Formosa Neijia

I know there is a lot of confusion as to what is and isn’t huleijia. One of the main complications in all of this is the fact that huleijia uses 10 different frames to express their taiji. The following is my brief introduction to the frames according to different people. Please set your encoding to Unicode in order to see the Chinese characters.

The ten different levels (frames) of huleijia training according to Adam Hsu:

1. 連 2. 圈 3. 轉 4. 分 5. 勁 6. 方 7. 起 ( 陰 ) 8. 落 ( 陽 ) 9. 陰陽 10. 太極

1. lian2 — linked 2. quan1 — circle 3. zhuan3 — to rotate 4. fen1– to separate 5. jing4 — skilled strength or energy 6. fang1 — square 7. qi2 — to rise, yin in character 8. luo4 — to settle down or drop 9. yin1yang2 10. tai4ji3

So what’s the difference between levels 9 and 10? Having yin and yang together implies completion as taiji. I have seen the tenth level listed as “zhe” meaning philosophy or knowledge. Maybe that’s a better translation.

One problem with these descriptions is that they don’t match those from the mainland. Maybe that’s not a big deal. He is probably just using different language to describe the same thing. But it adds to the confusion. Also, these descriptions do match Hsu’s description of the natural progress that all taiji is supposed to go through. I found this decription in an article that he wrote regarding Chen taiji (the laojia version). So they don’t specifically apply to huleijia as much as to all taiji in general from his point of view.

I have heard that before by some people that train huleijia. Some of them think that the progress through the ten frames matches what people should naturally go through regardless of the taiji style practiced. Perhaps they are correct, or this is just their way of looking at things.

Another complication in Adam Hsu’s description of the ten levels is that several of them are opposites that might best be described as belonging to the same frame. For example, why is qi (rising) separated from lao or luo (falling)? How do you do one without the other?

With that thought in mind, an author from Kaohsiung by the name of Guo Dong-bao (郭冬寶) has written a piece (site 2) on the different levels of huleijia that describe the frames in terms of polar opposites. I notice that he lists 15, not ten:

[陰陽」、「虛實」、 「開合」、「起落」、「進退、「左右」、「上下」、「裡外」、 「圓方」、「輕沉」、「剛柔」、「快慢」、「捲放」、「摺疊」 、「轉關」

1. yin1yang2 2. xu1shi2 — true and false or substantial and hollow 3. kai1he2 — open and close 4. qi2lao4 or qi2luo4 — rise and drop 5. jin4tui4 — advance and retreat 6. zou3you4 — left and right 7. shang4xia4 — up and down 8. li3wai4 — inside and outside 9. yuan2fang1 — circle and square 10. qing2 — light and heavy 11. gang1rou2 — hard and soft 12. kuai4man4 — fast and slow 13. juan3fang4 — to bind up and set free 14. zhe1die3 — to fold and stack 15. zhuan3guan1 — to rotate and close

So these are two different ways to describe the ten levels of huleijia. I’ll have to do more research to find out what the mainland version of huleijia uses as the names for the ten levels. I had it when I wrote the top part about Adma Hsu’s version, but I seem to have lost it now.

The problem comes in when the different frames appear visually dissimilar because of the physical requirements when doing them. Video is the only thing that works to compare these frames. Words and even pics just don’t capture it. But you can probably see the problem with comparing the smooth, flowing practice at the lian level with the jing level — those two frames will look pretty different. Lian looks like smooth Chen style or even the zhaobao that huleijia comes from. The jerky movements and unusual knee movements come in the later frames. They have become characteristic of huleijia, causing people to get confused when a smoother version of huleijia is presented.