Today, almost anyone who practices the Chinese “internal” styles of martial arts can tell you that the arts of Ba Gua Zhang (八卦?) , Xing Yi Quan (?), and Tai Ji Quan (?) are the three most popular arts in the “internal” family and these arts are very good for health maintenance. They can also discourse, to some degree, about how these arts are related to Chinese philosophy and Daoism. However, in the late 1800’s, when these arts were experiencing great popularity among the individuals who used these arts for fighting, there was not much talk of the philosophy or health maintenance, nor was there a grouping of these styles into one family. Prior to the turn of the century the individuals who practiced these arts were primarily uneducated farmers who studied the arts in order to obtain jobs as bodyguards, residence guards and caravan escorts. The educated people in China looked down upon the martial artists and considered them low class ruffians. As Sun Lu Tang wrote in the preface to his Xing Yi Quan book, “There was a prejudice in the old days that literates despised martial arts as martial artists were short on literary learning.”

The first known grouping of these arts under the name “ internal family” occurred in 1894. Ba Gua Zhang master Cheng Ting Hua (?) and his friends Liu De Kuan (?), Li Ci Kun (?), and Liu Wei Xiang (?) came together to form an organization of martial artists in order to improve the level of their arts, increase harmony within the martial arts circles, and raise the skill level of their students. This “brotherhood” consisted of Cheng Ting Hua representing the Ba Gua school, Liu De GUan representing the Tai Ji school, and Li Cun Yi and Liu Wei Xiang representing the Xing Yi school.

These teachers joined together and agreed that any students who studied with one of them, could freely study with the others. Through their collaboration these instructors improved their instructional techniques and decided that the three arts, although each having their own special points, were of the same “family.”

In order to provide this martial arts family with a name, the group originally called it Nei Jia Quan (? -Internal Family Boxing). Later, after it was discovered that there had previously been an art called Nei Jia Quan, the name was changed to Nei Gong Quan (?-Internal Skill Boxing), however it was too late, the name Nei Jia Quan had stuck. This is how the arts of Ba Gua Zhang, Xing Yi Quan, and Tai Ji Quan became grouped together in the same family and why they are known as “internal” styles. The first publicly published works which referred to to these arts being “internal” and of the same family were the books published by Sun Lu Tang (?) in the early part of this century.

In the past, the arts of Ba Gua Zhang, Xing Yi Quan and Tai Ji Quan have also been grouped under the name “Wu Dang (?) Boxing.” This nam has falsely led people to believe that these arts could trace their origins to the Daoist of Wu Dand mountain. The truth is that the origination of each of these arts can be clearly traced to places in other than Wu Dang and, of the three, Ba Gua Zhang is the only one which evolved directly from specific Daoist practices. So, one might ask, where did the name “Wu Dang” come in?

During the Ming Dynasty there was a martial arts practitioner named Sun Shi San (?) who practiced a boxing style which he called Nei Jia Quan. The first written record of this style appeared towards the end of the Ming Dynasty. A practioner of Nei Jia Quan named Wang Zheng Nan (?) had a student, Huang Bai Jia (?), who was the son of a famous scholar, Huang Zong Xi (?). When Wang Zheng Nan died, Huang Zong Xi wrote a eulogy for him which spoke of his boxing style and the events of his life. Huang Bai Jia subsequently took what his father had written about his teacher’s boxing and published it in a book which he called Nei Jia Quan. In this book, which was published sometime during the late Ming or early Qing period, Huang Bai Jia wrote that this art had originated with the Daoist Zhang San Feng (?) on Wu Dang mountain. Since the Chinese love to accredit famous historical and mythical figures with the origination of cultural arts and philosophy, Zhang San Feng is a questionable source for the origination of Nei Jia Quan. No clear lineage is given between Zhang San Feng and Wang Zheng Nan, so it is still unknown where the Nei Jia Quan of Wang’s book originated.

