Shang Style Xing Yi Training Guide--My Personal Journey

If you are a Xingyiquan practitioner, you MUST read this book. There are a lot of rare gems in this book, and many of these gems will deepen your understanding of XYQ. The concepts and principles of XYQ are fairly streamlined, but Shang Yunxiang explained things in common terminology and made the deeper concepts easier to understand. Dixon Fung goes deeper into these fighting concepts and explains them even further, all the while adding his own commentary and modern twists. Bear in mind, this is a training guide, and not meant to be an instructional text. However, I would bet that if you are a serious gongfu practitioner, you will come back to this book again and again. Another benefit to this book is that is contains both the English and Chinese, so if you are able to read Chinese, you will get the benefit of being able to understand some of the more nuanced stuff that is hard to translate into English.

I bought this book a few weeks ago and I am on my second round of reading through it. As the title states, this book reads as a personal guide and as such, it gives the reader much more than a narrow point of view into the style and training methods. The author, Dixon Fung, does a good job in assisting the reader establish an advanced mindset/understanding of the intent behind every move based on his personal experience – a realistic and practical point of view.I highly recommend this book as it has helped me approach my training with a different mentality – an outside the box point of view and I believe it will be helpful to those looking to take their training to the next level – whether it is for personal health, strength or fighting.

Dixon Fung is a lifelong Martial Artist. To him, Martial Arts isn't simply something he does, like an activity, it is woven into the very fabric of his being. He trains, examines, questions, ponders, and through this process, evolves. It is, as he says, a personal journey.What started out as his own personal notes, a journal of his training, his insights, explorations, which later became a training guide for his students, and at the suggesting of his own teacher, is now a book available to the public. This 'Manual," unravels the process of developing the mind, body and self, through the practice of this rare style of Xing-Yi.In this book, Dixon Fung shows, explains not simply the what, but the How and the Why of structure, power generation, and technique, and how they merge as one. (I only wish this came in hardcover, as this is one book that I will constantly be picking up off my shelf, and going over, and over, for years to come.)

Read this book and there were a lot of good information that a run of the mill Chinese kung fu school would not offer here in the USA because of the need to teach to the masses, and therefore, not enough time to delve into the intricacies of the art.

The content is good though is basically a manual illustating Shang style basics and form, with a few comments on context and levels of training. Clear and concise though could have more text and depth.Over priced for 170 pages especially when some of them are in Chinese, making the manual bilingual.

Editor’s PrefaceWhen my gung fu brother, Dixon Fung, told me he was studying Xing Yi, I was elated. Although we had studied Southern Fist together, this was something new. In my own personal martial arts journey, I had studied with five teachers of Xing Yi. I had heard of Shang style Xing Yi in my journey, and of course, the famous Shang Yun Xiang was a training brother to one of my Xing Yi ancestors named Zhu Gwai Ting, but at that time, no teachers of Shang style Xing Yi were around.Xing Yi, is one of the four great martial arts systems from China, the other three being Tai Ji Quan, Ba Gua Quan, and Shaolin Quan. Xing Yi is famous in Henan, with the Moslem Hui people, Shan Xi, and Hebei. Clearly during the Republic era in China, Xing Yi and Ba Gua had the best fighters to win in most major tournaments. What made Xing Yi so devastating is its simplicity, directness, and power. Training in Xing Yi involved standing postures, Five elements forms, Twelve Animal forms, and weaponry.The Shang style is a unique training system in that Shang Yun Xiang was amongst the last caravan body guards in business before the advent of the railroad system to ship goods. Prior to modern transportation, caravans were an ages old profession to employ the services of armed escorts, capable of protecting goods. Martial artists were living the true “Kung Fu Life” of having to live or die daily protecting goods, a truly different meaning to what is touted today as the tea sipping, restaurant hopping, gossipy story telling of modern martial artists.This book was originally personal notes, then later fleshed out as a training guide for Dixon’s students, and now as a small manual to benefit all martial artists. In its pages, there are direct lineage Fist Sayings (Quan Jue 拳訣) passed directly down from a lineage, not picked up or borrowed from here and there. Clearly from the secrets within this book, are useful sayings that apply to the practice of all martial arts. Any martial artist would benefit greatly to training in San Ti, the Eagle Catch training, Five Elements Fist, and Linking sets training presented in this book.I applaud Dixon for his generous sharing of a rare system’s insights, and encourage the reader to seek out personal instruction in this simple, but deep art.

Best kung fu book I’ve read, and I’ve read a lot. Most of them consist of pictures of people doing forms and drills which are entertaining but not useful for gaining any understanding of kung fu or martial arts.This book on the other hand, gives you some real insight into the art & the training. Its useful for Xingyi practitioners as well as other martial artists, because you’ll get bits of knowledge that apply to all martial arts, as well as a very interesting look into the rare art of Xingyi.