While in Yang, Chen and Wu styles this posture is performed stepping backward and facing in one direction, in Sun style we turn 180 degrees. A better name for it is “Step back and chase the monkey” as seen in this video of Sun Lutang’s daughter Master Sun Jianyun from 1959.

I originally learned this posture as “High Pat on Horse” from the Yang and 24-combined styles, the signature movement being a step back while imagining caressing a horse’s neck.

The lute in this case is a Chinese lute or “pipa,” not a renaissance lute. An important distinction being that the pipa is played with the instrument in a vertical position so that the strumming happens with the hand also in a vertical orientation.

Rather than pondering the difference between a stork and a crane (and why are the latter always white?) or striving to understand the subtle differences in technique between circling, spreading, showing and cooling, focus on making the arms like the wings of a large bird.

“Lazily throw the jacket over your shoulder like Frank Sinatra” is probably a more accurate description of this movement.

Baibu standing. Koubu standing. Rise and fall to crush the buried eggs.