{"id":10,"date":"2026-02-04T23:42:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T23:42:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/?p=10"},"modified":"2026-02-09T08:08:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-09T08:08:50","slug":"yiquan-history-and-origins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/2026\/02\/04\/yiquan-history-and-origins\/","title":{"rendered":"The Art of Yi Quan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Yi Quan (\u610f\u62f3)<\/strong>, also known as\u00a0<strong>Dacheng Quan<\/strong>, is a popular martial art founded by Master Wang Xiangzhai. It represents a profound evolution of traditional Chinese combat, moving away from fixed forms toward a training process of:\u00a0<strong>stillness \u2192 slow smooth movements \u2192 rapid yet fluid movements<\/strong>, as well as\u00a0<strong>no force -> single-direction forces -> multi-directional forces in one.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yi Quan\u2019s roots lie in the lineage of the legendary Guo Yunshen&#8217;s&nbsp;<strong>Xingyi Quan<\/strong>. Living in a neighboring village, Wang Xiangzhai began training under Master Guo at the age of 8. He was famously required to practice&nbsp;<strong>Zhan Zhuang<\/strong>(standing meditation) for up to 4 hours each time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1926, while in Shanghai, Wang officially renamed the art &#8220;Yi Quan,&#8221; signaling a shift in philosophy:&nbsp;<strong>Yi<\/strong>&nbsp;(intent\/mind) became the master, while&nbsp;<strong>Xing<\/strong>&nbsp;(form\/shape) became only the servant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yi Quan is a sophisticated synthesis of internal and external arts. With Xingyi as its core, it integrates several high-level influences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It preserves the &#8220;three forces in one&#8221; concept from Xingyi, incorporating the&nbsp;<strong>Five Elements<\/strong>&nbsp;(five types of force) and the specialized characters of the&nbsp;<strong>Twelve Animals<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The &#8220;<strong>Tiger Taming<\/strong>&#8221; stance (Fu Hu Zhuang) originates from Xingyi, while the &#8220;<strong>Dragon Subduing<\/strong>&#8221; stance (Xiang Long Zhuang) is drawn from Bagua Zhang.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Evidence shows this art also integrated elements from:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Fujian White Crane<\/strong>&nbsp;(Zonghe Quan)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Praying Mantis<\/strong>&nbsp;(Tanglang Quan)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Xinyi LiuHeBafa<\/strong>&nbsp;(from Master Wu Yihui)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Jian Wu<\/strong>&nbsp;(&#8220;Health Dance&#8221; from Huang Muqiao)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yi Quan (\u610f\u62f3), also known as\u00a0Dacheng Quan, is a popular martial art founded by Master Wang Xiangzhai. It represents a profound evolution of traditional Chinese combat, moving away from fixed forms toward a training process of:\u00a0stillness \u2192 slow smooth movements \u2192 rapid yet fluid movements, as well as\u00a0no force -> single-direction forces -> multi-directional forces &#8230; <a title=\"The Art of Yi Quan\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/2026\/02\/04\/yiquan-history-and-origins\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about The Art of Yi Quan\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-yiquan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23,"href":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10\/revisions\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/yiquan.ca\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}