This is General Gao Fang-xian 高芳先, who was described by Robert Smith in Masters and Methods as a master of Northern Shaolin. General Gao has quite a bit of history behind him as he was a hero of both the War of resistance against Japan and World War Two. This picture may give you some idea of his importance:
That’s Gao with the generalissimo himself. As you can tell, Gao had pretty good posture. 
Gao was a great martial artist in addition to beaing a famous general. He practiced northern shaolin/long fist, xingyiquan, shuai jiao (of which he was reportedly a champion) and a little known art called SunBinQuan 孫臏拳. Gao taught in Taizhong, the original capital of Taiwan after the KMT come over in 1949, and Gao’s material has been saved in a few martial traditions, most notably the students of Chen Pan-ling, who was a friend of Gao’s.
SunBinQuan is a very interesting style also known as “long sleeve boxing” 長袖拳. The style itself consists of three main forms: the 32, 64, and 96 move fist forms. It is usually classified as a long fist style and when I saw it done by some students of a teacher here in Taipei, I thought it did bear some resemblance to long fist. But it also had a different flavor and slightly different style of movement. It comes from ShanDong (as did Gao) and is named after the son (Sun Bin) of famous “Art of War” author Sun Zi. But the style is simply called “Sun Bin” style, it didn’t descend from him. It’s another of those times in which a famous person got picked to name the style after.
Here is Damon Huang of WuTan doing a version of SunBinQuan that he has modified to give you an idea:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_c9oVz48lY
According to this page, Xuan Xiao Tang(孫紹棠) also brought SunBinQuan to Taiwan. I’ll profile him later.
Look for more on Gao’s and Xuan’s arts later.
12 responses so far ↓
1 Chris Bates // Feb 11, 2007 at 9:49 pm
Sun Shao Tang used to teach Sun Bun Quan at Culture University. When I returned to Taiwan in 1982 after Master Gao had passed on, I sought out Master Gao Dao Sheng (Seven Stars Preying Mantis) to ask his help in learning the Liu He Staff two man facing form (I had learned the single form from Gao). He was kind enough to appoint one of his students to help me in this pursuit. He also introduced me to Sun Shao Tang whom I subsequently met several times to comment on my Sun Bin Quan. Sun Shao Tang also wrote a book on the Sun Bin system and hand illustrations of the 32 hands form.
Sun Shao Tang claimed that he had taught the system to Gao after they had all arrived in Taiwan. Gao was passed on by this time, so I was unable to corroborate this. However, I believe that the provenance of his learning was the Qingdao Kuo Shu academy, where he was a graduate and instructor in the 1930’s. Gao had been a champion wrestler in Shandong and his interpretations were very practical and informed by his experience in this.
I have travelled to Qingdao and met with a local martial artist (name eludes me right now) who had trained in Sun Bin Quan and wanted to resurrect the glory of the old Kuo Shu Academy.
By the way, if I am not mistaken, Sun Bin was a nephew of Sun Zi, not son.
There are VCD’s and a book from the mainland on the system, but the old master doing it . . . well lets just say that he doesn’t look as robust or pugnacious as Gao. A secret weapons system attached to Sun Bin Quan that is fully consonant with the form that Gao taught me is not mentioned at all in this book, and the weapon of choice in the system is a rather unwieldy looking scythe-like object the manipulation of which could not capitalize on the body dynamics of the empty hand form.
2 chessman71 // Feb 12, 2007 at 7:55 am
Chris,
Thanks for the insights into this style. I find it fascinating.
I was wondering about the possibility that Gao might have picked up his SunBinQuan from Sun. I wasn’t sure if they had a connection or not but it seems plausable. Sun had a biography released last year that you might find interesting, BTW.
Were there any differences between the forms done by Gao and Sun? I know that Gao did a LOT of material, but I think Sun did as well.
I had heard that the VCDs on the style were a wash — nothing worth seeing. You seem to be comfirming that impression.
