Actually.... the true definiton of external styles vs. internal styles is simple, but it hasn't been stated here. The original definition, and correct, is internal arts are defined as any and all martial arts exclusively from China. Where as external arts are defined as martial arts that were brought into China from somewhere else. For example, Taiji, Bagua, and Xingyi, are internal arts because it is said that they were developed by the Taoists and based on the philosophies of Lao Tsu (from China and in China). While the original external arts were started by Da Mo and the ShaoLin Temples (based on buddhist philosophies) which came from India. Internal from China. External from Outside of China. I practice Yang Taiji, Sun Xingyi, Sun Bagua, and Shorin- Ryu. All have aspects of "hard and soft". I mean I do Yang very slow without any fa jing (explosive energry) but i gurantee if I used brush knee at actual combat speed it would be hard on impact. Even Shorin-Ryu at a higher level has many "softer aspects" I applied the hard/ soft definition also for quite sometime until I started realizing, first hand, that everything is hard/soft (or at least it should be). Then I came across multiple credible internal sites that listed the above as the "orginal" definition. I hope this helps!!!!!