In 1894 when Chen Ting Hua’s group began associating the arts of Ba Gua Zhang, Xing Yi Quan, and Tai Ji Quan with the name Nei Jia Quan, people falsely assumed that these arts had some direct connection with the Nei Jia Quan of Huang Bai Jia’s book. They further falsely assumed that these arts could trace their origins to the Daoists on Wu Dang mountain. The title “ Wu Dang Boxing” was further lodged into the minds of practitioners when the Central Martial Arts Academy in Niangjing categorized these arts as “Wu Dang” styles in 1928 to distinguish them from the other styles which were of Shaolin (?) origin. As mentioned above, the first individual who actually published material which connected the “internal” arts with Daoist principles was Sun Lu Tang. Others had undoubtedly made these connections, however, Sun was the first to write about it.

Sun Lu Tang was a rare breed in the martial arts circles at the turn of the century because he was a skilled martial artist and also had deep knowledge of the literary arts. After he studied Ba Gua Zhang with Cheng Ting Hua, Cheng encouraged him to travel to Sichuan’s E Mei mountain area and to Wu Dang mountain in order to investigate Daoism and the Yi Jing (? -The Book of Changes).

Cheng  associated with a number of scholars in Beijing and saw connections between the Daoist philosophy and the Ba Gua art.

Recognizing that Sun was intelligent, he encouraged Sun to pursue the philosophy in order to deepen his understanding of the martial arts. Sun took Cheng’s advice and traveled to E Mei and Wu Dang between 1894 and 1896. By the time Sun wrote his first book, The Study of Form-Mind Boxing, in 1915, he had studied Tai Ji, Xing Yi, and Ba Gua, and had also studied Daoist philosophy, the Yi Jing and Daoist longevity arts.

Sun Lu Tang’s Xing Yi Quan book proved to be a turning point in the way the martial arts were viewed by the educated people in China and by the date this book was published, the time was ripe for this change. Around the turn of the century the Chinese people were generally very weak and of poor health. Bad crops, a corrupt government, and opium addiction had beaten the Chinese down.

The foreigners living in China at the time gave the Chinese people the nickname of “sick men of Asia.” In an effort to strengthen the country, the new Republican government began introducing martial arts instruction in the schools and supported the practice of martial arts to improve health. One of the primary reasons Sun published his first book was to help promote martial arts for health. In his preface he wrote, “ A strong country cannot be composed of weak people. We cannot make people strong without physical training. To brace up the people through physical training is the way to strengthen the country.”

Sun Lu Tang’s Xing Yi Quan book was the first book to be published publicly that grouped the arts of Xing Yi Quan, Ba Gua Zhang, and Tai Ji Quan in one family and it was the first written work to make a correspondence between martial arts, the Yi Jing, and Daoist philosophy. Thus this book helped mold our present day ideas about these arts.

Sun Lu Tang, also know as Sun Fu Quan (?) was born in 1861 in Wan County, near the city of Bao Ding (?), in Hebei (?) Province. At that time in China’s history the Qing government was very corrupt and as a result the Chinese  common people were suffering. In Ju Li, Wan County, Sun Lu Tang’s father had a small farm. Sun’s father worked very hard but, because of the heavy taxes imposed by the Qing, he could barely scrape out a living as a farmer. He was middle aged and still unmarried when one of his friends, who knew that he was very honest and hard-working, acted as a matchmaker and introduced Sun’s father to a young woman. Soon thereafter the two were married. A year after their marriage, in 1861 (4 January), they had a son who they named Fu Quan. This name was chosen because its meaning conveys that the baby would bring good fortune to their family.

From a young age Sun Fu Quan was very intelligent. Recognizing the boy’s intellectual abilities, his father sent him to study with a local scholar when he was seven years old. Because Sun’s father did not have a lot of money, he gave the scholar food from his field in exchange for teaching his son. Sun Fu Quan was an exceptionally bright student. By the time he was nine he had already read and memorized many of the classical text such as the Three Character Classic (San Zi Jing ?) and various Confucian works. Memorization of these classics through repetitive speaking and writing was the main curriculum of study for students of the time. Sun’s memory was exceptional and by the time he was nine he had already memorized many of the texts and was also proficient at the basic calligraphy strokes.

The year Sun turned nine his father did not have a good harvest and therefore he could not afford to pay the very high taxes which the Qing government imposed on the people. Because of the poor harvest, Sun’s father could not afford to pay his tutor, so Sun did not continue with is formal education. The situation became so desperate that in order to avoid going to jail, Sun’s father sold everything he owned, including his land, to pay his taxes. Shortly after he sold his land, the elder Sun became ill and died. Consequently, Sun and his mother were left with no land and no income. They could not even afford a casket in which to bury his father and so his father’s body lay in the house for three days before Sun begged enough money for a casket.  

