page_title: Xing Yi Quan
section_title: Five Element Shapes (Wǔ Xíng 五行)
hierarchical_section_title: Xing Yi Quan / Overview of the art and its training methods / Five Element Shapes (Wǔ Xíng 五行)
caption_attribution_description: English: This is a photograph of Master Yang Hai of Montreal (Canada), demonstrating a variation of Beng Quan (崩拳) - one of the Five Fists (Wu Xing) of Xing Yi Quan.
context_page_description: Xing Yi Quan is classified as one of the internal styles of Chinese martial arts. The name of the art translates approximately to "Form-Intention Fist", or "Shape-Will Fist".
  Xing Yi is characterized by aggressive, seemingly linear movements and explosive power that's most often applied from a short range. A practitioner of Xing Yi uses coordinated movements to generate bursts of power intended to overwhelm the opponent, simultaneously attacking and defending. Methods vary from school to school, but always include bare-handed fighting training and the training of weapons usage with similar or identical body mechanics to that used for bare-handed intense fighting. The most basic notions of movement and body mechanics in the art were heavily influenced by the practice of staves and spears.
  Historically and technically related martial arts include Dai Xin Yi Liu He Quan, Liu He Xin Yi Quan and Yi Quan.
context_section_description: Xing Yi uses movements called the five classical Chinese elements to metaphorically represent five different states of combat. Also called the "Five Fists" or "Five Phases," the Five Elements are related to Taoist cosmology although the names do not literally correspond to the cosmological terms. These five movements make the 'base' of the art, upon which all further combative knowledge and skill is built upon. Most schools will teach the five elements before the twelve animals because they are easier and shorter to learn (though eventually more difficult to master). The Five Elements do not appear in Henan XinYi LiuHe Quan, though similar movements and methods exist in that art's curriculum.
  Each of the Five Element movements has many vectors of movement contained within it. Together, they are used to explore all the useful ways through which one could advance on a straight line. Each of the Elements may be used as a Zhan Zhuang in-itself, and in some schools this is encouraged.
  A common saying originating from the Xing Yi classics is: "The hands do not leave the heart and the elbows do not leave the ribs". This is most evident in the Five Elements.
  Some Xing Yi practitioners also use the five elements as an interpretative framework for reacting and responding to attacks. This follows the five element theory, a general combat formula which assumes two types of cyclic interactions and three types of adverse interactions. The two cyclic interactions are the mutual nourishment (constructive) and mutual restraint (destructive) cycles. The adverse reactions are lesser known and rarely trained but exist from the understanding that nothing would exist if the mutual nourishment and restraint cycles existed alone, the adverse reactions are mutual over-restraint (overwhelming destructive interaction), mutual reverse restraint (reversal of the destructive cycle), and mutual burdening (unbalancing or reversal of the constructive cycle). Practitioners abiding by these concepts train to react to and execute specific techniques in such a way that a desirable cycle will form based on these interactions of the five element theory. Where to aim, where to hit and with what technique—and how those motions should work defensively, is determined by what point of which cycle they see themselves in. Each of the elements has many variant applications that allow it to be used to defend against all of the elements (including itself), so any set sequences are ultimately entirely arbitrary in real combat but present a frame work for developing a more practical skill, the destructive cycle is often taught to 'beginners' as it is generally easier to visualize and consists of easier applications.
caption: Master Yang Hai of Montreal (originally from Tianjin), demonstrating a variation of Beng Quan (崩拳) - one of the Five Fists (Wu Xing) of Xing Yi Quan.
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