An Introduction to the Other Internal Martial Arts of China
Ba Gua Zhang
Ba Gua Zhang, created by Dong Haichuan in the early 19th Century is quite a mysterious looking martial art.
My first introduction to it, involved a Chinese man calling himself Thomas, who insisted on demonstrating a little of his art, and this involved first destroying a brick placed flatly on a solid concrete floor. The brick duly disintegrated in a pile of dust and upon inspection his knuckles weren't grazed.
The second demonstration involved me counting in seconds, as he slowly tightened what was one of my amazing sets of forearm muscles I've ever seen, and the counting went on and on, as the muscles twisted and turned like snakes.
This was truly an impressive demonstration of internal power. I believe he was from a family line of Ba Gua practitioners.
Upon closer inspection the art involves a set of martial movements performed in a circle and this appears to have been inspired by Taoist Circle walking practices.
Xingyi Quan
Xingyi Quan is another complete internal martial art, famous along side Chen Tai Chi as one of the ultimate in China.
Wild Goose Qi Gong
Wild Goose Qi Gong is probably more common in Guangdong Province and Hong Kong as these are the only area I've heard about it in addition to London.
The Five Animal Form
The Chinese 5 Animal Form is one of the oldest Qi Gong systems of all. Created by a Doctor over a thousand years ago as a therapeutic movement system to work on each meridean of the body. It was taken up by the Shaolin tradition and became a martial art in itself. These forms are great for your health if you can find a good teacher.