Hung I-Hsiang

Hung I-Hsiang (Wade-Giles), or Hong Yixiang (Hanyu Pinyin) (洪懿祥, 1925-1993) was a Taiwanese martial artist who specialized in the internal Chinese styles of xingyiquan, baguazhang and taijiquan.

Hung I-Hsiang was born in 1925 in Taiwan. He studied with Chang Chun-Feng (張俊峰, Hanyu Pinyin: Zhang Junfeng) a master of internal Chinese martial arts from Northern China. Chang introduced these arts to Taiwan in 1948 when he moved there following the Communist take-over of Mainland China. Initially, Chang met with resistance from mainlanders on Taiwan who objected to his teaching the secrets of internal martial arts to native Taiwanese such as Hung.

When Chang began teaching in the northern part of Taibei, his first group of core students included the three Hung brothers: Hung I-Hsiang, Hung I-Wen (洪懿文) and Hong I-Mien (洪懿棉). It is said that Hung I-Hsiang was the xingyiquan (形意拳) specialist, Hung I-Mien was the baguazhang (八卦掌) specialist, and Hung I-Wen specialized in taijiquan (太极拳).

After he had studied with Chang for several years, Hung often led classes for Chang. Because the internal martial arts were still very new in Taiwan, many curious people would come to test Chang's skill. Hung said that Chang would often send him out to show the visitors what the internal styles were all about. Many martial artists in Taiwan remember Hung as being someone who was involved in many fights, both in and out of the martial arts studio.

In the mid-1960's Hung I-Hsiang opened up his own school under the name Tang Shou Tao (唐手道).

Hung I-Hsiang internal arts training program included xingyiquan, baguazhang and Wu (Hao) style Taijiquan, Shaolin kung fu and qigong. He suggests that students learn Shaolin kung fu when they are very young, progress to xingyiquan to learn how to develop internal power and then progress to baguazhang and taijiquan to learn how to refine the power. This is also the teaching sequence used by Hung's teacher, Chang Chun-Feng. Hung believed that, in practicing the xingyiquan five elements as an introduction to the internal martial arts, the student can clearly understand the way the body should be trained to move in the internal styles. If the student starts out in taijiquan it is very difficult to develop and understand internal power.

Many of Hung's students dominated the full-contact tournaments in Taiwan. One student, Weng Hsien-ming won the Taiwan full contact championships three years in a row. Another, Huang Hsi-I also usually won his all-Taiwan full contact tournaments with knock-outs. Other famous students of Hung I-Hsiang inclunded Hsu Hung-Chi (許鴻基, Hanyu Pinyin: Xu Hongji), Lo Te-Hsiu (羅德修, Hanyu Pinyin: Luo Dexiu), and Su Dong Chen.

References

* Miller, Dan, "Pa Kua Chang Journal", Vol. 3, No. 5.
* Frantzis, Bruce Kumar, "The Power of Internal Martial Arts: Combat Secrets of Ba Gua, Tai Chi, and Hsing-I" ISBN 1-55643-253-4

External links

BBC documentary on Hung I-Hsiang: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQ4t7mWdKsw Part 1] , [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CISLY0kXQrk Part 2] , [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RB47HIyWkDA Part 3] , [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE11COUegek Part 4]