Customer Reviews

Combat Techniques of Taiji, Xingyi, and Bagua: Principles and Practices of Internal Martial Arts

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is really three books in one, and is quite lengthy and packed with a lot of information at 368 pages. The book is good for intermediate students in the internal martial arts of Xingyi, Baguazhang and Tai chi, who have been practicing one of these styles for a number of years, are now in the phase of "finding the hidden treasures" in their art, and who would like some exposure to the other neijia styles. The book is not a "how to" and assumes that the reader has some understanding of internal power, whole body movement, and chi flow. The first third of the book is a survey of the history and lineage of the three major styles of internal gongfu, plus a brief outline of tongbei quan and baji quan. Nothing new or controversial here, but fairly comprehensive and a good reference on lineages. The second third of the book is a survey of basic techniques, palms, moves, and steps from the various styles. It can't be comprehensive, given that the authors are discussing five different styles, but it points out the main techniques, how they overlap from style to style, and is intended as sort of a basic tool kit for internal gongfu. In that sense I think the authors succeeded quite well and a close reading will provide one or three good insights for nearly all neijia practitioners. The final third of the book is dedicated to a form developed by Lu Shengli that borrows from these major neijia styles with a discussion of the applications of all of the moves in the form. Now the standard disclaimer with martial arts books is that you can't learn a form from a book; however, given that the book is attempting a synthesis of the major styles, and the form is the ultimate demonstration of that synthesis, the presentation of the form is a bit disappointing here. As discussed by other reviewers, the third section of the book regarding the form is the weakest section of the book. The description of the movements is well done, however the form itself is very poorly illustrated which is a shame. The photos are taken outside so there are no reference points to use in the background, the footwork is not well documented or described, Master Shengli is dressed in a traditional large robe such that his palms are hidden many times, and the pictures are small and difficult to view clearly. If all of the pictures were sized like those on page 271, it would be different but in most cases the pictures are just too small and unclear even with a hand lens. However the written descriptions are better than average, and the applications are shown....... so you can reverse engineer the form with patience and practice, and of course use your own style and principles to develop a parallel series of forms along the line of the form presented.

I would like to congratulate Zhang Yun and Susan Darley on the translation, editing, and writing, which is a main reason for my 4 stars, as the writing here is far better than 90% of the martial arts books out there.

This is a reasonably comprehensive and very interesting read. While the focus is on Chinese arts, practitioners of Japanese styles (like myself) can learn a lot from it too. The illustrations and photos are excellent, truly reinforcing the materials. The writing isn't first rate, a bit hard to wade through in places due to the translation no doubt, but it's more than adequate to communicate the essential materials.

The book begins with some fascinating history, principle, and background information about xingyi quan, taiji quan, and bagua zhang. There is a bit about tongbei quan and baji quan too, two styles I'd never heard of before. It then goes into the fundamentals of punching, elbow strikes, shoulder strikes, hip strikes, knee strikes, kicking, body alignment, and movement. The next section covers some basic applications and a good discussion of pushing hands (tui shou) and energy release (fa jin). The next section demonstrates a sixteen-posture form along with its applications. The final section goes in-depth into executing applications, important things like assessing an opponent, range, timing, direction, movement, and protecting your vital areas. There is a tiny portion about real fighting at the very end, but it is nowhere near complete or all encompassing.

Consequently, the title is a bit misleading. Combat implies fighting for your life on a battlefield, back alley, or similar situation. There really is very little about the nature of real fighting (as opposed to training, sparring, or tandem drills) in this book. There is absolutely nothing about important combat issues such as awareness, avoidance, escaping an ambush, evasion, escape, de-escalation, creating witnesses, navigating the legal system, trauma triage, weapons, or any other fundamental aspect of self-defense. There is, however, a lot of great material about fighting applications from the various forms. If that is what you are looking for, you've found an excellent resource in this tome.

Great book; misleading title. Recommended for practitioners of Chinese and Japanese arts alike.

Lawrence Kane
Author of Blinded by the Night, among other titles

L.A. Kane's summary of the contents is pretty complete.

".... The book begins with some fascinating history, principle, and background information about xingyi quan, taiji quan, and bagua zhang. There is a bit about tongbei quan and baji quan too,... then goes into the fundamentals of punching, elbow strikes, shoulder strikes, hip strikes, knee strikes, kicking, body alignment, and movement. The next section covers some basic applications and a good discussion of pushing hands (tui shou) and energy release (fa jin). The next section demonstrates a sixteen-posture form along with its applications. The final section goes in-depth into executing applications, important things like assessing an opponent, range, timing, direction, movement, and protecting your vital areas. There is a tiny portion about real fighting at the very end, but it is nowhere near complete or all encompassing... There is, however, a lot of great material about fighting applications from the various forms. If that is what you are looking for, you've found an excellent resource in this tome. ..."

All I can add to his discussion is that the book also includes a good discussion of standing meditation postures used in Xingyi and Yichuan; and that the translators manasge to get across the author's sincere desire to pass on and underscore those points of practice that the writer found most useful in decades of practicing the internal styles.

