Three Main Boxing Schools in China
4 min readShaolin Wushu(or Shaolin Boxing)
Chinese Martial arts are divided into two main categories: the Northern and the Southern.
Shaolin leads the Northern category. It combines both external and internal, and “hard”and “soft”exercises.
Boxing is the foundation of Wushu and Shaolin Boxing serves as the basis of other kinds of Wushu. The Shaolin Boxing has compactly designed routines. Its movements are quick, powerful and flexible, both practical for defense and attack.
The most outstanding characteristic of Shaolin Boxing is that the practitioner works on one straight line. It means that his movements of advancing, retreating, turning around, sideways, or jumping are restrained on one line. His arms are kept slightly bent so that he can stretch out to attack or withdraw for self defense freely.
Another characteristic of Shaolin Wushu is to maintain the body in perfect balance, as stable as a mountain. The practitioners should keep a tranquil mind but strike with great force and speed. He should be good at “borrowing”force from the opponent. That is, he should take advantage of the striker’s force and go along with it to bring him to ward off a force ofa thousand weights. He should know how to make feigned strikes and when striking, hit the vital parts of the opponent. His movements should be as dexterous as a cat, his shaking as a tiger, his moving as a dragon, his advancing as lightning and his yelling as thunder.
The practice of Shaolin Wushu does not need a large space. It is said that Shaolin Boxing can fight within an area where a cow can lie down. It is not affected by weather, or the kind of weapons used. So Shaolin Wushu has become a very convenient sport.
In 1982,a feature film “Shaolin Monastery”was released on the mainland China, in Hong Kong, Macao and abroad. Due to its popularity, the number of visitors to Shaolin Monastery to learn Wushu or for sightseeing increases day by day. Wushu teaching schools have been set up. In 1985, there were more than 40 of them, with students from 20 provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions. In early 1986, the county government combined the schools into five in order to guarantee their quality. In the past several years, many students from these schools have gone on to join professional Wushu teams or sports colleges, and some have become coaches of Wushu teams in other provinces and cities.
Shaolin Wushu got its name from the Shaolin Monastery, and the Monastery became famous for Shaolin Wushu.
The Eight-Trigram Boxing
The Eight-Trigram Boxing is characterized by changing positions of the palms and changing paces. Its fighting principle is the “combination of attack and defense”. It stresses the stratagem:”I move before my opponent moves, halt before my opponent halts; when myopponent attacks,I defend; when my opponent exhausts himself,I keep energetic; when my opponent retreats,I advance; when my opponent moves,I watch my opponent while he is moving, and discover and make use of opportunities; when my opponent is near,I attack him; Iextricate myself and then attack my opponent, and while my opponent is not moving,I move.”The stratagem prefers sideways attack to frontal assail.
Taiji Boxing
Taiji Boxing, named after the term “taiji”(supreme ultimate from the Book of Changes), was believed to be composed of by King Wen of the Zhou Dynasty. The term means that the universe was an entirety before it divided into heaven and earth. The Taiji Boxing has been sourced from many forms of folk boxing, and has been improved on through several generations.
Taiji Boxing is characterized by the unification of mind, breath and motions(body),requiring concentration of mind and calmness of motions. Mind works as a commander and body a soldier. When in motion, all of the body moves. When at rest, all of the body rests.
Calmness is required for motion. Simple force is not preferred. Force is like a wheel and waist is its axis. The motions are continuous as a circle. The breath is deep and controlled by the diaphragm. Be concentrated, gentle and natural. Be stable as a mountain when not moving, and be flowing as a river when moving. The moves are characterized by roundness, softness, slowness, stability and evenness. They are extended but very well coordinated, and all are an antithetical unity of Yin and Yang(negative and positive). These principles are the same for all schools of Taiji Boxing, though their types are different. There are mainly five types: Chen-Type, Yang-Type, Sun-Type, Wuu-Type, and Wu-Type.
