---
title: Five-Element Linking Fist (五行連環拳) — Xingyi
---

**五行連環拳 (Wǔxíng Liánhuán Quán, "Five-Element Linking Fist"** — also **進退連環拳, "Advance-and-Retreat Linking Fist")** is the **foundational linked form of **[**Xingyiquan**](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/xingyi). After the five element fists (五行拳) and the twelve animals are first drilled as single repeating techniques, the Linking Fist is the **first routine that threads them together** — a short, dense, back-and-forth set that chains all **five elements** (劈 split · 崩 crush · 鑽 drill · 炮 pound · 橫 cross) into one continuous flow. It is the Xingyi student's first true "form," and the gateway to the longer combination sets (雜式捶, 安身炮).

## What it trains

- **Linking the five elements** — every element fist appears: crushing (崩, 2/4/11), crossing (橫, 3), pounding (礮, 6), drilling (鑽, 7/9), and splitting (劈, 10) — so the one form rehearses the whole foundation
- **Advance-and-retreat footwork** — the 進步 / 退步 / 順步 / 拗步 stepping that gives the form its alternate name
- **Turning (回身)** — the set runs out, turns, and runs back, so it is practised in both directions
- **The Xingyi engine** — short, blunt, whole-body issuing on the step, *"arriving"* rather than reaching

## The form — move-by-move (拳譜)

The posture list follows **Li Cunyi (李存義)**'s *連環拳譜* (Hebei line); the set proper is the ten postures between the shared opening (開勢, taken from the five element fists) and the turn. English are the wiki's own working glosses.

| # | 式 (中文) | English |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | 開勢 | Opening posture (shared with the five element fists) |
| 2 | 進步崩拳 | Advance, Crushing fist (崩 · wood) |
| 3 | 退步橫拳 | Retreat, Crossing fist (橫 · earth) — "scissor step" 翦子步 |
| 4 | 順步崩拳 | Same-side-step, Crushing fist |
| 5 | 白鵝亮翅 | White Goose Shows Its Wings |
| 6 | 進步礮拳 | Advance, Pounding fist (炮 · fire) |
| 7 | 退步鑽拳 | Retreat, Drilling fist (鑽 · water) |
| 8 | 進步撥掌 | Advance, Deflecting palm |
| 9 | 進步鑽拳 | Advance, Drilling fist |
| 10 | 拗步劈拳 | Cross-step, Splitting fist (劈 · metal) — "leopard climbs the tree" 狸貓上樹 |
| 11 | 進步崩拳 | Advance, Crushing fist |
| 12 | 回身勢 | Turning around (then repeat in the opposite direction; close on a retreating crushing fist) |

<Callout type="info">
  **Lineage variants.** The Linking Fist is taught in every Xingyi line with the same engine but slightly different counts and names. **Li Cunyi** (above) gives ten postures + turn. **Sun Lutang (孫祿堂)** names his twenty-one-section version more pictorially — 青龍出水 (Blue Dragon Leaves the Water), 黑虎出洞 (Black Tiger Leaves the Cave), 白鶴亮翅, 狸貓上樹 / 狸貓倒上樹. **Liu Dianchen (劉殿琛)** numbers a ten-posture (十式) version, and **Li Jianqiu (李劍秋)** an eleven-posture one. All are the same form — the five elements, linked.
</Callout>

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="xingyi" text="Xingyi (形意拳) — the style, the five elements, the twelve animals" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="five-elements-twelve-animals" text="Five Elements &amp; Twelve Animals (五行十二形) — the theory the form links" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="li-cunyi" text="Li Cunyi (李存義) — whose 連環拳譜 this follows" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="sun-lutang" text="Sun Lutang (孫祿堂) — whose 形意拳學 gives the pictorial version" />

## Sources

**[1]** **李存義 (Li Cunyi, d. 1921)**, *五行連環拳譜* — the Hebei-line posture sequence reproduced here under fair-use citation, with the wiki's own glosses. Public domain by age.

**[2]** Paul Brennan (tr.), *Teachings of Li Cunyi on Xingyi's Five Elements* — open bilingual edition preserving Li's original Chinese: [brennantranslation.wordpress.com](https://brennantranslation.wordpress.com/2017/10/30/teachings-of-li-cunyi-on-xingyis-five-elements/). The variant lists are documented in Brennan's editions of **孫祿堂 (1915)**, **劉殿琛 (1920)**, and **李劍秋 (1919)** — all public-domain-by-age, held in the codex's `Sources/internal-arts-manuals/`.

**[3]** Video: [邸國勇 Di Guoyong — Xingyi foundations](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z37LxFucC2A) and the Sun-style 五行連環拳 demonstrations linked from the [Xingyi on Film](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/xingyi-video) index.