The framework for Hsing I Chuan (abbreviated as Hsing I, and also written xingyiquan) traces back 700 years. Credited to the famous military general Yu Fei, who developed the art as a way to quickly train military troops.
Hsing I is characterized by movements formed along straight lines, useful for training military troops in formation in ancient China. Today, Hsing I is widely respected as a devastatingly powerful martial art style.
Sun Lu-Tang, highly respected martial art theorist, in the 1920s first classified Hsing I as "internal" and part of the "nei chia ch'uan" family of "internal boxing" along with sister arts of Ba Gua Zhang (also written baguazhang), Hsing I (also written xingyiquan) and Tai Chi. According to Master John Bracy, the designation of "internal martial art," a new and referred to new developments in Northern China where Taoist yogic-energetic practices were incorporated into the martial arts, thus creating an entirely new approach to training. Not all Hsing I schools incorporated this new approach to training, and thus only a few Hsing I schools today are truely "internal."
