Shaolin Kung Fu Combat Styles: 5. 7-star form (七星拳: qixing quan)

instructor: monk De Yang
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combat strategy:

the defensive style, with a small & big pair of forms, qixing quan and chang hu xinyi men, teaches "defense" tactics:

tactic 5 - "rest at ease while the host treats (以逸待劳)": make confrontation easier for yourself and harder for the opponent. first, use low-hight stances, as a shrunk body profile is easier for you to cover and harder for the opponent to attack. second, use open hands to cover a wider area against the opponent. last, defend opponent's attacks with simple short moves.

tactic 6 - "remove firewood from under the pot (釜底抽薪)": intercept and suppress opponent's attack by targeting a pivot part of his attacking limb. for example, instead of blocking his hand, hit his biceps, or instead of blocking his foot, hit his shin, and so on.

tactic 7 - "turn from guest into host (反客为主)": when the opponent attacks and you defend, you are in the closest range inside his open guard, this is the time to switch roles and turn from defense to attack. because you are close inside opponent's guard, these are initially short-range attacks, and you treat him with as many attacks as possible till he can back off or recover guard.

tactic 8 - "remove the ladder after the ascent (上屋抽梯)": attack areas that are exposed due to opponent's move. for example, when he punches, let him turn, then target his exposed side, or when he kicks, let his leg raise, then target the other, supporting leg, and so on.

these involve low-height closed guarding moves advancing into sharp short-range countering moves. in this style, in every posture, body is covered under a closed guard, which suddenly burst into series of sharp counters, teaching you efficient defense and to turn from defense into attack in any situation.
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history:

Song dynasty (960-1279):
'chang hu xinyi men' was first created by monk Hui Wei (惠威) in the early 1100s. it first had about 36 postures. his disciple, monk Hai Zhou (海舟), increased it to about 66 postures.

Yuan dynasty (1279-1368):
in the late years of the dynasty, monk Jinnaluo (紧那罗) increased it to 72 and monk Zi An (子安) to 82 postures. monk Jue Xun (觉训) also improved it.

Ming dynasty (1368-1644):
monk Tong Xiang (通祥) improved the form.
meanwhile, after the Yuan dynasty, some Daoist concepts, like astrological notions, were introduced into Shaolin temple via outsider visitors. one of these was the astrological notion of the 7 stars, that is, another name for the big dipper constellation, which in Chinese martial arts refers to any formation that resembles the shape of the big dipper, like the closed-guard formation of the arms in 'qixing quan' (7-star form). Shaolin monks developed qixing quan sometime before the early 1600s by combining Shaolin xinyi ba style, which imitates daily and farming activities by using harmonious arm movements in small-frame stances, with rooster-imitating gestures, postures, and moves, and this 7-star concept. these small-frame 7-star and rooster notions were also combined into the chang hu xinyi men form.

Qing dynasty (1644-1912):
in the mid 1700s, monk Ji Ran (寂然) removed 28 repetitive postures from chang hu xinyi men form and added 30 new postures and it became about 84 postures in total.

in this way, Shaolin defensive style was developed.
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note: there are various other forms and styles named 'qixing quan' or 'xinyi quan' in Chinese kung fu, and they are historically and technically different from Shaolin quan. these are just different styles with similar names.
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