With no land to farm and no other means of support, Sun’s mother did not feel as though she could raise her son. She went to a rich and powerful landowner and asked if he would take her son as a servant. He reluctantly agreed saying that he would let Sun live at his home and he would feed him, but he would not give him any money because Sun was so small and frail looking. He did not think the boy could do enough work to earn a salary on top of room and board. Sun’s new employer had a son, two years older than Sun, who took pleasure in bullying Sun. In addition, Sun’s employer took any opportunity he could to beat him. Sun wanted to fight back, but he knew that if he lost his job he would not be able to take care of himself and his mother would be upset. He worked as hard as he could and silently endured the beatings when they came.

One day when Sun was out in a field tending to sheep when he heard people yelling. He climbed up on a nearby hill and saw a group practicing martial arts. The teacher was a man about 70 years old with an average build. He had a lot of spirit in his eyes and when he demonstrated his art his movements were quick, crisp, and clear. Sun had never seen martial arts before and was fascinated with what he saw. He decided that the next day he would find this teacher and ask to be taught martial arts.

The next day Sun found the teacher’s house and knelt before him to ask permission to become a student. At first the teacher thought Sun was kidding. He asked where Sun was from and Sun told the teacher the story about how his father had died and that he worked for a man who beat him. The teacher was moved by Sun’s honesty and sincerity. He asked why Sun wanted to study martial arts. Sun replied that he wanted to fight back when his employer and employer’s son beat on him. The old man said, “Martial arts are not only for fighting, these principles are very deep.” Sun was adamant about studying. The teacher asked if he could stand the hardship of it and Sun replied that he could stand any kind of suffering as long as long as he could study martial arts. The teacher, whose surname was Wu, agreed to accept Sun as a student. Sun was ten years old when he began studying with his first martial arts instructor. Every day after work he would go and study until the middle of the night. His teacher had also had a very hard life as a youngster and sympathized with Sun’s situation. After becoming skilled in martial arts, Wu was very righteous and helped oppressed people. On one occasion he came to someone’s aid who was being beaten and subsequently killed the attacker. The government wanted to execute him for this crime and so he fled his home. To make a living he performed his martial arts in the streets and begged for money. Later he joined the Tai Ping Rebellion (1850-1864) and fought against the Qing soldiers. After the Tai Ping dispersed, he went back to performing martial arts in the streets for money. He was an expert at Shaolin (?) and Ba Ji Quan (?) as well as the eighteen weapons. He was also skilled at shooting iron balls from a sling shot and had qing gong (?) or lightness skill.

Sun Lu Tang was an exceptional student. After the first year of practice he had become proficient at the basic skills and began studying Hong Quan (?) . Sun also studied the 64 hands free fighting method, lightness skill, “virgin boy” qi gong (?) , and hidden weapons skills.Wu recognized Sun’s natural skill and intelligence and therefore taught him at a rapid pace. After two years of study, Sun was the best boxer of his age int he area. So that Sun would not become too cocky, his teahcer reminded him that although he was progressing quickly, he had still only touched the surface of real martial arts and therefore he should not become overly proud of what he had achieved. His teacher told him a story of when he himself was young and had attained a good level of skill for his age. He thought he was very good and went to someone’s aid who was getting beat up. The opponent who he fought was a highly skilled martial artist and injured him badly. Wu said that his opponent would have killed him had not a Shaolin monk been there witnessing the fight and intervened in order to save him before it was too late. The monk took Wu back to the Shaolin temple and he stayed there for two years studying. At the temple he studied tan tui (?), the 64 hands free fightin, the 72 qin na (?) and qing gong.

After Sun had been with his teacher for three years, his mother heard that he was practicing martial arts. This made her very nervous because she thought he was too frail and might get hurt. She went to see him with the intention of telling him not to practice anymore.

However, when she arrived she saw that he was much stronger and healthier than he had been before and so she did not try to stop him from practicing. Sun had always been thin and weak and upon seeing her son’s physical improvement she realized that the martial arts were good for him. 

