Tongbeiquan
Tong Bei Arm Swings to Windmill Arms - Rosa Mei
Photo from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqglwyKOydU
I have been listening to a new series of podcasts by Daniel Barth of the Gongfu Crew in Germany (hat tip to Graham Barlow) and was introduced to Rosa Mei, a practitioner of this Northern Style of Kung Fu.
First a link to the podcast, or search for Gongfu Crew S01E08 - Tongbeiquan with Rosa Mei in your favourite podcast player.
A little more on Tongbeiquan…
Tongbeiquan (通背拳 tōngbèiquán; literally "Spreading Power from the Back Boxing", as tong means "through," bei means "back" and quan means "fist/boxing") is a school of martial arts popular in northern China, known for engaging opponents from maximum distance. Tongbeiquan's basic precepts are Taoist in nature and many of the training methods in tongbeiquan are similar to those of the internal styles. In traditional tongbeiquan training, several parts are included: basic training (stance, arm techniques, leg techniques and conditioning), combinations, forms training, two-person free sparring, weapons training, and qigong training.
— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tongbeiquan
And some information on Mei…
Rosa Mei is a senior disciple of Tong Bei Kung Fu under Master Zhang Xin Bin. With over 30 years of martial arts experience, she is a former member of the US wushu team, a black belt in aikido and also trained in kali silat, Lama kung fu, Mantis kung fu, tai chi and qi gong. She loves swords.
White Handed or Lar Gibbon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lar_gibbon
Photo from Unsplash.
She says Tongbeiquan is…
…..based on the movement of a white gibbon, the style emphasizes long, swinging arm techniques, momentum and animal mobility to develop connected power. Form not only equals function but should be created through function. Students train on targets and with sparring partners.
Having had two hip replacements arising from the impact of her intensive wushu training, she describes herself as ‘double bionic’!
Of course I had to do some ‘googling’ and this was the first video I saw of hers and it really gives a good idea of the arm swinging approach she describes on her website.
💡Pro tip: have you tried DuckDuckGo? It’s actually my preferred search engine as it is privacy focused.
Mei has a YouTube channel with lots of other content.
What struck me was the similarity between the Piguaquan that is practised in the Wutan school I train with, and indeed Wikipedia indicates that Piguaquan is a ‘descendant’ art of Tongbeiquan. Also interesting is the fact that Rosa trains with the Miao Dao, a very long ‘katana-like’ sabre (literally a ‘shoot’ sabre) that is also studied in Wutan.
Mei is based in the Czech Republic and training is outdoors year round, including 18 sessions of ‘forest training’.
Mei sees herself as a movement fanatic…
Ever noticed how once you start watching YouTube you get sucked in? Adding this next section as a bonus ‘freebie’.
Right after watching Mei’s video, I watched the following one by a Shaolin master. Just look at the speed and power and the practicality of the application…
Cover photo is a screengrab from one of Mei’s YouTube videos - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CAHbnV11yLw
