Hsing Yi
Hsing Yi (形意拳), (Wade-Giles) Hsing-i Ch'üan or (Pinyin) Xingyiquan (xíng yì quán "Form and Thought Boxing") all refer to a northern Chinese martial art tradition attributed to the legendary Chinese General Yue Fei (岳飛) around 1100 AD.
Hsing-i Ch'üan claims to specialize in deceptively soft, linear, low attacks and quick yet solid footwork appropriate for the battlefield and the military. Although considered the most simple, direct, and linear of the neijia (baguazhang and taijiquan), power generation still derives from spiraling and circling characteristic of the "internal Chinese martial arts", known in modern times as the neijia. The spiraling and circling movement only appears linear.
Hsing-i uses five distinct elements or forms as metaphors assigned to represent the details of different combative methods. Usually called, "the five fists" within the context of hsing-i, these Five Elements or Five Phases (五行 Wu Hsing or Wǔ Xíng) are based on Taoist cosmology, and practitioners of the art are taught that reactions to attacks and counter attacks should be conditioned by which of the elements an attack is considered to be coming from. As combatants or "elements" interact their conflict is said come to an end result predictable by wu hsing theory. Proponents also say that in Hsing-i Ch'üan there are at least three outcomes in a combat situation; the constructive, the neutral, and the destructive. Hsing-i students train to react to and execute specific techniques in such a way that a desirable cycle will form based on the constructive, neutral and destructive interactions of wu hsing theory. Where to aim, where to hit and with what technique - and how those motions should also work defensively - is determined by what point of which cycle they see themselves in.
The advanced training forms varies and combines the five fists together. Depending on the lineage, some of these advanced forms includes linking forms, the "eight hands", the "eight tigers", and twelve animal forms.
Hsing-i Ch'üan practitioners consider their martial art to be an internal style, with an emphasis on ch'i (qi) development and coordination in their training. Traditional Chinese weapon training is another feature of Hsing-i Ch'üan as a martial art.
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