When Sun was approximately 12 years old, his boss let all of the servants have half a day off to celebrate the new year. Sun had planned to go home and visit his mother. As he was about to leave, the boss’s son came in and started pushing Sun around. He said, “You have been practicing martial arts! If you think you are good, let us see you fight with my cousin.” The cousin, who was 8 years older than Sun, came into the room. He was a very big, strong looking practitioner of Chinese Wrestling (Shuai Jiao?). The cousin grabbed Sun by the shirt and dragged him into the courtyard. Once in the courtyard, the aggressor grabbed Sun by the pants and shirt, picked him up over his head and threw him. When he was thrown, Sun flipped over in the air and landed on his feet. This made the cousin mad, however, Sun was also angry because his shirt had been ripped. As Sun’s opponent ran over to pick him up and throw him again, Sun punched him in the solar plexus and knocked him over on his back. When he hit the ground, the cousin vomited all of the new year’s food he had just consumed. Sun’s boss’ son ran and got his father. Sun’s boss came out in the courtyard with a big stick and said he was going to beat Sun to death. The other servants held the boss back and tried to convince him not to beat Sun. The boss yelled at Sun to leave and never come back or else he would beat him to death. Sun left and went home to his mother.

The only thing that interested the young Sun Fu Quan was the martial arts. He did not want to work, he only wanted to study. To feed himself, and ease the burden on his mother, he would eat wild vegetables that he found. Because many martial artists of the day had bad reputations, the local villagers thought that he would surely grow up to be a bandit. This made him even more determined. He told them that not only was he going to be a great martial artist, but one day he would help the village and make all of the villager proud.

Shortly after being fired from his job, Sun became very ashamed and depressed because he could not take care of his mother and e could not keep a job. One day he told his mother that he was going to go beg for some rice. Sun felt so depressed that instead of begging for rice, he went out and hung himself. Immediately after he had drawn the noose tight around his neck, two travelers came by and cut him down. Sun was not yet dead so they took him back home to his mother. The two kind-hearted travelers talked with Sun and convinced him that no matter how bad the circumstances, he should not try to kill himself. One of the travelers gave Sun and his mother some money and they used it to go to Bao Ding to visit Sun’s uncle.

Sun’s uncle owned a shop where he sold calligraphy brushes. He gave Sun a job working as a clerk in the shop. While working in his Uncle’s shop, Sun practiced his calligraphy every day. He was too poor to buy paper or ink so he would use scrap paper and write on it with water. Sun’s Uncle was a kind man and his shop was very successful. In addition to room and board for Sun and his mother, his Uncle would periodically give Sun money for working in the shop. It was through his Uncle’s connections that Sun was able to continue his martial arts practice in Bao Ding. Sun’s Uncle had two very close friends. One friend, surnamed Zhang, was a scholar and the other, named Li Kui Yuan (?) was a martial artist who owned the Tai An bodyguard service. 

Li Kui Yuanhad been a Xing Yi Quan student of the famous Guo Yun Shen (?). He had met Guo one day when he was on a job escorting a convoy. On this occasion, he challenged Guo to a friendly match so that he could test his own skill. Li was famous for his legwork and kicking techniques. During the match, Li tried to kick Guo. Guo blocked the kick with what appeared to be a light tap, however, Li flew back several yards and fell on the ground. When Li got up he was not hurt. Because Guo had met the challenge and defeated him soundly without hurting him, Li knew he had run into a very high level martial artist. He ran over to Guo, knelt down and asked to become a student. Guo agreed to teach him and Li began studying Xing Yi Quan with Guo. Li studied Xing Yi Quan with Guo for several years. Since Li was already skilled in martial arts, Guo taught him quickly and thus he greatly improved his martial arts abilities. After studying with Guo, Li earned the nickname “divine skill” Li.

