To compensate for its simple patterns, manifested in the 5 elemental fists, Xingyiquan masters in the past introduced 12 animal-forms. Some of the patterns from these 12 animal-forms are quite sophisticated.
These 12 animal-forms are linked together to form a set called Xingyi Twelve Animal-Form Continuous Fist, or Xing Yi Shi Er Xing Lian Quan in Chinese. Because of its long history, there are at present different versions of the set. The set presented here is composed by Grandmaster Wong based on classical resources, and include all the 12 animal forms and 5 elemental fists.
The 12 animal forms are dragon, tiger, monkey, horse, alligator, cockerel, hawk, sparrow, snake, ostrich, eagle and bear. The five elemental fists are thrust palm, spiral fist, crushing fist, cannon fist and horizontal chop.
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| 1. Ready Position | 2. Bringing in Chi from Cosmos |
