing Kung-fu for many years.
Cui had some special advantages in learning Kung-fu. His father named Cui Zhang was a renowned Cai Li Fo Quan master in Guangdong and Hong Kong in those years. Under the instructions of Cui Zhang, encouraged by his resolve in developing Chinese traditional Kung-fu of Cai Li Fo Quan inherited from his father, he had mastered the essentials of the Quan quickly and promoted the Quan effectively with facility then.
    Although Master Cui has been in his seventies now, he is still energetic and full of powerful strength in playing Kung-fu. His solid base on Kung-fu has been entirely performed in showing his Quan methods and Zhuang Shu (stance skill) practicing processes.
     Gua (Hanging), Shao (taking along something to your rival) and Cha (inserting) are three kinds of attacking skills often used in playing Cai Li Fo Quan. Practicing his hand skills and kicking methods, a Quan player used to take advantage of a wooden stake for him to step up. The wooden stakes applied in Cai Li Fo Quan and Wing Chun Quan are not the same, their Zhuang Fa (methods in stepping on between the stakes) are also different. The Zhuang Fa of Cai Li Fo Quan include twelve attacking skills, Ge Shou (cutting hands), Chuan Shou (crossing hands), Lu Qiao(rolling bridge) and so on. The differences between the stake methods of Cai Li Fo Quan applies keeping one stepping away from the stakes but not approaching them. One should keep a certain distance from the stakes and practice Cha, Shao, Gua Chui (hanging and hammering) and other skills with his strong attacking intention.
     Cui said that one needs to practice Cai Li Fo Quan skillfully and apply the Quan in agility. Practicing one's strength and stepping up and down, he should move on in a large-scale drastically and send all out his power. Although it seems dangerous to fight this way, one could do so followed by his Hou Shou (the following movement) and attack on either his left or the fight. Cai Li Fo Quan emphasizes some strong execution practiced by a player day by day for ages in forming him a habit.