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The Lunar New Year began on February 17th, 2026, and celebrates the year of the Fire Horse. The colour associated with fire is red, and there is a further legend about the “heavenly horses” – not mythical creatures, but real historical animals taken by the Han Chinese from the nomads of the Eurasian steppe – having a blood red colour. For this reason, this year is also known as the Red Horse Year 赤馬年. The year of the Fire Horse is an especially powerful year in which we can expect great dynamism and change, but not necessarily for the better. I am reminded of the famous line of Margot Channing (Bette Davis) in the film All About Eve (1950): Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy night.

What were the heavenly horses? To the North and West of the Chinese plains lies the Mongolian steppe, whose tribesmen harassed the Chinese. The Chinese called these tribes the Xiongnu; we know them as the Huns. The tribesmen were mounted on horses which, having evolved to cope with the mountainous terrain of the steppe, were larger and stronger than the horses native to the Chinese plains. To combat them the Chinese needed better warhorses.

During the Han dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE) the emperor sent expeditions to investigate and then to import the highly coveted “heavenly horses” (tiānmǎ) from the Central Asian kingdom of Ferghana in Uzbekistan. These expeditions were long, arduous and costly. The envoy sent to investigate the tribesmen’s horses spent ten years in remote jails before escaping and returning home. When the Chinese then sent an ambassador with a thousand gold pieces, the Ferghana refused to sell and the ambassador was executed, sparking a war which lasted several years. The Chinese eventually seized 3,000 horses. Most of these died on the long journey home, but enough survived to establish these horses in China. They immediately proved their worth in battle, giving rise to the Chinese saying 馬到成功 mǎ dào chéng gōng: Horses arrive, instant success.

Those born in the Year of the Horse (1930, 1942, 1954, 1966, 1978, 1990, 2002, and 2014) are said to be intelligent, strong, and energetic with an outgoing nature. They enjoy interacting with others and are good at multi-tasking, although they rarely finish projects because they’re off to the next one before they finish the last. Typically they have money issues, and when it comes to matters of the heart, they fall hard and fast.

Horses are heroic creatures in Chinese mythology, capable and loyal. In the classic novel The Journey to the West, known in the west from it’s television adaption as Monkey, the horse belonging to the monk Tripitaka, White Dragon Horse, is one of the main characters, and becomes a Bodhisattva (enlightened being) at the end of the tale thanks to his endurance and perseverance. In China, the combination of the spirit (jīngshén 精神) of the dragon (lóng) with that of the horse (mǎ) is thought to be particularly useful, giving rise to the idiom 龙马精神 lóng mǎ jīngshén.

The Chinese also have a legend of the qianliama or Thousand Li Horse, capable of travelling 1000 li (just over 250 miles) in a single day. Today, qianliama is a metaphor for an extremely capable person.

The Fire Horse

Fire Horses are thought to be particularly strong willed, the fire element amplifying the horse’s natural qualities of enthusiasm and leadership. The “phase” of fire is associated with the colour red, and the Fire Horse Year is also called 赤 馬 年 chìmǎ Red Horse Year.

The Horse in the Taoist Arts

In an earlier article we spoke about the Tai Chi move Wild Horse Parts Mane, but the horse also shows up in the Taiji Sword set and in the Lok Hup set.

In the Taiji sword set, Move 28 is 天馬行空 tiānmǎ xíng kōng – Heavenly Horse Flies through the Sky. Heavenly Horse tiānmǎ refers to the warhorses captured from the kingdom of Ferghana, as we explained above, and should not be interpreted as a reference to a literal flying horse such as the greek legend of Pegasus.

In Lok Hup, a long sequence in the second part begins with move 48 走馬觀花 zǒu mǎ guān huā Moving Rider Looks at Flowers. In this movement we look down as if from horseback, but the phrase also turns out to be a metaphor for seeing things fleetingly and thus superficially, just as a galloping rider can only glance at the scenery as it passes by.

Sitting down all day is bad for you – no question, but a study published in 2024 found that breaking up a day at your desk every 45 minutes to an hour with either 10 squats or 3 minutes walking really improved blood sugar control, compared to a control group. Going for a single half hour walk was only half as beneficial. Those 10 squats might only take a minute, depending on how fast you do them.