One day Sun Lu Tang’s Uncle was preparing to send a gift to his scholar friend Zhang and asked Sun to write the name and address on the package. When Zhang received the gift he was more impressed with the calligraphy on the package than he was with the gift which was inside. Zhang went to visit Sun’s Uncle to ask who had written the calligraphy. When he found out that it was his friend’s nephew who had written the calligraphy, Zhang said, “You never told me you had a young man in your family with such talent.” Zhang told Sun, who was about 15 at the time, that he could come to his home as often as he would like and learn more about calligraphy. During his spare time Sun began to go to Zhang’s house to practice. It was there that he first met the martial artist Li Kui Yuan. Upon meeting Sun, Li found him to be an upright and intelligent boy. Learning that Sun had a background in martial arts, Li offered to teach him Xing Yi Quan. Sun’s love for martial arts had not faded and he was thrilled to have found a new instructor.

For the first year Sun studied Xing Yi Quan with Li he was only taught the San Ti  (?) standing posture. He was not allowed to practice anything else. Sun wondered why he was taught only standing, however, since his teacher had told him to only practice standing, he did not complain. After about six months, Sun started to feel as though his chest and stomach were full and his feet had roots. He was starting to develop internal power from  his standing practice and he figured that this is what real gong fu (?) was all about. After these experiences he started to stand more diligently. After Sun had practiced standing for approximately one year, his teacher saw him practicing one day and snuck up on him to test his his level. Li hit Sun on his back with a palm strike and Sun’s standing posture was not affected by the blow. He realized that Sun had attained a good level of development and had great potential so he invited Sun to come and live with himand  started to teach him Xing Yi Quan so hard that after only two years of training he had developed a much higher level of Xing Yi Quan skill than was expected of someone of his age and experience.

On the scholar Zhang’s fiftieth birthday Li and Sun went to his home to wish him well. On this occasion, Zhang suggested that Li accept Sun as his formal disciple. Li agreed that  Sun studied hard enough to earn a place in his Xing Yi Quan lineage and accepted Sun as a seventh generation disciple of his branch of Xing Yi Quan. This branch of Xing Yi quan originated with Ji Ji Ke (?-also known as Ji Long Feng ?) and was passed to Cao Ji Wu (?), then to Dai Long Bang (?), to Li Neng Ran (?), to Guo Yun Shen, to Li Kui Yuan, and then to Sun Lu Tang.

After Zhang had made the suggestion that Li accept Sun as a disciple, Li made a suggestion to Zhang. He said, “Now that I have accepted a formal disciple at your encouragement, I will encourage you to accept a son-in-law and allow Sun to marry your daughter.” Zhang’s daughter, Zhang Zhao Xien (?), was 16 years old at the time and Sun was about 18. Zhang and Li thought that the two would make a good match and so they became engaged. However, Sun did not want to marry right away. He wanted to spend more time practicing martial arts before he had to worry about supporting his wife.

Li Kui Yuan told Sun that he had taught him just about everything that he knew. He suggested that if Sun wanted to learn more about Xing Yi Quan he would introduce him to his teacher, Guo Yun Shen. Sun was very excited about the possibility of studying with Guo, but he was a little worried about someone taking care of his mother. Zhang the scholar told Sun not to worry about it. He said that he would take Sun's mother into his house and look after her while Sun was studying with Guo. With his mother taken care of, Sun was ready to go continue pursuing his martial arts study. Li took Sun to Shen County in Hebei Province to introduce him to his teacher Guo Yun Shen.

Guo Yun Shen had studied Xing Yi Quan with Li Neng Ran (also known as Li Luo Neng).  

Guo loved to fight when he was young. When he first approached Li Neng Ran wanting to learn Xing Yi Quan, Li would not teach him because he was of such a violent nature. Li told Guo that unless he could change his character, he would never teach him martial arts. Guo got a job as a servant near Li's home and would secretly watch Li and his students practice Xing Yi. Guo practiced Beng quan (?- smashing fist) on his own for three years. One day Li Neng Ran saw Guo practicing beng quan and noticed that Guo was very good at it already. Li realized that Guo was sincere about leaming Xing Yi Quan so he then agreed to teach him.

