It was back in 1998. Shi De Cheng had informed me that he knew about 80 different Shaolin forms. Now, making a list of all of those would be difficult, given the language differences. He had claimed to practice them on a regular basis. The reason for this? The transmission of information from master to disciple, in an exact fashion, as he had learned them from Shi Su Yun, Of all the monks I had met in Shaolin to this point, DeCheng was more of a Shaolin encyclopedia than most. The man knew a lot, and he was proud of the fact that he could remember, and, more importantly, teach the forms exactly as he had learned if. Shi Su Yun not only taught him the forms, as he had learned them from his master, but also taught him the importance of tradition, and maintaining the sanctity of the forms.

The following is a list of the commonly taught traditional Qi Gong types at Shaolin, historically through this century, as per Shi Su Yun, via Shi De Cheng. Granted, there are others, but these are the most well known, and most accepted.


Shaolin Hard Qi Gong

Tie Tou Gong      Iron head
Tie Bi Gong         Iron Arm
Tie Tui Gong         Irong leg
Tie Hou Gong        Iron throat
Tie Dang Gong         Iron crouch
Tie Bu Shan             Iron Jacket
Tie Shan Zhang      Iron Palm
Jin Gang Zhang
Yi Xhi Chan            One finger zen
Tie Jiao Gang            Iron feet
Tie Quan Gong          Iron fist
Tie Zhua Gong           Iron ?
Tie Zhou Gong           Iron elbow
Tie Xi Gong               Iron knees
Tie Ya Gong              Iron teeth