Turning your squat into a don-yu has additional benefits. Compared to a squat, the emphasis on sitting slowly means that the big muscles at the front of the thigh (the “quads” or quadriceps) are stretched under tension, an action known as eccentric contraction. This is especially beneficial for building both the strength and the mass of these muscles. As the hips open and the back becomes more upright, the donyu starts to work the whole spine.

The Yang sabre set does not have a list of moves as such but instead a 13 line poem (口訣 kǒu jue “spoken arts”) which was recited during practice. Each line has seven characters, and thus seven syllables (“Tiger tiger burning bright / In the forests of the night”). The poem functions as a mnemonic and does not name all the postures.

This poem is recorded in Fu Zhongwen’s 1958 treatise on the Taiji sabre and earlier in Dong Yingjie’s Tai Chi Boxing Explained (1948).

The movements of the Yang sabre set

1. 七星跨虎交刀势 Qī xīng kuà hǔ jiāo dāo shì – Seven Stars, Mount the Tiger, Pass the Sabre Posture
2. 腾挪闪展意气扬 Téng nuó shǎn zhǎn yì qi yáng – Spring clear, evade and strike, Will and Spirit Raised
3. 左顾右盼两分张 Zuǒgù yòupàn liǎng fēn zhāng – Looking Left, Gazing Right, the Two Components Spread
4. 白鹤亮翅五行掌 Bái hè liàng chì wǔháng zhǎng – White Crane Spreads Wings, Five Element Palm
5. 风卷荷花叶里藏 Fēng juǎn héhuā yè lǐ cáng – Breezes Turn the Lotus Blossom, Hide it in the Leaves.
6. 玉女穿梭八方势 Yùnǚ chuān suō bā fāng shi – Jade Maidens Work Shuttles Facing Eight Directions
7. 三星开合自主张 Sān xīng kāi hé zìzhǔ zhāng – Three Stars Open Close, Freely and Naturally
8. 二起脚来打虎势 Èr qǐ jiǎo lái dǎ hǔ shi – Strike the Tiger with Both Feet
9. 披身斜挂鸳鸯脚 Pī shēn xié guà yuānyāng jiǎo – Drape Body, Hang Aslant, Mandarin Duck Kick
10. 顺水推舟鞭做篙 Shùn shuǐ tuī zhōu biān zuò gāo – With the Current, Push the Boat, Lift Whip, Use as Quant
11. 下势三合自由招 Xià shì sān hé zìyóu zhāo – Lower Posture, Three Harmonies, Freely Move
12. 左右分水龙门跳 Zuǒyòu fēn shuǐ lóngmén tiào – Left Right Part the Waters, Jump the Dragon Gate
13. 卞和携石凤还巢 Biàn hé xié shí fèng hái cháo – Bian-He Retrieves his Stone, Phoenix Returns to Nest

The set we practice has the same first move but then diverges; it is also the same at the end, but uses more prosaic terms for the final move. In particular, the phrases “Lower Body to Tame Tiger” and “The Beauty Runs to the Moon” do not occur anywhere. (Surely the latter phrase alludes to the legend of Chang’e, who stole the elixir of immortality from the Queen Mother of the West and flew to the moon (嫦娥奔月) )? The very existence of these terms implies that the set Mr Moy modified, which came from Mr Sun (Sun Di), was not the one handed down through Fu Zhongwen. It displays a clear influence in its stepping patterns from Ba-gua. “Taming the Tiger” is the name of one of the standing postures in Yiquan; one feels the influence of Master Liang, who taught Lok Hup to Mr Moy and Mr Sun.

Comments on the moves of the Yang set

7: 三星开合自主张 Sān xīng kāi hé zìzhǔ zhāng – Three Stars Open Close, Freely and Naturally. What are the three stars? According to Zhang Yun they are the laogong point (in the centre of your palm, PC8), the “bubbling spring” yongquan (K-1 in your foot) and the quchi point on your elbow (LI-11). The stars open when the arms are extended, and closed when the arms draw back together.

Completely irrelevant, but interesting nevertheless, because it shows the enduring popularity of the term: in Korean, Sān xīng becomes “Samsung”.