After Guo had studied with Li for a few years he got a job as a bounty hunter. The law of the day said that a bounty hunter was allowed to catch criminals and bring them in, however, the criminals had to be brought in alive. On one occasion, Guo was hunting a bandit who was terrorizing travelers along a frequently traveled road. Guo found the bandit he was pursuing while the bandit was engaged in a fight with a local escort service. Guo joined the battle and captured the bandit, however, after he had captured him, the bandit pulled out a concealed weapon and tried to kill Guo. Guo hit the man and killed him. Recognizing that he had done wrong, Guo turned himself in to the authorities. The penalty for such a crime was death, however, the local magistrate's advisors begged him to consider not executing Guo because he was a rare talent in the martial arts. Instead of execution, the magistrate sentenced Guo to three years in prison. While in prison Guo was manacled, however, he continued to practice his Xing Yi Quan. When he came out of prison his skill was higher than when he had entered.

While in prison, Guo had developed what became known as ban bu bu beng quan (?- half step smashing fist) and became so famous for the power he developed with this special punch that people said that his "half step smashing fist could beat all under heaven." After being released from prison, Guo went to visit the escort service doing business in the area where the bandit he had killed had operated. He told them that ever since he had killed the bandit, the road was clear and their job had become easy. He told the escort service that they owed him money because of the work he had done for them. Because of his martial arts skill, they did not want to quarrel with him so they gave him some money. However, Guo would periodically come back for more money and the escort service got tired of it. Instead of confronting Guo directly, they sent a letter to Guo's teacher Li Neng Ran. Li Neng Ran called Guo back home and told him that he shouldn't bother the escort service any more. Li also said, "Plus, your gong fu is not nearly as good as you think it is. Your skill does not come close to that of your older brother Che Yi Zhai (?)." In telling Guo this, Li wanted to teach him two lessons. The first was that he should not be so arrogant because no matter how good someone gets, there is always someone better. The second reason was to try and bring him back to complete his Xing Yi training. After Guo learned the five fists of Xing Yi, he did not want to study anything else. He was so good at applying the five fists that he never lost a fight, therefore, he concluded that he did not need to learn anything else. Li had encouraged Guo to study Xing Yi Quan's subsequent forms and two-person sets after he had learned the five fists, but Guo thought it was a bother and left Li before his Xing Yi training was complete.

Upon hearing that his teacher thought that Che Yi Zhai's skill was better than his, Guo became angry and went to Shanxi Province to find Che Yi Zhai and challenge him. When Guo arrived at Che's home, Che was happy to see him and said "Little brother, I am glad you have come to visit! Let's have something to eat." Guo said, "No, I came here to fight." Che tried to talk Guo out of fighting, but Guo persisted and thus Che was left without a choice. Guo tried to use his famous beng quan over and over. Che kept backing away from Guo's strikes and then quickly turned to the side as Guo struck again and executed pi quan (? - splitting fist). Che held the strike, stopping inches from Guo's head. Realizing that Che had got the best of him, Guo stopped and said, "It is just as our teacher has said, you are better then I." Following this incident Guo never bothered the escort company again and he went back to Li Neng Ran in order to complete his Xing Yi training.

Li Kui Yuan had already been middle aged by the time he had begun studying with Guo Yun Shen and although his skill level was very high, he had never reached the level of his teacher. When Li took Sun Lu Tang to Ma Village in Shen County to meet Guo in the Spring of 1882, Guo accepted Sun as a student and Li also stayed to continue his practice with Guo. Sun moved in with his new teacher and studied Xing Yi Quan fulI time. When Guo saw Sun's Xing Yi Quan he was very impressed. He said that Sun was especially skilled in Xing Yi's monkey form and so he nicknamed Sun "living monkey." It is said that Sun had so much natural talent he eventually surpassed the level of his original teacher, Li Kui Yuan.

During the first year of practice, Guo did not teach Sun much new material but watched him practice what he already knew and made corrections. One night, after Sun had been there for about a year, he was outside practicing when Guo leapt out of the shadows and tried to attack him with beng quan (smashing fist). Sun instinctively used a leaping move from the monkey form and leapt back about ten feet. Guo was very happy that Sun could react so well and from that time forward began to teach him deeply.

Guo Yun Shen ran a farm and supported Sun while Sun studied with him. Sun traveled with Guo everywhere he went. Guo often traveled long distances on horseback. In order to develop Sun's stamina and strength, Guo required him to walk along beside the horse with his arm held straight out behind the horse with the horse's tail draped over his arm. Sun was required to keep the arm held out and always travel at the same pace as the horse by keeping the tail draped over the arm. One version of this story says that Sun was able to keep up with the horse even when the horse was running. When Sun's daughter, Sun Jian Yun, was asked about this story, she said, "That is ridiculous, no man could run as fast as a horse!" The distances Sun traveled while following the horse and the speed at which he could run have been greatly exaggerated in books and articles written about Sun.

