I don’t know anything about the honan branch of hsing i (10 animals), but in Shanxi or Hebei, this is what you’re likely to see:
1). Standing postures are first, where you’re supposed to learn how to develop internal power.
Most commonly it is the san ti posture, but it can also be some variant of horse stance. In at least one hsing i school (actually, hsin i, heart-mind as opposed to form-mind), the first thing you learn is the squatting monkey stance, where the emphasis is in learning to use and develop the “three bows” for power (especially the dan tien).
In addition to the standing posture, you may also learn certain chi kung and/or nei gung exercises.
At some point, you will start learning the five element fists and then progress from there to linking the five element fists (i.e., combinations) and push hands and then the animals and weapons.
2). I don’t have much experience, but imho, the most difficult part of hsing i thus far is learning to develop the internal power via the standing exercises.
As important as it may be, standing practice is REALLY boring.
Also, from what I can gather, just simply standing for a long time doesn’t do the trick. Aside from the mental aspects, I think the practitioner is supposed to learn to coordinate the three bows–legs, dan tien/belt-line, upper back and slowly cultivate being able to store and release power from these “three bows” in unison. This all takes time and I’m definitely not there yet.
3). If you mean what’s the most aesthetically pleasing in hsing-i…really, nothing. None of the animal or weapons forms that I’ve seen as of yet are graceful or beautiful to the eye, though the snake form doesn’t look too bad.
If you mean what do you most appreciate about hsing i, then I have to say its directness is what one can appreciate the most.
The typical hsing i curriculum is supposedly designed so that you can get to the sparring stage relatively quickly–say about two to three years as opposed to taiji which takes on the order of five years. Of course, you’re basically sparring with the five element fists and not the animals, but as someone said in a different thread, you almost don’t need to learn the animals to fight as long as you learn the five elements in depth.
And once you get good w/ the five elements, you really only concentrate on one or two animals that suit YOUR physical make-up. That is, unless you’re trying to master the entire style (e.g., for teaching purposes).
Also, its no-nonsense mentality and lack of physical beauty tends to keep away the holier-than-thou flakes that plague taiji and bagua.
This isn’t to say hsing i doesn’t have its fakers. It certainly does and so as far as you’re concerned, any teacher who pushes all-out sparring as of secondary importance should be passed over, or at least be highly suspect. Naturally, you’re not going to make throat shots or eye gouges, but you don’t want a highly restrictive and useless sparring as found in tae kwon do.
But even the “hard-core” fighters who encourage all-out sparring must be suspect, because a lot of people tend to resort to regular muscle power using the forms for its tactics, in which case you’re better off learning something like muay thai or good-ol’ shaolin.
Well, I’ve said more than enough. I hope that helps.
