Customer Reviews

Form and Will Boxing: One of the Big Three Internal Chinese Body Boxing Styles (Bushido--The Way of the Warrior)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is on Ok book. It lacks in two things: 1. Proper editing. I don't believe words are mistranslated- they are misspelled. This is the editors fault. 2. Better pictures- The pictures on the outside cover of the book are great- but the insided pictures leave a lot to be desired. They are grainy black and white photos that look like old newspaper photos. They allow you to get the general idea of a posture or stance but details of a particular technique are lost.

The translation into English is worded somewhat silly at times, but if you're looking for picture-by-picture explanations of xing yi's forms, it's the most thorough one out there. The five fists and animal styles are all broken down in many transitional pictures that show the each movement precisely, there is no guesswork as to what the author is trying to get across with each explanation.

According to my teacher, there is not a single correct posture shown in this entire book. While the demonstration clearly shows that the practicioner has spirit, speed and strength, the postures are all flawed. For example, the rear foot angled like that will prevent shifting back or retreating and disperse energy. Even on the rear cover, there is a photo of a punch executed from ma bu (horseriding stance) is shown - the problem being, ma bu is not part of xing yi.Even the stance shown on the front cover is somply wrong in my eyes since all the strength in the posture is directed backwards. (don't belieev it? try at home...) That is, however, a popular posture for demonstraions and modern wu shu dancing.

The book lacks theory, or presents it in an incomplete way - for example of the five (six by some sources) words that describe the xing yi body, only four are mentioned in this text.

I wouldn't reccomend this book to anyone wanting to practice the positions presented in it.

This book isn't perfect, but it shows Xingiquan as really practiced. Sun Lu Tang's book is a classic and deals with some of the more esoteric elements. Shou and Yang's book is heavy on song of..., the 5 thises, the 6 thats, etc. and is missing some of the basics. For Hebei style, this book is great and should be in every practitioner's library.

This book has a lot of clear pictures of the author performing. The five elements are clearly described and pair practice as well. The author also goes through the stages one must go through when first practicing xingyiquan. Another plus is the Linking form, Bashi quan and the rare form called "Twelve earth fist" Shi'er heng chui. This form is only found in places such as Tianjin and xiue, china. The style is somewhat different from the one I know, but is generally the same. nice work.

I have been practicing Xingyiquan for over two years now and find this book a great help. The pictures are a bit overexposed, but you can figure them out. If you are looking for a book with pretty pictures to put on your coffee table, go somewhere else.
But if you want to learn Xingyiquan, there are not much better sources, than this book.
I have read some bad reviews on this particular book that almost made me not buy it, but I did anyway. And I am glad I did.
Someone said that their teacher told them that there isn't ONE CORRECT movement in the book.
To me, this sounds a bit arrogant. And it would be tough to make a book on Xingyiquan without ONE correct movement. I think that that person who wrote that review has an instructor who knows nothing about Xingyiquan.
If he did know about Xingyiquan, he would know that there are plenty of different styles to the art. And that they are ALL done in somewhat different ways.
My instructor is a Master in all the internal arts and said the book was very good. This coming from a man who wrote his own book on the subject.
The thing one has to understand about ANY marital arts, is that there are different branches. This doesn't happen to be from my branch, but it does not mean that I cannot learn from it.
The intent of the art is there, and that is the important thing.
Even forms from Teacher to Student, things can change to a certain degree.
But this book (Bad Photo's aside) is one of the best books on the subject. It is jammed with precise information and is well worth your time and money. I have over two hundred books on Martial Arts (Mostly Chinese MA) and find this one to be one of great value.

It's a shame that this book couldn't have been cleaned up a bit. The translation is awkward, and the pictures are too light. Having said that, I must admit that I really like this book. Books on Hsing-i are not as hard to find as they used to be, but most today choose to cover the same old material. The five fists are included here, as well as the twelve animals, but the author goes on to further cover a couple of forms not available in other English language books. The photos are excellent in CONTENT, but as I said before, they're too light. Still one may overlook the shortcomings of the book and concentrate on the positives. This book would be best read after reading Robert W. Smith's book on the same topic (preferably the original version, if you can find it).

This book and "Hsing Yi Chuan" by Master Liang Shou-Yu and Dr. Yang Jwing Ming are probably the best English books on Hsing Yi.