Kung Fu Notes: Zuiquan ("Drunken Boxing")
Comment - from here on I'm going to start posting my random notes on martial arts here. These will generally be pretty technical musings, usually analysis. They're not meant to be of interest to everyone in general - but I thought some of you might find them interesting.
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For some reason, I was thinking about Drunken Fist the other night.
"Drunken Boxing" is usually thought of as a component of a larger system. Choy Lay Fut (Cai Li Fo), for example, has a "drunken" form. There are a few people who claim to have learned a "system" of Drunken Boxing. Can't vouch for historical truth of their statements or training.
Seems to me that Zuiquan is a highly misunderstood (sub-)system that even many of its practitioners don't get or begin to understand.
My quick analysis of Zuiquan:
- "Staggering": deceptive footwork (obvious); rapid full-body approach into the opponent from different angles, and escape ("hidden")
- "Weaving": rapid structural reangling and shoulder/torso blows (obvious); fa-jin and shen-fa in the manner of xinyiba and spinal wave mechanics ("hidden")
- "Tipping": fa-jin from "awkward" angles to maximize usability ("hidden")
- There is a lot of opportunity to extract plyometric training from any of the typical non-"wushu" Zuiquan forms, it seems. ("hidden")
- Based on the forms I've seen and the extrapolations above, the applications and tactics of Zuiquan seem to be:
- Distance game played, looking for an opening. No engagement until then.
- Rapid entry into the opponent's close range using deceptive footwork and body angling
- Powerful close-range impact strikes using xinyiba and spinal wave. Emphasis on elbow, shoulder, and body strikes.
- Lots of really nasty joint locks and "grand overhead" shuaijiao throws are pretty explicit in most of the forms, not really seen in demos or "partnered" forms. The hand shape alone suggests that the hands grab, not strike (see above for striking surfaces).
- The famous "lifting a barrel of wine" movement is most likely a German suplex and a plyometric exercise posture when isolated.
- Some of the "landed" postures suggest ground submissions. I remember one particular submission from BJJ looks exactly like one of the zuiquan landed postures.
Using this video as a reference. Ignoring the demonstrator's applications, which are crap except for the back blow at 00:22.
- Ground submission posture at 00:33
- Pretty obvious throw at 01:33
This video shows how not to fight with zuiquan.
Using the staggering footwork as shown in the form is highly inefficient. Hell, fighting like the form is performed is very inefficient. Another example of the visual overtaking the meaning.
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For some reason, I was thinking about Drunken Fist the other night.
"Drunken Boxing" is usually thought of as a component of a larger system. Choy Lay Fut (Cai Li Fo), for example, has a "drunken" form. There are a few people who claim to have learned a "system" of Drunken Boxing. Can't vouch for historical truth of their statements or training.
Seems to me that Zuiquan is a highly misunderstood (sub-)system that even many of its practitioners don't get or begin to understand.
My quick analysis of Zuiquan:
- "Staggering": deceptive footwork (obvious); rapid full-body approach into the opponent from different angles, and escape ("hidden")
- "Weaving": rapid structural reangling and shoulder/torso blows (obvious); fa-jin and shen-fa in the manner of xinyiba and spinal wave mechanics ("hidden")
- "Tipping": fa-jin from "awkward" angles to maximize usability ("hidden")
- There is a lot of opportunity to extract plyometric training from any of the typical non-"wushu" Zuiquan forms, it seems. ("hidden")
- Based on the forms I've seen and the extrapolations above, the applications and tactics of Zuiquan seem to be:
- Distance game played, looking for an opening. No engagement until then.
- Rapid entry into the opponent's close range using deceptive footwork and body angling
- Powerful close-range impact strikes using xinyiba and spinal wave. Emphasis on elbow, shoulder, and body strikes.
- Lots of really nasty joint locks and "grand overhead" shuaijiao throws are pretty explicit in most of the forms, not really seen in demos or "partnered" forms. The hand shape alone suggests that the hands grab, not strike (see above for striking surfaces).
- The famous "lifting a barrel of wine" movement is most likely a German suplex and a plyometric exercise posture when isolated.
- Some of the "landed" postures suggest ground submissions. I remember one particular submission from BJJ looks exactly like one of the zuiquan landed postures.
Using this video as a reference. Ignoring the demonstrator's applications, which are crap except for the back blow at 00:22.
Click to view- Ground submission posture at 00:33
- Pretty obvious throw at 01:33
This video shows how not to fight with zuiquan.
Using the staggering footwork as shown in the form is highly inefficient. Hell, fighting like the form is performed is very inefficient. Another example of the visual overtaking the meaning.