Hey all! Just wondering if there were any others out there. I am a practitioner of taiji wuxing tongbei tracing back 4 generations to tongbei great Zhang Ce.
I would...if tongbeiquan was taiji The particular branch I study is called taiji wuxing tongbei only because the form's originator Zhang Ce melded certain internal aspects from Yang Style taiji into traditional Tongbei.
It's a Kung Fu style. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTHqaag5G5o&feature=channel&list=UL"]Tongbeiquan 1/2 - YouTube[/ame]
My bad :' P Just think I looked at a link e. g. this h http://www.susanamatthews.com/Tong_Bei_DVD.htm ''Master Zhao Ya Jun is very clear on what he’s doing in this comprehensive set exercises from the Tong Bi Quan style of martial arts. Tong Bi is pre-Chen style taijiquan that emphasizes developing power on the back and using the arms more efficiently.'' Guess that different sifu's describe it in different ways... Anyways good luck with finding other practitioners and welcome to MAP! LFD
No worries Thanks for the welcome! It is true a lot of Chen Stylers, XYQers and BGZers practice some form of Tongbei when they're younger and then switch into other neijia styles. While Tongbei does resemble Chen style to a certain extent it is a completely different art on its own and is typically grouped along with Taiji/BGZ/XYQ as the four main internal styles although it is not as popular as the other 3 due to the conservative and secretive nature of its practitioners. Only recently have masters started to teach it on a broader scale to more students. It places heavy emphasis on developing power/loosening up primarily the entire back, then shoulders and arms to be able to harness power from kinetic linking(transfer of power from the ground up) more efficiently. So.....no other Tongbei'ers out there?
wow, I figured there probably weren't a lot of practitioners out there, but I had no idea it is this rare overseas.
There are 2 major Tongbei systems. The white ape Tongbei and Pi Gua Tongbei. The Pi Gua Tongbei are usually trained along with the Baji system. I had some white ape Tongbei (very little Pi Gua Tongbei training). There are some arm circular training that you use your right hand to hit your right upper leg, left hand hit on your right upper arm, left hand then hit your upper left leg. It makes 3 sounds in both arms circular motion. The sound can help you to understand your own speed. It's very interested training. In white ape Tongbei system, there is also: - cat jump, - tiger hop, - monkey dodge, - eagle flip that teach some interest footwork and Shenfa. Most of the white ape forms are short. It has good kicking combo (such as front kick, roundhouse kick, and back kick) as well.
There's also Xingyi Tongbei and Ma family Tongbei (which is probably the most common one in the west).
Never even heard of those ones. The 5 major branches here in Beijing and Hebei are laoqi, shaoqi, pigua, baiyuan, and wuxing with the lineage I'm studying being a branch off of traditional wuxing. Anymore insight on the two you mentioned? Edit: I just looked up Ma family Tongbei and it uses a different character for bei than the norm...sounds to me like it's something totally different. Xingyi tongbei just sounds plain dodgy, you sure you're not making that up to pull my leg?
Ma Tong Bei is certainly Tong Bei from what I've seen of it. Probably a bit influenced by the other styles that they do (Fanzi, Cuojiao, Baji and Pigua). Xingyi Tongbei is legit AFAIK. Combinations are not unusual in northern styles.
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9_MxFC4pUk&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL07FF1B761C1E3F7E"]Ma Style Tongbeiquan - part 1 Ma Xianda - YouTube[/ame] Ma Xuanda documentary
haha, ok ok I'll ask my teacher about it when I see him on Monday. My VPN is broke so I can't watch the vid.. . It is curious that Ma style uses 备 instead of the normal 背
wow! that's pretty rare. i once practiced bai yuan tong bei. the guy taught fighting rather than forms.
Oh really? A couple of the students studying with me now are from Sydney, but they don't know anyone back home who teaches it. May I ask who your instructor was? If any mods could move this to the internal MA section that would be greatly appreciated, I didn't realize that section existed until just now.:love:
I know the teacher simply as Jack who teaches out of Macquarie University back in the early 2000's. I wasnt his student by any means I was there to see my friend who was a badass fighter. I participated in a few classes but the training location was too far away so I end up not going. http://www.oocities.org/wuzhongxiu/ here is a link to a guy kingsley fong who probably know him better. May I ask do you have a website or where are you currently teaching?