3 Chong // Feb 12, 2007 at 11:37 am
Hi All,
This is nothing to do with the art but just to point out the Sun Bin:
孙膑（?—前316年），其本名不传，是中国战国时期军事家，因其受过膑刑（剔去膝盖骨），故名孙膑。他是孙武的后人
孙武（約公元前535年 - ？），字长卿。后人尊称其为孙子、孙武子
there was 200 year different. Sun Wu (or Sun Zi) was the ancestor of Sun Bin.
4 Casey // Feb 12, 2007 at 11:59 am
Actually, it looks kind of like Mantis to me. Very interesting style.
5 Chris Bates // Feb 12, 2007 at 5:04 pm
I am not that familiar with mantis, but from my understanding the hand weapons used in it are not like Sun Bin. This form is essentially a transmission of methods of single and two knuckle nerve striking and attacking vulnerable points combined with tripping, sweeping and throwing. The blurry youtube image cannot capture this, only the big movements that may appear mantis like. Some of the movements and ways of delivering power remind me of Tongbei Quan.
6 roboto // Jul 8, 2007 at 6:16 am
>chessman71 says:
>Here is Damon Huang of WuTan doing a version >of SunBinQuan that he has modified to give >you an idea:
>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z_c9oVz48lY
When you wrote “modified,” did you mean to say that in the above YouTube clip, Damon Hwang performs the Sunbin 32 Hands (孫臏三十二手) with Bajiquan (八極拳) flavor? In my opinion, this is typical of later practitioners from the Wu Tan Organization who tend to practice any other Chinese m.a. systems with heavy Bajiquan influence. It is purported that the Wu Tan Organization included this Sunbinquan routine in their curriculum after a Hong Kong m.a. magazine published (circa late 1970’s) an article on Sunbinquan that featured sequential photos of Sun Shaotang demonstrating Sunbin 32 Shou. This was before Sun Shaotang openly taught Sunbinquan at the Chinese Culture University’s Guoshu Department.
Here’s a clip of another Sunbinquan practitioner from Taiwan performing the same Sunbinquan routine. This was taken more than 10 years ago when a group of Japanese martial artists visited Taiwan for martial arts exchange. The performer was a graduate of the Chinese Culture University Guoshu Department:
>Chris Bates says:
>Sun Shao Tang claimed that he had taught the >system to Gao [Fangxian] after they had all
>arrived in Taiwan. Gao [Fangxian] was passed
>on by this time, so I was unable to >corroborate this.
Sun passed away in 1998. In any case, Sun Shaotang’s claim is most likely true.
>Chris Bate says:
>However, I believe that the provenance of his
>learning was the Qingdao Kuo Shu academy,
>where he was a graduate and instructor in the
>1930’s.
Although Gao Fangxian is more known as a practitioner of Shaolin Boxing, he did indeed also practiced and taught Sunbinquan. However, according to Gao Daosheng (高道生), Gao Fangxian also learned Sunbinquan from Yang Mingzhai’s son (more on Yang Mingzhai later), and this was in Taiwan after the Nationalist retreated to the island. Anyway, Sun Shaotang was sometimes sharp with his judgements. Although Gao Fangxian was senior in age, Sun never considered Gao Fangxian to be a direct student of Yang Mingzhai, which implies that Gao Fangxian didn’t learn Sunbinquan in the mainland.
Sun Shaotang(孫紹棠)was a direct disciple of Yang Tingdong (b.1882-d.1939) otherwise known as “Yang Mingzhai” (楊梃棟, 字明齋). Yang taught Sunbinquan at the Qingdao Guoshu Academy (青島國術館) before the War of Resistance Against Japan.
>Chris Bates says:
>I have travelled to Qingdao and met with
>a local martial artist (name eludes me
>right now) who had trained in Sun Bin Quan
>and wanted to resurrect the glory of the
>old Kuo Shu Academy.
Was the local Qingdao martial artist’s name Xu Ziliang (徐自良) or Zhao Yongchang (趙永昌)?