My one big reservation is that however clearly the form is described, that section of the book needs far more photos of each movement. That so much care went into the text, it's a shame the authors didn't (couldn't) reinforce important points with more photos.

Otherwise The book is loaded with useful information for beginning and intermediate students. I am no expert (and I only skimmed much of the historical material) but I find the points of practice very interesting and very helpful.

To answer LA Kane's critic about the books scope I'd like to suggest checking out Tim Cartmell's books and videotapes on combat applications of postures in the internal style forms. For a sense of Cartmell's writing, and point of view, check out the entry on him in the book "Nei Jia Quan : Internal Martial Arts Teachers" or Cartmell's book, "Effortless Combat Throws".

Just got my copy recently and can't put it down. This book takes a lot of the mystery out of the internal martial arts equation and explains principles and training methods in an easy to understand manner. This book is really a good resource for understanding your training. Of course, one always needs a good teacher to find the right path, but this book goes a long way in helping to bridge the gap. Lots of good pictures and detailed instruction too.

The initial part is very interesting as a philosophic overview of internal styles. The author gives a very clear description of the reason for the different styles and their approach to fighting.

The next part the author goes into basic hand palm and kicking techniques. Such that any one that has had Kung Fu should already know.

Then the author goes into detail on the gungfu or standing practices. His explanations of the techniques and what you should be doing internally are very detailed and interesting.

So far I thought this book was targeted towards beginners.

The last part of the 16 forms appears to be targeted towards intermediate to advanced practitioners. The forms are fairly sophisticated and did not have the detail of explanation that the previous sections had. Thus one would have had to have previous training to understand this section of the book. Also the author does not tell from which style each form is derived from or related to.

I would have rather seen less forms, perhaps 2 that are representive and that demonstrate the aspects of that styly with more detailed explainations relative to the perspective style.

This is one of the few books on neijia I would recommend on arts that are difficult at best to learn live. The detail on basic training is excellent, something that many western "experts" talk about but seldom "eat the bitter".
The historical info is probably oral transmission from Wang Pei Sheng who trained with a who's who of Beijing teachers. Would have preferred to see a tape of the form. Getting it from a book without previous experience with these styles is not likely. Nevertheless, the basic training detail and interesting history make it worth the price. I have never met the author but have heard of him from friends in Beijing who say he is the real deal.
The reviewer below "from Beijing" who disliked it might go discuss the "laughable" techniques with the author(who is listed as really living in Beijing} and report back to us.

As a practitioner of xingyichuan, I found the book a useful reference resource to add to my martial arts library.

This book is well written, but the photos are too small and the combat applications, if any, are not for modern times. There is a lot to be learned, but John Painter's books are the best for street combat and easy to follow with larger photos and diagrams.

Mr Lu's volume, "Combat techniques of Taiji, Xingyi, and Bagua: Principles and practices of Internal Martial Arts" (hereafter CT)gives a short history and explanation of the three internal styles of Chinese martial arts, and then goes on to tackle the practical side of it all: how to achieve results with your training.

It is all presented in plain English, and mr Lu also provides the Chinese names (and most of the time also the characters)of the concepts or people he is describing. It is a fairly complete book (well, trying to be anyway. See below), covering most aspects of internal martial arts. Also it is well illustrated with many pictures.

By far the best thing about the CT is, that it describes the martial sides of the internal arts. Especially taijis use as a "legitimate" martial art is fading far too fast, so it's good to see a new book that promotes the martial side of internal martial arts.

Sadly there is a number of problems with CT. Firstly and most importantly, the history section of the book is very, very far from good. Mr Lu presents one version as being the truest without giving any evidence supporting his theories (or for that matter disproving the other versions). He simply claims that his presentation is the most widely accepted in China. Which is plainly wrong. For example does most Chinese works on taiji NOT recognize Zhang Sanfeng as the creator of taiji. He also claims that Chen Fake's gongfu to this day is being regarded as being "not taiji", which again is not the truth. Nobody in China denies that Chen Fake's taiji was taiji. The list continues.

Also he gives no bibliography and no sources, which makes it impossible for the reader to make his own assesments on the material. We have to take mr Lu's word for it (seeing it is a translation from Chinese, he is excused to a certain extent. In general Chinese book (even scientific volumes) doesn't have bibliographies).

Furthermore, the official Chinese transcription system, pinyin, is used most of the time, but not always, which is a bit confusing.

Lastly, I agree with another reviewer who remarked that CT tries to cover to much ground. Another 100 or so pages of background info on chinese philosophy and concepts might have been very helpful. The sixteen posture form portion of the book might have been traded for more info on philosophy, as it is of very little interest to the reader. Mr Lu often uses terms that are either not explained or are a bit "fuzzy", as it were, meaning-wise. This again adds to the feeling of inaccuracy that prevails through the book.

2,5 stars

This Book is a Treasure for Kung-Fu Artist. Many Technique's,Styles and History of Kung-Fu Sytems are covered that have never been Taught some also not know to Western Civilization.