9 披身斜挂鸳鸯脚 Pī shēn xié guà yuānyāng jiǎo – Drape Body, Hang Aslant, Mandarin Duck Kick – what is the Mandarin duck kick? Mandarin ducks are known for forming lasting pairs, so the reference is to a pair of movements. Zhang Yun elucidates that originally there were two kicks, first a side kick and then the forward kick, but that the the first kick has been removed.

10 顺水推舟鞭做篙 Shùn shuǐ tuī zhōu biān zuò gāo – With the Current, Push the Boat, Lift Whip, Use as Quant – the sabre is lifted high as if lifting a whip, and then the handle is brought down in a two handed grip as if punting. The correct English word for a punt-pole is a quant. No-one uses it when translating the name of this move into English but avoiding it leads to translations which are at best awkward, and at worst nonsensical (“take whip as oar”). Alternatively, one could just say “Punt“.

12 左右分水龙门跳 Zuǒyòu fēn shuǐ lóngmén tiào – Left Right Part the Waters, Jump the Dragon Gate. Here the rolling upward cuts are compared to the movement of carp, swimming powerfully like salmon up the rapids of the Yellow River known as the Dragon Gate. It was said that any carp who managed to jump the dragon gate would be turned into a dragon as a reward for his efforts.

13 卞和携石凤还巢 Biàn hé xié shí fèng hái cháo – Bian-He Retrieves his Stone, Phoenix Returns to Nest – Bian-He found a stone which he was convinced contained a wonderful piece of jade. According to legend he presented the stone to King Wu and then (after Wu’s death) to King Wên, but both men rejected him, and he had a foot cut off each time as a punishment for lying (yuè 刖), one of the five punishments. Finally the stone was brought to King Ch’êng who believed his story and had the stone cut, revealing the precious jade inside. It was made into a jade annulus (bi), Mr He’s jade or Heshibi. According to legend, this bi was so magnificent that it was turned into the Heirloom Seal of the Realm. In the set, the words xié shí (Retrieve the Stone) are chanted as the sabre is returned to the crook of the left elbow. The name of the movement implies that the stone is returned to Bian-He.

In mythology the phoenix returns to its nest in order to be consumed by the flames which will give birth to the next phoenix. This is considered a perfect sacrifice. Referencing the phoenix at the end of the set brings to a close a set well done.

Here’s a video of the Yang style set being performed by Tary Yip. There’s also a Chinese video of Fu Qingquan (grandson of Fu Zhongwen) teaching this set to two students as if in a movie.

References

Videos

• Tary Yip (Wolverhampton) performs the Yang sabre set

Books and articles

• The Complete Taiji Dao, Zhang Yun, 2009
• FuZhongwen’s Sabre Manual (1958) – the same Sabre Song as Dong Yinjie’s book
• The Taiji Sabre Song in Taiji Boxing according to Dong Yingjie (1948)
• Yang Style Taiji Sabre, Chen Yanlin (1942) – different move names, but appears to be the same set.

Liang Tzu-peng (梁子鵬, Liang Zi-peng (1900-1974) was one of the most important teachers of Chinese martial arts of the 20th century. He started learning martial arts as a boy as his father thought they would strengthen his body and spirit, and lay the foundations for a successful life. Born in the southern province of Canton (Guangdong), he moved north to Shanghai as a young man, starting work as a clerk in a western company. Here he joined the Jing Wu martial arts association, one of the first public martial arts institutes in China (immortalised in the Bruce Lee film “Fist of Fury”). All the best teachers were invited to teach here and Liang trained particularly hard in Eagle Claw kung fu which was taught by the “King of Eagle”, Chen Zi-zheng. Liang is said to have studied at least 30 styles of hard boxing as well as a myriad of Shaolin weapons forms, all to a high level, to the point where he could learn new styles just by looking at them.

