The Future of Yin Style Bagua

This article was from a discussion between Dr. Xie and Andrew Nugent-Head in 1999. It was originally published in Volume 3 Issue 4 of the Traditional Studies Journal. The text below is an abridged version reflecting on the changes that have happened since he passed away in 2003.

It is fitting that we spend this time together talking about Yin Style Bagua. Six years ago this week we met for the first time. I remember that morning well, but who knew that it would lead to where we are today? I have been to the United States four times, and England twice. And we are three quarters of the way through a tour in your country as we speak. This has been a very special tour for me, as it gives me a clear view of Yin Style Bagua's growth and spread since our first meeting in November of 1993.

A number people who took workshops during my first trip to the United States in 1996 are still practicing. Many of them have stopped doing any other arts and are dedicated to deeply learning Yin Style Bagua.

Of these serious practitioners, a core group has been to China to study intensively and it shows. I can see improvement in them this tour and the benefits good practice has brought to their bodies and lives. Some of them already have developed enough that what they do is immediately recognizable as Yin Style Bagua in flavor as well as form. Most importantly, you can see a major difference in their skills compared to those who have taken workshops but not practiced in the interim. The core group has pulled far ahead and it is immediately noticeable to anyone in a workshop. Such progress in just a few years!

The Association for Traditional Studies has also helped establish the North American Yin Style Bagua Association with five chapters across the country. This is very exciting for me, as a person might take a workshop once because they are curious, but never twice if s/he is not interested. Now there are people actively practicing together every week of the year. Many of them follow us across the country when we are on tour to take as many workshops as possible. If they did not recognize the value of this system, why would they do so? Best of all, this dedication shows in their practice and is apparent to anyone watching.

I am also pleased to see that Yin Style Bagua is still attracting new people, as well. It is also good to see new faces in workshops who have already learned the basics with the North American chapter heads. Though they had not met us, they were able to judge its value by seeing these advanced students. Many of these people seem to be working the hardest, too. I don't know much about the internet, but from the email that is passed on to me via the association, I know interest is growing among people who do not know us. I know this from the tremendous amount of interest in Yin Style Bagua through the sales at the internet and mail order business, Plum Blossom Press. This interest comes from people who have never seen Yin Style Bagua demonstrated by us!

Of course, this has not happened by itself. In deciding to teach Yin Style Bagua openly, I also made the decision that the world had to see its power and effectiveness in person. Telling people about it from my house in Beijing would do little to spread this art. I first began traveling in 1996 and spent nine of eighteen months traveling overseas. In the last three years, I have spent more than thirteen months away from my home! This is a tremendous amount of time to be away from my family. China is a very patriarchal society, and I have five children and five grandchildren to look after. I also turned seventy-nine this week, which means that this has all taken place during my late seventies - your usual old man would have collapsed long ago from this pace!

When not traveling, I have been writing books and filming videos. That is a tremendous amount of work to fit in between traveling and teaching. I have a very strong sense of responsibility that drives me: I am seventy-nine and must document all of the knowledge that was passed onto me or know that it was lost at my generation. I will not let that happen no matter how tiring or difficult this work can sometimes be. I believe that there is nothing out there as powerful as Yin Style Bagua and I will not let it vanish or lose its strength as many other lines of martial and medical arts have. My family has been very understanding, and that allows me to devote as much time as I do to preserving this knowledge.

This responsibility has brought many changes to my life. I began smoking in 1927 and smoked more than 60 cigarettes a day. Now, I am down to less than 10 a day when traveling abroad, sometimes even less than that. I no longer smoke the whole cigarette, either, and perhaps I will try those patches designed to help you quit next year. I stopped drinking hard alcohol six months ago, and with this tour I have quit drinking altogether. It has been much easier than the cigarettes! Both have been life long habits that began before people knew they were bad for you. Because of my practices, they have not had the bad effect on me they should have, but I know smoking and drinking take their toll. I was also very angry before I began this work. I was angry my country did not recognize how important traditional arts are; angry that young Chinese were not willing to work hard like I did to learn these arts; angry that the only way to gain recognition was to have no values. It was with this anger that I decided to share this art with Westerners. For a traditional practitioner such as myself, until recently it was unthinkable to teach Westerners true skills. Many Westerners do not realize that China was invaded by European and American forces and parts of the country lost sovereignty not so long ago. Today, however, many traditionalists like myself are finding what I have found: the West is interested in these arts and have more respect for them than my own country does.

This discovery changed my anger into respect, and now I am pleased to say that I look upon many Westerners as friends. I am always pleased to look out into a class and see familiar faces, and many families have welcomed me in as one of their own. I sometimes still do get angry for those reasons, but I no longer feel that Yin Style Bagua does not have the respect it deserves. Along with the North American Yin Style Bagua Association, my first Western student, John Davies, has started a European Yin Style Bagua Association based in London, England. I like teaching Westerners because I can hit them hard, demonstrate over and over, give them stern words when needed, and they are appreciative. They understand that this is part of learning a difficult art and are willing to work hard to learn it. The pace of life in the West is much faster than China's, and on the whole people work much harder at their jobs than people do in China. Yet they still make time to practice, learn, and take workshops. At workshops, they work very hard, often to the point of exhaustion, but they still continue to push. They are not afraid of getting the bumps, bruises and soreness that comes with training Yin Style Bagua. On the medical side, many of the people who attend are already working practitioners. As I said, they might come once because they are curious, but if they come back, it is because they want to learn. I am very impressed with the respect Westerners give Yin Style Bagua and the dedication they have to learning it.

