Did Yue Fei create Xingyi

Answer 1

No, he did not. Both the general's family memoir (c. 1230) and his state biography (1345) do not mention him learning boxing as a child, just spearplay and Archery. Nor do they mention him creating any boxing styles to enhance the effectiveness of his soldiers on the battlefield. But does absence of evidence really point to evidence of absence? Some have tried to defend the legend by comparing Yue Fei to Qi Jiguang, a famous Ming dynasty general. None of Qi's contemporary biographies mention him learning Martial Arts as a child, but he is known to have compiled a manual of boxing styles to help keep his soldiers fit between battles. The only problem with this comparison is that Yue never wrote such a manual. A popular martial arts essay attributed to him called "The Ten Theses of Xingyiquan" does not appear within the corpus of the general's own historical writings--the majority of which were letters and appeals to the court--collected by his grandson during the 13th century. It was most likely written by someone sometime after the 18th-century. This is because the earliest reference to Yue Fei creating Xingyi comes from the "Preface to Six Harmonies Boxing" published in 1750. The preface mentions how he trained in spear under an unnamed master and later developed Xingyi from the thrusting motions. Prof. Meir Shahar states that Yue's mention in a 17th-century qigong manual known as the Sinew-Changing Classic (1624) led to the attribution (The Shaolin Monastery, p. 168). A forged preface from the manual claims Yue gained his great strength and military prowess from practicing the qigong exercise. Following this, numerous other boxing, weapons, and qigong styles appeared, all supposedly created by the general.