>Chris Bate says:
>By the way, if I am not mistaken, Sun Bin
>was a nephew of Sun Zi, not son.
Unlike popular belief, Sunbinquan was actually created a cartdriver named Zhang Youchun (張友春) who participated in the Boxer Rebellion. He later named his martial arts system after Sun Bin, the famous military strategist of the Warring States Period. In the past, it was common practice for Chinese martial artists to associate or name their systems after folk heroes or historical figures to give credence to their martial arts.
Zhang’s disciple was Yang Mingzhai who was also proficient in Chaquan (查拳). The story goes that Zhang happened to pass by while the young Yang Mingzhai was practicing outside. Zhang commented that his skills weren’t impressive. This offended Yang Mingzhai who quickly challenged Zhang to a match. Zhang Youchun easily defeated the young man. Beaten and humbled, Yang asked Zhang to teach him Sunbinquan.
Sunbinquan Lineage Chart:
張友春 -> 楊明齋 -> 孫紹棠, 徐自良
>Chris Bates says:
>There are VCD’s and a book from the mainland
>on the system, but the old master doing
>it . . . well lets just say that he doesn’t
>look as robust or pugnacious as Gao.
You’re probably referring to Meng Xiantang (孟憲堂). He’s actually a Liuhe Tanglangquan practitioner, but later took up Sunbinquan, a rare exoteric style, to promote and set himself apart from the crowd (too many mantis boxing practitioners in Shandong). I think the VCDs are disappointing.
7 roboto // Jul 8, 2007 at 6:20 am
Missing Clips:
(1)Here’s a clip of another Sunbinquan practitioner from Taiwan…
http://wushu.triconf.net/mov/sunbin32.mpg
(2)Zhao YongChang peforming Sunbin 32 Shou.
http://wushu.triconf.net/mov/c-sunbinshouka.mpg
8 Christoffer Lerno // Nov 14, 2007 at 4:33 am
I have only been taught 三十二手 but the version I learned differs slightly from the versions I’ve seen online, including the one in sunbin32.mpg.
For example in the third move, “撩腿亮翅鷹抓鳩” I have been taught that the right hand guards the armpit, whereas the right arm is flung back in the other versions I’ve seen.
Anyone here having any idea what the original version is?
The movie “Zhao YongChang peforming Sunbin 32 Shou” doesn’t seem to be 32手 at all. Is it 64 or 96?
9 Glen // Jan 11, 2008 at 12:56 pm
There is a demo of 32 hands performed by on of Tien Shan Pai Grandmaster C.C. Liu’s students. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fli3ZvkIc68.
GM Liu also taught 64 and 96 long sleeve forms.
10 Glen // Jan 11, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Try this link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fli3ZvkIc68
11 Chris Bates // Jan 27, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Christopher Lerno asked: The movie “Zhao YongChang peforming Sunbin 32 Shou” doesn’t seem to be 32手 at all. Is it 64 or 96?
It is a portion of 64 hands.
As for the question about the 3rd move, my copy of Sun Shao Tang’s book is in storage.
12 Chris Bates // Jan 27, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Roboto said: Gao Fangxian is more known as a practitioner of Shaolin Boxing, he did indeed also practiced and taught Sunbinquan”
Gao seemed to have a special affinity for Sun Bin and highlighted specific techniques from the form that his students had used to deck opponents in tournaments.
Although this was not confirmed to me, but the point is made above that “Yang taught Sunbinquan at the Qingdao Guoshu Academy (青島國術館) before the War of Resistance Against Japan.” Gao was both a graduate of the academy and an instructor there. I think he probably learned it in Qingdao and, at best, refreshed his memory of the form after the war with Sun Shao tang. However, there may yet be no contradiction to say that Sun was an lineage student of Yang, while Gao may have learned the system as part of the Qingdao academy curriculum and not been a lineage holder.
The fact that he had a secret weapons system he taught me associated with the form (as mentioned elsewhere, different from the weapon wielded in Meng’s book) suggests that his knowlege of the form was intimate and long standing.
Leave a Comment