Young Chinese today don't work that hard. They also have face issues with being knocked down in front of their peers. They could never pair up and go over drills and applications the way we do here in the West without consequences. They have trouble with straight forward teaching that requires hard work and openness with their peers. However, China is my home, and there are Chinese who work very, very hard. There is just no environment to find the few who both have talent and the will to dedicate themselves to a traditional art like Yin Style Bagua. To that end, I am trying to establish a center for study next year in China that would provide a stable environment to pass on Yin Style Bagua. It is very difficult to do that in Beijing, though, as the laws are complex and there are people who would rather not see Yin Style Bagua become successful. The interest in the West, however, has already had an effect in China. People are beginning to take notice and the young Chinese students who are learning Yin Style Bagua now have met and practiced with the Westerners who have come to China. I think that it has a positive effect on the art if it grows internationally.

There is something that worries me about Westerners, though. The West is so modern, and so much better organized than China. People are logical and have common sense when it comes to their lives. But this seems to be lost the moment Westerners start to talk about the East and its arts. Things that they would never believe or accept in other circumstances suddenly become believable if given to them on an Eastern plate. A culture whose base is scientific discovery becomes unscientific and unrealistic when it comes to Chinese arts. Perhaps from other cultures, too, but I don't know about them. How can these people believe the nonsense that many Chinese teachers are spouting? Why do they let themselves be taken advantage of for years and years? Do they really believe that by standing there they suddenly can make different smells appear? Why don't they understand the difference between the power of suggestion and actual development? Why do they pay attention to these Qigong practitioners who say that they are helping put out the forest fires in China through their powers? If they were really so powerful, why don't they do something useful like create food for the poor or rid the world of cancer overnight? Why do they never pick something that is tangible, obvious, and involves a simple yes/no, did/didn't situation? And why do Westerners believe them so readily when they are so skeptical of other things? People keep asking me about Falun Gong. What nonsense! Do you really think that this man is single handedly keeping the universe from exploding? Do you really think that those who practice will live while those who don't will not? There are charlatans in every country and Westerners have often told me to watch out for ones in their own country. So why do they readily believe in ones who have come from another country? The traditional arts are very tangible and one should clearly be able to see the skills they develop.

But this is a bit off the subject. I was talking about establishing a center in China. This will be important as I grow older. I am 80 in traditional Chinese counting this week, 79 in your calendar. It was important that I come out and teach these past years, as I am the only one who knows the complete art. Before I started traveling, Yin Style Bagua was practically unknown, and the few other lines of Yin Style Bagua teaching out there only focus on martial arts. They do not have much depth to them at all, either. I do not say this to insult the West, as even in China Yin Style Bagua practitioners outside of this line do not have much depth of knowledge. Now that Yin Style Bagua is established and growing in the West, I need to change focuses. Life on tour is very tiring. Aside from the busy teaching schedule, I also cook three meals a day. Eating in restaurants is never good, always overpriced, and risky for the health. By cooking myself, I know exactly what I am eating, eat only what I want, and can maintain a feel of constancy while on the road. I am a very good chef, so I do the cooking. It usually means feeding three to seven people a meal, three meals a day, though. I do not mind, but it is a tremendous amount of work and responsibility above and beyond the teaching. The actual traveling, however, is the most difficult. Crowded planes, traffic, long hours moving from one state to another, one side of the country to the other. The planes are the worst, though. I don't like the planes, the air, the cramped conditions and the not smoking. These days I only need a puff when I have a craving, but I do still need it. Mostly its the confinement and lack of things to do that make me think of smoking.

My skills are also lost constantly teaching beginning classes. It was important to do so these last few years, but now I must focus on writing and passing on not basics, but the refined skills unique to Yin Style Bagua. On the martial side, I must finish teaching He Jinbao. Medically, I must document the protocols, diagnostics, and my life experience with the energy-bodywork and herbs. There are many unique methods of acupuncture in this system, as well. I must also confess I get frustrated teaching beginners. In China, one reason I have always had only a few serious students is because when I became frustrated I would demonstrate with excessive force. Now I no longer do that, but I can get pretty riled watching beginners practice wrong. I know its not their fault and they only need time, but I still get very frustrated.

With the end of this tour, we must turn a new page for Yin Style Bagua. My focus must shift to advanced teachings and documenting knowledge designed for those moving beyond the introductory level. This means giving myself time in Beijing to accomplish this and traveling only when necessary. The year 2000 will be dedicated to long hours of documenting and culminate with an intensive training in China designed for experienced practitioners in October. I will also be expecting more from students who proceed further with Yin Style Bagua, as they might one day represent its name. Yin Style Bagua has always produced powerful practitioners who have tangible skills others do not. I do not plan to let this reputation be lost the way it has in other systems that have become open. We will never give up quality to have a large following the way other Asian martial arts have. It is an important point I hope the Western friends I have made these past few years will understand. If they want to visit me as a friend, they are always welcome in my house just as I know I am welcome in theirs. But if they want to learn my art, they should never expect that my requirements of them will be lessened due to friendship. In fact, I will probably be harder on them as I expect more from them. It is two different things and they should be clear on this to avoid unpleasantness in the future. I am only responsible to myself for the quality of my friends, but I am responsible to both the past and the future for the quality of Yin Style Bagua.

Will I travel to the West again? It has become such a part of my life these past few years that it is hard to imagine not to. But it doesn't make sense to do so in a multi-stop tour fashion. My role in advertising Yin Style Bagua in one evening and two full day classes must change to one of passing on depth to advanced students in longer training settings. I know the association is planning to establish the Center for Traditional Studies in 2001 and that Yin Style Bagua will be a major part of that. Perhaps I will visit and take up a residency. I will certainly do so if they figure out how to make flying easier!!!