Lineage:
Li Cun Yi was born in 1847 in Hebei province, Shen County. He was from a poor family, becoming a cart driver as a young boy and later opening his own bodyguard service which protected caravan's from bandits. Li w as one of Liu Qi Lan's four most famous Xingyi students. He was also the first high-level Xingyiquan practitioner to study Baguazhang, learning the art directly from creator Dong Hai Chuan. He is also a friend of Cheng Ting Hua who was also a top student of Dong Hai Chuan. Li, also known as Jeweler Li and Single Saber Li for his expertise with the broadsword, fought in the Boxer Rebellion of 1900, killing many American and English foreigners. After the boxers lost the war, Li was forced to flee Beijing because the foreigners put a price on his head. This also caused many corrupt Chinese martial artists to try and hunt him down. He went to Taigu, where famous Xingyi teacher Che Yi Zhai helped hide him and sent his student Li Fu Zhen to act as a bodyguard. Li Fu Zhen killed went and killed them all. Li Cun Yi believed that up until the time of famous Xingyi master Guo Yun Shen, no practitioners used a double weighted or 50/50 stance in Xingyi - that it was used to make the forms easier to practice. Li died in 1922 at the age of 86.
Chang Chun-Feng (Wade-Giles), or Zhang Junfeng (Hanyu Pinyin) ( ???, 1902 - 1974 ) was a well-known Chinese martial artist who specialized in the internal styles of baguazhang , xingyiquan and taijiquan . Chang Chun-Feng was born around 1902 in Shandong Province. At the age of nine he moved to Tianjin to apprentice in the fruit wholesaling business. At the age of 16, Chang became interested in martial arts. He studied Gao Style Baguazhang with founder Gao Yisheng (???, Wade-Giles: Kao I-Sheng) daily at the sports field located in the English concession in Tianjin. Because Chang was busy working all day, he studied with Gao privately in the early morning and at night. Since he was making good money, he helped support Gao. Gao often taught classes at Chang's home. Because Gao worked with Chang privately, his progress was fast. He improved rapidly and gained a reputation in Tianjin. Chang studied and later taught martial arts in Tianjin from around 1920 until he left in 1948. During that time, Tianjin was a hotbed of internal martial arts activity. Chang also studied xingyiquan (???) with Li Cunyi (???, Wade-Giles: Li Tsun-I)but only in name. At this time Li was old and Zhang studied with Li's son Li Bin Tang. He also studied Hao Wei-chen style taijiquan (??? ). In Tianjin Chang also became a follower of I-Kuan Tao (Yi Guan Dao).
Hung I-Hsiang ( Wade-Giles ), or Hong Yixiang ( Hanyu Pinyin ) ( ???, 1925 - 1993 ) was a Taiwanese martial artist who specialized in the internal Chinese styles of xingyiquan , baguazhang and taijiquan . Hung I-Hsiang was born in 1925 in Taiwan . He studied with Chang Chun-Feng (??? , Hanyu Pinyin : Zhang Junfeng) a master of internal Chinese martial arts from Northern China. Chang introduced these arts to Taiwan in 1948 when he moved there following the Communist take-over of Mainland China. Initially, Chang met with resistance from mainlanders on Taiwan who objected to his teaching the secrets of internal martial arts to native Taiwanese such as Hung.
Hsu Hung-Chi ( Wade-Giles ), or Xu Hongji ( Hanyu Pinyin ) ( ???, 1934 - 1984 ) was a Taiwanese martial artist who specialized in the internal Chinese arts of xingyiquan , baguazhang and taijiquan . Hsu was born in Taibei , Taiwan in 1934 to a family of six brothers. In school, he was very athletic and participated in swimming, soccer and judo . He began his study of Shaolin kung fu with his father at an early age. He also learned boxing and became a skilled street fighter. After studying the external styles of shaolin for many years, he discovered the unique effectiveness of the internal martial arts and began training with Hung I-Hsiang , a master of all three of the major Chinese internal arts, xingyiquan , baguazhang and taijiquan . After many years of training, Hsu opened his own martial arts school. Hsu's school used a modified version of the Tang Shou Tao (???; lit. Chinese Hand Way) system developed by his teacher Hung I-Hsiang. Hsu named his school Shen Long Tang Shou Tao (????? ; lit. Spirit Dragon Chinese Hand Way). Tang Shou Tao is not a separate style of martial art, but rather a practical, step-by-step, systematic approach to learning internal martial arts and developing highly refined levels of skill. It incorporates elements of all three of the internal arts (xingyi, bagua, taiji) as well as Shaolin kung fu and qigong . Although he incorporated elements learned from other teachers, Hsu's Tang Shou Tao curriculum was very similar to Hung's.
Harold Bellamy was a senior student of Hsu Hong Chi until Master Hsu's untimely death in 1984. Sifu Bellamy, had several schools in San Antonio, Texas and continues to teach and practice Hsing I in California where he also runs his own security company. He is a decorated Veteran of the armed services. He served in the United States Air Force-both in Vietnam and Operation Desert Shield - during which he received the Meritorious Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, four commendation medals, and numerous other awards and decorations. Lao Shr Bellamy has certified numerous Black Belts in the United States.
