Back Fist

Tongbeiquan (literally "Spreading Power from the Back Fist", as tong means "through," bei means "back" and quan means "fist") is a school of martial arts popular in northern China. 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.

According to the Boxing Chronicles by Xu Jianchi (1931), Qi Xin of Zhejiang went to teach back-through boxing at Gu'an in Hebei Province in the middle and latter half of the Qing Dynasty. His style was then called Qi-style Boxing which was later named as "Tongbei" or Back-through Boxing. Qi's son, Qi Taichang, improved and developed the boxing techniques. People then divided Qi-style Tongbeiquan into an old style (represented by the father) and a new one (represented by the son). The old style emphasizes simplicity and power whereas the new style concentrates on exquisiteness and suppleness. Many masters emerged in this school later. Tongbei Quan now in practice is generally divided into two styles. One has been passed down from Qi Xin, the father, and the other from Qi Taichang, the son. Xiu Jianchi, a successor to the new style, combined the best elements of his predecessors and left his theoretical summaries on stances, methods and philosophy of boxing to his followers. Xiu's writings are vital materials for the study and research of Tongbeiquan. Another of Lu Yunqing's students was Shi Hongsheng, who also created his own Shi-style Tongbeiquan.

From 1910s, some Qi style masters started to teach Tongbeiquan to the public. Subsequently, Qi style became much more popular than the Shi style. Today the vast majority of Tongbeiquan practitioners are in Qi style or its branches. But even when they taught in public, the masters still withheld some skills. Most masters only taught high level skills to some disciples in their private classes. As Qi style became somewhat more popular, a few forms were created for teaching purposes. Compared to Qi style, Shi style group still kept the old way. So people sometimes called the Shi style Hei Quan (Black Fist), and their style is sometimes considered heterodox.

Tongbei is present in modern wushu as well and is practiced by the contemporary wushu athletes coming out of the Chinese sports universities (referred to in some wushu circles and the University faction Xue Yuan Pai who study the routines in school and learn with performance being the key feature).

In the 1970s, Tongbeiquan was added by the Chinese Wushu Association as an open routine for wushu taolu forms competition. In the 1980s it was formally classfied as a Class II Other Open Hand event, which means it is in the Northern category of traditional empty hand forms along with Fanziquan, Piguaquan and Chuojiao.

The modern wushu style of Tongbeiquan, while having a non-martial emphasis, is still popular in the same regions of northern China such as Shandong and Liaoning provinces.

Today, the traditional style is kept alive through the efforts of practitioners throughout northern China, particularly by small groups throughout Beijing, Shandong, and Liaoning. There are also both groups throughout North America and Europe. Its contemporary wushu variant can also be found throughout the world.