The full name of the original Tongbei Quan is Baiyuan Tongbei Quan. Baiyuan means white ape. Tongbei Quan or back-through boxing, are also called Tongbi Quan or arm-through boxing, which is one of the schools popular in north China.
The full name of the original Tongbei Quan is Baiyuan Tongbei Quan. Baiyuan means white ape. Tongbei Quan or back-through boxing, are also called Tongbi Quan or arm-through boxing, which is one of the schools popular in north China.
General introduction
Due to its long history, it boasts of various names in different places, such as the Wuxing, five-monkey, axe-hitch and the
Shaolin. Although there are different names, the different styles of
Tongbei Quan are all based on the same boxing theory and have the same origin.
Due to its long history, Tongbei Quan has various names and sub-sets in different places. Baiyuan Tongbei Quan has two subsets Shi and Qi style.
Wuxing
Tongbei Quan takes the five elements as its core and back-through as its application.
Back-through Boxing takes the five elements of traditional Chinese philosophy as its basic theory. This philosophy believes that heaven is an ecosystem while the human being is a small one but the principles of the systems remains constant regardless of the size. The five elements of the heaven are metal, wood, water; fire and earth while those of the human being the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney. The five elements of Boxing are wrestling, batting, piercing, axing and boring.
Features of Tongbei Quan
Originally Tongbei Quan did not refer to a school of boxing but to a way of exercise. In the word Back-through Boxing, the word "through" means to pass through and reach, and the word "back" means the human back. When the exercises are done, power is generated from the back to pass through the shoulders and then reach the arms. In this way, heavy blows can be delivered at the arm’s length to control the opponent. Tongbei Quan also emphasizes the combination of inner core and outward application.