Sun Lutang was a kind of "Bruce Lee" of his era : he learnt many martial arts, got knowledge in philosophy so he could create his own system, then used the media to become famous (books for Sun, and movies for Lee).

My teacher,( father of my teacher), who passed in 2004,  had eight great teachers before he met master Wang. One of the eight foundational teachers was sun lu tang. He told stories about them. One that I remember,( my second king fu book ever at age 13 was sun lu tangs xing yi book), was about a argument master sun got into. He declined the offer of a fight. My teacher said that he didn’t have robust fighting skill in practical life. That was a statement from his student , Han xing qiao. Han studied xing yi, ba gua, tai chi, shuai jiao, ba gi, And then yiquan. He taught at Jing an temple in shanghai, the first mixed art school in the history of China. There is a newspaper article about him and his brother at that time. He was very young to be teaching, perhaps 16,17. He was already so skilled that he was honored to be a teacher. There is nothing better than first hand accounts. How much better can you get? So much of “ history” is written by people very distant from the moment or the truth.

Once again, thank you for putting this series together.  For Frank: I always liked this quote attributed to BP Chan, "Tai chi maintains the center, Hsing I attacks the center, BaGua diverts the center."

Hello, Shawn. I came across this video recently and wanted to leave you a message. I'm from California and have practiced multiple Martial Arts (Karate, Judo, Silat, Wing Chun Kung Fu), and Hard Qi Gong for 50 years. I live in China now. I've been studying and learning more about health (soft) Qi Gong and also practicing Kung Fu. I'm officially a 4th generation Sun style Taiji, Xing Yi, and Bagua disciple of one of the few 3rd generation masters, by the name of Shifu Huo Peilin. I had the privilege of meeting Sun Lutang's granddaughter, Mrs. Sun Wanting, at a Taiji competition last September in Wangdou, which is where Sun Lutang was from, and his tomb is. The training book which was stollen from Sun Lutang's house by a guest, was later destroyed in a house fire during the war, that's why his daughter, Sun Jin Yun could not get it back. She knew who had taken it. The book which Jon refers to in the video is called, "The Internal Practices of Sun Lutang," which is written by Bradford Tyrey. As for what Sun Lutang's name means, I'm told that Sun is a surname. Lu means Salary or Money. Tang means Big House or Big Family. Traditional Chinese names in the past were FU (luck), LU (Money, Salary), SHOU (long life), which were three stars and immortals in Chinese traditional culture. If there's anyone in your circle who may be interested in Sun Style Kung Fu training, I would be happy to help. In the interest of reviving the Sun style Kung Fu in United States, I would be more than happy to help with online classes or make trips to meet with practitioners. Tell me how I can privately contact you, so I can give you my contact information. Thanks 🙏            file:///C:/Users/Admin/Downloads/pdfcoffee.com_las-practicas-internas-de-sun-lu-tang-3-pdf-free.pdf

Do an episode on Wang Shujin please

Yes, please do an episode on the Nine Palaces system! :-)

Frank, I was lucky enough to study Tai ji Ba gua and Hsing Yi under Rose Li in London from 1976 -82 when I became an associate member. A chapter was devoted to her in Robert Smith’s book ‘ Martial musings’ under ‘ Cherche la femme ‘ Born in 1915 , she was taught from the age of eight in Beijing by the finest masters her father ( who had been the minister in charge of China’s railways’. She learnt Hsing Yi from Deng Yang Feng, Ba Gua from him but also from his close friend Sun Lutang and Tai ji from Liu Feng Shen, born 1853 and a disciple of Ch’uan Yu  the officer who trained the imperial guard, and a disciple of Yang Ban Hao. There was a small imput from Hao Wei jen, who was living in Sun’s house. She always maintained that Deng’s Hsing Yi was better than Sun’s.
“He write book so become better known than Deng “ she always used to say. The Ba Gua she said was slightly modified Sun Lutang. We learnt a system full of explosive fa jing but she dropped teaching it  like a hot poatoe after a return home to China in the 80’s. We surmised that she was forbidden to teach it. From then on it was a different approach she said was from Chun ting Hua.
A couple of further points. The present Wu Hao generation disapprove of Sun’s radical changes to Hao’s Tai ji. Wu I Xiang and his brother and their student the scholar Li I Yu spent over three decades developing a complete theory of how Tai ji works. I was lucky enough to study with Liu Ji Shun, the disciple of Hao Shou ru and learnt this theory. It is applicable to Yang style, in fact Yang Ban Hao spent 7 years studying with Wi I Shiang.
Finally a later teacher of  mine, Huang Ji Fu, a historian told me that originally Wu I Xiang was the teacher of Yang Lu Chan. Wu a wealthy magistrate had learnt martial arts from his well known grandfather. Yang was very poor and hauled carts of unburnt coal that he sorted from slag up into Guang Fu old town. He would the practice his martial arts. Wu noting his talent , taught him. At some point Yang left for Chen village. When he eventually returned he was better than Wu. Wu then studied with Yang, a very unusual event in the Chinese martial arts. Yang was a natural who found it hard to explain in words what he learnt. This led to the Wu brothers trying to seek out Yang’s master. The master had died , so they studied with Chen Jing Ping in Zhoa Bor village.
This was the early foundation to the Wu hao system . They modified what they learnt to make it perfectly Yin Yang balanced.

