Our Story
Mu Shin Martial Culture was founded by Byron Jacobs and is a multi-faceted endeavor with a primary focus on authentic Chinese martial arts practices and their surrounding cultures. Its endeavors include a world-class online learning program, a critically acclaimed YouTube channel and podcast and much more.
Byron Jacobs training with his Shifu, Di Guoyong (Beijing, 2014)
Mu Shin Martial Culture was founded by Byron Jacobs in Beijing. It initially began as a YouTube channel which featured high-quality in-depth instructional videos on the arts of Hebei Xingyi Quan and Liang style Bagua Zhang, arts that Byron has inherited from Master Di Guoyong through close to two decades of study in Beijing as his closed-door disciple. The series of Xingyi Quan and Bagua Zhang “Ten Minute Primers” released on the Mu Shin Martial Culture YouTube channel were extremely well received by the international community and from there further endeavors were added to the channel. These included “The Drunken Boxing Podcast” as well as numerous videos featuring demonstrations, interviews and lectures documenting the Chinese martial arts, its practitioners and surrounding cultures at their source in China. Being passionate about spreading legitimate information on these arts, the channel quickly grew to include a wide variety of in-depth videos, and with that Mu Shin Martial Culture’s audience and following grew as well.
From the deeply researched educational videos of the “Kungfu Explained” series, to interviews and glimpses of some of the world’s most respected and skilled martial artists in the “Senki” series to historical research documentaries as well translations of programs unavailable outside of the far east, Mu Shin Martial Culture has become a prominent gateway to and resource for authentic Chinese martial arts and culture.
Following the success of the publicly released Xingyi Quan and Bagua Zhang “Ten Minute Primer” instructional videos, in late 2020 the “Hua Jin Online Learning Program” was officially launched. The Hua Jin program features the most in-depth and technically comprehensive teaching videos available anywhere today presenting the arts of authentic Hebei Xingyi Quan and Liang style Bagua Zhang in a comprehensive, systematic and professional manner. Featuring weekly professionally produced lesson videos covering technique, methods, internal skill building practices (Nei Gong), forms, weaponry, partner drills, application theory and more, the Hua Jin Online Program has been extremely well received and has had hundreds of satisfied enrolled learners from all around the world. To date, the program features over 100 lesson videos.
Mu Shin Martial Culture continues to grow and expand on its endeavors to promote and develop the traditional martial arts and culture, presenting these authentically to an international audience.
About Byron Jacobs
Byron Jacobs, born in South Africa, began practicing martial arts at the age of six starting with the Japanese arts of Judo and Karate. From his early teens he began practicing the Chinese martial arts, doing both traditional systems as well as competitive standardized Chinese martial arts. While still living in South Africa he became a national level representative athlete (Protea Athlete) for Wushu and was also one of the founders of the South African Wushu Federation and served as it's Secretary-General from its founding until his departure from South Africa in 2009.
He became a certified international judge in 2004 (A Grade) and served as an independent judge multiple times for the world governing body, eventually being appointed to the technical committee of the International Wushu Federation (IWUF) in 2011, and served in this capacity for two terms until 2019. During this period, he lectured and coached at IWUF courses and judged at numerous world level events and also compiled many teaching handbooks which are still utilized by the organization today. He was additionally appointed as the technical representative for the IWUF’s application for Wushu’s Olympic inclusion and he presented to the International Olympic Committee three times in this capacity in Lausanne, Saint Petersburg and in Tokyo.
Throughout this period, his personal practice of martial arts has been a constant feature of his daily life. While he did compete in competitive Wushu in his younger years, he was keenly interested in furthering his study of traditional Chinese martial arts which were his core practice and passion. He has studied traditional Xingyi Quan (Hebei lineage) and Bagua Zhang (Liang Zhenpu lineage) under Master Di Guoyong continuously for close to two decades. He relocated permanently to Beijing at the end of 2009 in order to be able to study much more closely with Master Di Guoyong.
Since then, he has spent the large portion of his days studying very closely with Master Di focusing solely on these arts and he is a closed-door disciple of his and recognized as an inheritor of his lineage. His passion is the traditional practices of these arts and their related culture and history.
He additionally began sharing his knowledge on these subjects through various endeavors including the Mu Shin Martial Culture YouTube channel as well as by establishing an in-depth online learning program titled the Hua Jin Online Learning Program (https://www.patreon.com/mushinmartialculture).
In 2023, he published his “Dragon Body, Tiger Spirit” which is a translation and explanation of the classical texts of Xingyi Quan. The first work of this kind to be available in English.
Byron Jacobs holds a 7th Duan (Dan) ranking issued by the Chinese Wushu Association in China, one of the few non-Chinese to hold this advanced rank.