Standing Form - Zhan Zhuang

Hi everyone!

I promised I would post some photos showing the first two sets of stand form. Before I do that, I thought I would detail a little of the history and lineage of our current Stand Form sets.

The martial art of Yi Quan (I Chuan, 意拳) was founded by Wang Xiangzhai (王薌齋), a Xing Yi Chuan master. He decided in the 1920's that martial arts (Xing Yi Chuan in particular) in China were becoming too concerned with forms (see Wushu (sport) for a possible long-term vindication to his opinion). So he created his own martial art and called it Yi Quan.

From Wikipedia:
"Yiquan is essentially formless, containing no fixed sets of fighting movements or techniques. Instead, focus is put on developing ones natural movement and fighting abilities through a system of training methods and concepts, working to improve the perception of one's body, its movement, and of force."

One part of Yi Quan is Zhan Zhuang (站樁) or as we call them Standing Form.

Wang Shu Jin (or Wang Shu Chin) trained with Wang Xiangzhai at some point, and took some of his Zhan Zhuang exercises and incorporated them into his own system, modifying them to suit his purposes. The Standing Form sets we study come from Wang Shu Jin, although my current teacher has studied with present day Yi Quan practioners. His experience has again modified the exercises we practice.

My next post will be describing why we practice our stand form. If there are any questions or comments, feel free to post them!

William Mioch