Great work men, incredible life and times of Sun Lu Tang.

while you guys were referring to June and strange weather, I'm privileged to come across this education on the eve of Equinox and the 2nd Virgo Moon - grateful thanks

50:23 It was actually a book on Bagua Spear, not Xingyi Spear. This was told to me by Per Nyfelt. One of Sun's daughter's disciples.

Awesome podcast. Love hearing stories of Sun Lu Tang.

Really digging all of the episodes. Appreciate the content. Thanks a ton.

Great podcast guys, I watched the whole thing. One thing I just want to point out is the pronunciation of his name. It is Sun LuTANG, its pronounced like its written. It's not Dang, like Dao is sometimes written Tao in other Romanization systems. But in this case Tang is pronounced with a T.

His family name is Sun (孙), and his given name is Lutang (禄堂). In Mandarin Chinese, this would be pronounced as "Soon Loo-tahng," with the following tones:

Sun (孙) - first tone, a high level tone
Lu (禄) - fourth tone, a falling tone
Tang (堂) - second tone, a rising tone

His courtesy name is Fuquan (福全), pronounced approximately as "Foo-chwen" with both syllables in the second tone. This is used when referring to him on an academic level.

When speaking of him in China, one would typically use his family name followed by his given name: Sun Lutang. In more formal contexts or when showing particular respect, one might refer to him as "Sun Laoshi" (孙老师) meaning "Teacher Sun," or "Sun Shifu" (孙师傅) meaning "Master Sun."

The proper pronunciation demonstrates respect for the cultural traditions of the founders. The sincere student attends to details, for they reflect the harmony between Heaven and Earth, in all things.

"Using correct names is the beginning of proper learning." - Sun Fuquan

Very interesting thank you. Any thoughts about the Five Character Secret by Li I-yu as this was part of master Sun LuTang's writings

The early bio presented here is very detailed more so than what I can find online. Does anyone know where this is from? I don't want to say that it is embellished but... I would like to see it for myself somewhere. I do understand that the Chinese sometimes build up stories to epic proportions. Thanks.

This channel needs more subs but no worries I will help

I love hearing the old stories of the masters and their lives/ history.
I love stories about Old China.
I wonder where these stories come from and how accurate they are in terms of factual, provable history.
Yet, I'm also aware of how different Chinese History is recorded to how Western history is recorded and the huge influence of culture.
This is not to denigrate Chinese history  and how it is recorded - all history is perverted in positive ways towards the ruler/ winner being to ones recording the events
but Chinese culture is paramount in its history; How many masters of the traditional arts; fought a Russian boxer/ wrestler, how many took on all comers and beat the westerners, how many trained with someone of auspicious nature that links them to something greater, How many were exemplarily in culture and attitude, were skilled in calligraphy, medicine, poems and martial arts .
Pretty much all of the Masters of Old including up to Wang Xiang Zhai.
These stories are famous and all very similar.

The problem with history is the lack of verifiable evidence and the issue with Chinese history is the difference from Western history. So for Chinese people they understand the history and its importance through the lens of culture more than it being strictly historically accurate. The West is not interested in accuracy but from a propaganda point of view.
I think Sun Lu Tang had a greater chance to publish his written works more than many of the previous masters.
Also, much like in the west, all Chinese are famous for something, or want to be famous for something.
hence the development of styles.
For a style to be considered Tai Chi Chuan it has to obey the Internal principals as understood in Tai Chi Chuan - I'm guessing that Sun style does that.
All the Internal styles of martial arts have the Internal principals but apply them slightly differently yet within the margins in order for them to not only be internal but also for them to work internally

Fascinating podcast
Subscribed for interest.
:)

iit is worth buying a Sun Lutang book or a book about Sun Lutang?, In Amazon there are three book of Sun Lutang, one about Tai ji, other Ba Gua and another Xing YI.   Do you recommend learn Sun Style Tai chi? or Is it a mix of all three  internal arts ?
Great program of podcast thanks so much from Spain

Thanks so much for these podcasts. I had Sun lu Tangs xingyi book and someone stole it😂