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SLAMMIN' SHUAI CHIAO
Author: Jason William McNeil
If someone says the word "kung fu," what images leap to mind? Bruce Lee’s cinematic fists of fury dispatching dozens of Japanese bad guys? Jet Li’s ballet-like dance of carnage executed as he flies through the air with the greatest of ease and sends his opponents crashing to their knees? Dancing paper lions and colorful silk costumes? Exotic weapons and graceful, high-kicking forms? Because the public face of the Chinese arts has been molded chiefly by tournament performances, modern wushu gymnastics and a few good (along with a lot of terrible) samples of chop-socky cinema, many Westerners and a few Far Easterners have been led to conclude that kung fu is merely a more graceful and gymnastic version of karate devoted to punching, kicking, jumping and posing.
Obviously, those doubting Thomases haven’t received much exposure to the oldest and perhaps most respected of the Chinese arts, shuai chiao (also spelled shuai jiao). They’d be surprised to discover that this hyper-effective art is actually a kind of Asian wrestling. That’s right, wrestling. Like other cultures around the world, the earliest forms of Chinese hand-to-hand combat naturally grew from the instinct to grab an opponent and twist him into submission.
Shuai chiao was first recorded as a method of military training during the reign of Huang Ti, the "Yellow Emperor" who lived circa 2697 B.C. From that time on, it thrived as an exercise and a method of combat utilized by China’s greatest warriors, who continued to practice and streamline its brutally efficient repertoire of techniques. As the millennia rolled by, punching and kicking were developed, utilized and codified, as was the inevitable advance of weaponry. Shuai chiao, however, continued its steady rise in efficacy even as the striking arts elbowed their way into the spotlight.
By the time of the Song dynasty
(960–1279), shuai chiao had risen to an advanced level and spawned an adjunct version of its core techniques known as kuai chiao (fast wrestling). It was taught in addition to traditional wrestling skills and on its own as a relatively simple and effective method of neutralizing an opponent’s attack that perfectly suited the needs of military and law-enforcement personnel.
While traditional shuai chiao remained a respected and venerated art in its own right, the "new" (post- 13th century) method of fast wrestling became extremely popular with government officials and civilian practitioners. While Chinese grappling’s civilian popularity has diminished somewhat in recent times because of the twin assaults of Hong Kong cinema and mainland China’s high-profile wushu, the techniques of fast wrestling continue to be an integral part of the self-defense and combat training of the police, military and special forces of China and Taiwan. Even with today’s emphasis on battlefield technology, those officers, soldiers and spec-ops troops who need no-nonsense, easily applicable and ultra-effective fighting skills turn, as their forebears have for thousands of years, to shuai chiao’s younger and faster brother.
To the first-time observer or participant, the bao ding style of fast wrestling teaches techniques that resemble those of jujutsu or even judo. That’s natural, as all techniques of grabbing and throwing share many superficial and several substantive commonalities. Furthermore, records dating from the late Ming dynasty (circa 1659) document a shuai chiao master having fled China and settled in Japan, where he’s believed to have taught the art to his Japanese hosts and neighbors. In fact, the Japanese erected a monument to honor his contribution to their fighting arts, and it still stands outside a temple in Tokyo.
To the aficionado, however, there are several elements of the bao ding style that distinguish its practitioners from their gi-clad counterparts. Compared to more traditional Chinese grappling, jujutsu and judo, fast wrestling emphasizes more speed when throwing—hence, the name. There are no long clutches and no jockeying for a better grip or position. The fighter just grabs and throws. Furthermore, falling to the ground and tangling with an opponent— the heart and soul of most forms of Eastern and Western wrestling— is considered bad strategy and something to be avoided. Lying on the floor and locking up, especially when one may have to fight several opponents at once, is viewed as a dangerous proposition.
The one and only goal of kuai chiao is to quickly disable an opponent so he can’t fight back, thus ending the altercation as quickly and decisively as possible. In most fastwrestling self-defense scenarios, the attacker is grabbed and immediately slammed to the ground with sufficient force to prevent him from getting up and attacking again.
Developed over centuries of experimentation and field application, fastwrestling throws can cause tremendous physical damage. The severity of the injury is, of course, dependent upon the force used to execute the technique. Even with what’s termed "moderate" power, kuai chiao throws will floor an opponent and ruin his ability to continue the fight. With what practitioners sometimes call "excessive force," fast-wrestling techniques can cause permanent injury or even death. The kuai chiao practitioner learns to get close to his opponent quickly and use power and body positioning against him. Because of the speed and effectiveness of the throws, would-be attackers often don’t have a chance to fight back. Instead, they find themselves in the air and subsequently on the floor and injured in the blink of an eye.
As in any fighting endeavor, strength always helps, and shuai chiao stylists are often among the most powerfully built of martial masters. Yet skillful execution of fast-wrestling techniques and the application of the correct move at the correct moment are key to success.
Taking advantage of an opportunity to throw and choosing the right technique—all in a split second— also depend upon the opponent’s energy and posture. The kuai chiao wrestler learns that when his foe’s body is extended forward, he shouldn’t try to throw him backward. He trains to be able to size up his opponent’s balance, posture and intention in an instant, then absorb the other man’s energy, add some of his own and slam the assailant to the ground in a torturous tangle of twisted limbs and broken bones.
Something for Everyone
Because of the effectiveness and relatively straightforward nature of fast wrestling, its techniques are often taught with older forms of shuai chiao and sometimes alongside nongrappling- oriented martial arts. When practiced as an adjunct to other styles, the skills and principles of kuai chiao can be easily incorporated into most any martial artist’s empty-hand arsenal. Practitioners who want to add quick and effective combat throws and takedowns to their skill set would do well to investigate what it has to offer.
About the author: Jason William McNeil is a free-lance writer and martial artist based in Roanoke, Virginia. He would like to thank the Taiwan Tourism Board and the people of Taiwan for the assistance they provided during the preparation of this article. ...