Over time, Liang’s interest slowly shifted to internal styles. Liang heard about You Peng-xī 尤彭熙 (1902-1981), a man with a deep knowledge of tai-ji, ba-gua, and xing-yi, who had also studied Yi-quan from its founder Wáng Xiangzhai. Unable to obtain an introduction, Liang went to visit You, challenging him arrogantly. You invited Liang to grasp his wrist – the favourite technique of Eagle Claw practitioners – but Liang was unable to do so. Admitting defeat, Liang became You’s student, but after so many years of studying hard styles he found the standing training (Zhan Zhuang) uninspiring. Later he became addicted to it. Years later, Liang later told Mr Moy that he regretted having spent so much time studying hard styles as a young man.

As a youth Liang had looked down on Tai-ji but after he began training with You he began to see it in a different light. Liang studied Tai-ji from fellow martial artists, without having a formal teacher. He preferred yang style, which is what he later taught to Mr Moy.

In Shanghai Liang studied Liu He Ba Fa (Lok Hup) under Wu Yi-hui 吳翼翬. Wu nicknamed Liang “The lark” 百靈鳥 because of his lightness skills: Liang could jump a foot higher than his own height. Liang studied with him only a short time, leading to allegations that he learnt only the first half of the set from Wu and “made up” the second half, but it seems Liang told Mr Moy that Wu required people to adapt the second half of the set according to their knowledge of other styles (this statement should not be interpreted as a license to interpret Lok-hup in whichever way one wishes).

Liang was of course extremely fit. There are many stories about that, but the most significant is a sad one: a fire broke out in their building. The family apartment was on the upper floor. Liang absailed down the outside of the building carrying his wife, climbed back up, then rescued his daughter in the same way. Only at this moment did he remember their second, infant daughter, but it was now impossible to re-enter the building, and she perished. This incident greatly increased Liang’s renown locally.

In 1946, seeing the situation on the Chinese mainland deteriorating under the communists, Liang decided to move to Hong Kong which was still a British colony and where his employer (Oriental Yarns) had just opened a new branch. You Peng-xi, being a famous medical doctor, was not permitted to go with him but told him: You have to make my Yi-quan famous. In Hong Kong Liang did not join the Jing-wu but taught Lok Hup and Yi-quan at home in the evenings, and in the parks. Two of his students were Sun Di (孫秩 Sun Zhi) and Moy Lin-shin (梅連羨), who were martial-arts brothers. Sun Dit participated in the open fight competitions where he became known as “Sun the Unbeatable”, a testament to the martial efficacy of Liang’s teachings. Another famous student is C.S. Tang who still lives and teaches in Hong Kong.

In Hong Kong Liang taught for free because he had a job. He asked his students to call him Mister Liang rather than Shīfu (師傅 (master)) because he wanted to change the relationship between master and student. As it turns out, Liang inherited this practice from his Yiquan teacher, who had insisted that his students called him “Mr Yau” (cantonese). Mr Moy continued the practice, telling us: “No more masters”.

Finally, it’s not quite true that Bruce Lee was a student of Mr. Liang, although he did come to some classes. Lee’s father was studying Taiji under Mr Liang and when his son came to Hong Kong he introduced him to Liang. Lee attended some classes and listened intently to what Mr Liang had to say, but Liang would not accept him as a student because Lee would not change his path from external to internal arts. Nevertheless, it’s clear that Liang’s teachings greatly influenced Bruce Lee’s Jeet Kune-do. “Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless – like water” is an expression of the core teaching of Yiquan which has no fixed forms, and the water metaphor a direct link to Lok Hup which is sometimes called Water Boxing in China.

What did Liang teach?

In Hong Kong Liang taught Lok Hup Ba Fa (六合八法) and Yi-quan. His main training methods were the “Three Treasures of Southern Yiquan” (南派意拳): the standing postures (Zhan zhuang) (站樁 – Stand like a Stake), the don-yu (蹲腰), and the tor-yu (拖腰), which includes Push Hands (Tui-shou 推手).

When Liang was asked to teach by the JingWu, he taught the three treasures. For the first year he taught don-yu; for the second, tor-yu, and for the third, the standing postures. This kind of focussed training, which required great dedication from the students, was not unusual in former times.

References

Most of the information in this article is contained in the book The Complete Book of Yiquan by C.S. Tang (2015). This contains lots of information about the standing postures of Yi-quan (with photographs) which I have never seen elsewhere.