CHARACTERISTICS

   The Alligator, along with the Great Sea Turtle, Large Water Lizard, Scaly Dragon, and Dragon, are all of the same species.  The alligator is a fierce moving thing. It has the ability to move ten feet. It is in the same class as dragons. It lives in rivers and lakes, and it has the ability to destroy ships and injure men.  The alligator's movements are not frequently seen, but the central ideas are: it gets into the water, divides the waves to strike, it shakes its shoulders, and it ripples its back. Its shape is like a dragon swimming in the water. It has power and influence.  It is fierce and cruel. This then is Xingyi Quan's Alligator form.

BODY METHOD

     To practice the Alligator form, begin with zuan  quan.  The hand spits out from the front of the mouth, like the alligator dragon shoots out water arrows. Overturn and fall. Towards the outside do Cloud Splitting, like a alligator dragon claw. Divide the waves, strike, and move to the front. The Alligator form stepping is zigzagging left and right, crossing together and advancing. In the  Alligator form's  body, shake the shoulders and ripple the back like an alligator dragon overturning in the water.

     The fingers are like arrows. The overturning hands make clouds.  The falling hands make splitting. Shaking the shoulders and rippling the back contains a lean. Left and right level stepping uses the thighs. The usage is subtle. There must be a connection of the hand to the mind. The  Alligator form is very simple; however the more it is simple, the more it is functional.

     In practice, the eye, hands, body, and stepping must all be coordinated.  The whole body must be connected. Use the waist energy to move the limbs.  The movement is like a fish swimming in the water, shaking its body with lively swings of its tail.  The striking method also uses the elbows.  In shaking the limbs, loosen the hips, hands, feet, and shoulders.  They must not be stiff or straight. The whole body must have a lively, springy nature.
 
INTERNAL ALCHEMY

     Water is the special category of this species.  The body is extremely strong and agile. Inside the body it makes the kidneys.  In fighting, the nature of this form is: outside combined, with the inside flowing.  Practicing this form will disperse the heart's  fire, disperse the build-up of water and food,  help the mingmen combine fire, and fill the kidneys with water. The channels of the whole body will be   lively, and it will transform the body's clumsy qi and clumsy strength. If the form is correst, then the dantian's qi is full and pure jing fills the breast. The body is easy like an alligator, it harmonizes the water into the one qi and one is able to swim in the water.  If the form is not correst, then the hands, feet, hips, and shoulders' energy will be held and bound, and the whole body also will not be agile.