Hung I-Hsiang

Who was Hung I-Hsiang?

Hung I-Hsiang or Hong Yixiang was a Taiwanese martial artist who specialized in the internal Chinese styles of xingyiquan, baguazhang and taijiquan.

Hung I-Hsiang was born in Taiwan. He studied with Chang Chun-Feng 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 revolution in 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.

When Chang began teaching in the northern part of Taibei, his first group of core students included the three Hung brothers: Hung I-Hsiang, Hung I-Wen and Hong I-Mien. It is said that Hung I-Hsiang was the xingyiquan specialist, Hung I-Mien was the baguazhang specialist, and Hung I-Wen specialized in taijiquan.

After he had studied with Chang for several years, Hung often led classes for Chang. Because the internal martial arts were still very new in Taiwan, many curious people would come to test Chang's skill. Hung said that Chang would often send him out to show the visitors what the internal styles were all about. Many martial artists in Taiwan remember Hung as being someone who was involved in many fights, both in and out of the martial arts studio.