Later, Guo gave Sun the book of Xing Yi Quan that he had received from his teacher Li Neng Ran. Sun knelt down and accepted the book and said that he would always strive to represent the system with honor. Sun then became the formal inheritor of Guo Yun Shen's Xing Yi Quan. Altogether Sun stayed with Guo for eight years at which time Guo told Sun that if he wanted to add a new dimension to his martial arts he should practice Ba Gua Zhang to become skilled at evasiveness. Guo told Sun he would like to take him to Beijing to study Ba Gua Zhang with his friend Cheng Ting Hua. The year was 1889.

Guo Yun Shen and Cheng Ting Hua were both natives of Shen County in Hebei. Shen County lies in south-central Hebei, south of Bao Ding and west of Hebei's capital city, Shi Jia Zhuang. The natives of Shen County were, and still are, primarily farmers. However, because of its central location in Hebei, there were many frequently traveled roads running through Shen County. During the Qing Dynasty, and even into the Republican period, police protection was only provided to those people who lived in the large cities. Consequently, the people who traveled the roads in Shen and the surrounding rural counties had little protection against the bandits and thieves who frequented the area. Many skilled martial artists set up bodyguard, or caravan guard services in areas like Shen County and hired themselves out to protect travelers against the bandits. Needless to say, the martial artists in this area of Hebei were highly skilled. Li Lou Neng, Guo Yun Shen, Cheng Ting Hua, Liu Qi Lan, Li Cun Yi, Wang Fu Yuan, Geng Ji Shan and Wang Xiang Zhai were all natives of Shen county and this is where Sun Lu Tang studied his Xing Yi Quan with Guo Yun Shen.

Since Guo Yun Shen and Cheng Ting Hua were both natives of the same country they probably knew each other before Cheng went to Beijing and studied Ba Gua Zhang with the system's originator Dong Hai Quan (?). Even if they hadn't known each other personally, they would have certainly known each other by reputation. In any event the story about how they became close friends is an interesting one. During the late 1800's Ba Gua Zhang was becoming quite popular in Beijing and its originator, Dong Hai Chuan was famous. Guo, who was famous in his own right for his Xing Yi Quan skill, wanted to go to Beijing and test Dong abilities.

When Guo arrived in Beijing, he went to visit Cheng Ting Hua first. Since they were from the same county, Cheng invited Guo to stay with him. When Cheng asked Guo the purpose of his trip to Beijing, Guo told Cheng about his plan to challenge Dong and asked what Cheng thought about it. Cheng knew of Guo's great Xing Yi Quan skill, however, he advised Guo against challenging Dong because Dong had never been beaten. Guo faced Cheng and said, "Brother, how about if you suffer my beng quan?" That was all the notification Cheng got that the punch was coming. Cheng quickly dodged the punch and Guo's incoming fist struck a door frame, knocking a piece of it off. Guo was startled at Cheng's speed and agility and knew that Dong was much better than Cheng, so he dropped the idea of a challenge with Dong Hai Quan. Guo and Cheng held mutual respect for each other's martial art and agreed that top students from each system should study the other in order to refine their skills. Consequently, after Sun Lu Tang had become skilled in Xing Yi Quan, Guo took him to Cheng Ting Hua to learn Ba Gua Zhang.

Some accounts of the story of Guo Yun Shen coming to challenge Dong Hai Chuan say that Dong and Guo actually did fight. In this story Guo and Dong fought for three days. For the first two days Guo could not penetrate Dong's circular defense, on the third day Dong took the offensive and humbled Guo without actually hurting him. The two were so impressed with the other's skill that they made a pact that practitioners of each system would train in the other. The majority of boxing masters from both the Ba Gua Zhang and Xing Yi Quan schools in Hebei Province and the martial arts scholars in mainland China say that there is no truth to this fable. Dong Hai Chuan and Guo Yun Shen never fought each other.