No author had more impact on our understanding of the internal martial arts then did Sun Lu Tang. This Grand Master of all three arts broke with tradition and wrote down—in classical chinese characters (characters that he taught himself)—the practice methods of all three arts.

Sun Lu Tang

I have never read a book about the “neija” that did not quote his work.

Sun Lu Tang was a renowned master of Chinese martial arts and the creator of Sun Style Taijiquan. He was an accomplished Confucian and Daoist scholar, and contributed to the development of the internal martial arts through his published works.

Sun Lu Tang’s first book–A Study of Form Mind Boxing (1915)–illustrated the complete training method for Xingyiquan.

In this book he made the argument that literary and martial art learning was the same, and that training in martial arts benefits the health of the practitioner.

His second book–A Study of Eight Trigrams Boxing (1916)–was the first book on Baguazhang. In this book, he connected the physical forms to the diagrams and philosophy of the Yi Jing.

His third book–A Study of Grand Ultimate Boxing (1921)–detailed his own Taijiquan form, and forever categorized the martial arts of Baguazhang, Xingyiquan, and Taijiquan as internal martial arts.

It is difficult to determine if the division of Chinese martial arts between external and internal forms existed before Sun Lu Tang. In his book on Taijiquan he traces the development of martial arts to “ancient times,” saying that martial arts were developed to prevent the body from “growing weaker by the day, and the hundred illnesses invading.” He further says that exercises created by Bodhidarma at the Shaolin temple were the basis for Yue Fei’s and Zhang Sanfeng’s martial and Qigong systems.

He joined Yang Chengfu and Wu Chienchuan–of Taijiquan fame–on the faculty of the Beijing Physical Education Research Institute where they taught the internal martial arts to the public. He published two more books before his death in 1932.

Further Study

A Study of Taijiquan

Xing Yi Quan Xue: The Study of Form-Mind Boxing

Classical Baguazhang: Sun Style Baguazhang: Bagua Quan Xue and Bagua Jian Xue

Cheng Tinghua

Cheng Tinghua was the fourth disciple of Dong Haichuan. He owned an eyeglass shop in Beijing, so some called him Eyeglasses Cheng. During the Boxer Movement (July 1900) Cheng saw the invading armies killing and looting throughout Beijing. Upset at what was happening to his country, he swore to defend it. One day, Cheng Tinghua subdued ten of the looting soldiers before they ordered a patrol with rifles to surround him.

Cheng used his Baguazhang skills to calmly evade

Cheng Tinghua the soldiers and leaped onto a wall where he started to walk away. The soldiers shot him dead.

Before he started studying with Dong Haichuan, Cheng Tinghua had an extensive background in Shuaijiao (Chinese Wrestling); therefore, Cheng Style Baguazhang is known for its throwing techniques. The hand is held in the Dragon Claw formation with the thumb spread wide, the tiger’s mouth curved up, the second, third, and fourth fingers are slightly spread apart, and the little finger and fourth finger held together.

Further Study

Classical Baguazhang Vol. II – Cheng Shi Baguazhang

Yin Fu was Dong Haichuan’s earliest disciple at Su Wang Palace. Some stories say that when he started studying with Dong that he did not appreciate circle walking and focused on striking and kicking methods, even laughing at the circle walking practice.

Yin Fu

Dong Haichuan was upset at this and said, “If you laugh at circle walking again, you won’t have your front teeth any more.” Yin Fu began to laugh and Dong used a palm strike to knock out two of Yin Fu’s front teeth. After that incident Yin Fu concentrated his practice on the turning palms.

Yin Fu was thin and small, but his strikes were strong, and his circle walking practice made him very fast and agile in a fight. After the incident with Dong Haichuan he studied hard and developed new aspects of the Baguazhang art.

After training with Dong Haichuan, he held a bodyguard office in the imperial palace. Some stories say that he was a personal bodyguard to the dowager empress Cixi, and escorted her from Beijing after the failure of the Boxer Movement.

While acting as a palace bodyguard, Yin Fu also taught martial arts. Yin Fu first taught his students Lohanquan, or Paochui, and only later taught them Baguazhang. Yin Style Baguazhang is known for its strikes, kicks, and unique palm formation known as the ox’s tongue. The four fingers are close together, and the thumb pulls into the center of the hand which is hollow.

Further Study

Interview with Mr. Xie Peiqi, Yin style Baguazhang expert from Beijing, by Jarek Szymanski

Yin Style Bagua Linked Palms (Yi Shi Bagua Lianhuan Zhang) (Classical Baguazhang, Volume 9)