Chinese wrestling

[Tal S]

Mr. Cartmell:

I hope this isn't outside the realm of your purpose for this forum, but could you elaborate on the chinese wrestling style (shuia jiao ?) and it's differences/similarities with judo?

Thank you,

Tal Stanfield

[Tim Cartmell]

Hi Tal,
Shuai Jiao is the oldest martial art in China. There are three main styles, Beijing, Tianjin and Baoding (also known as "fast wrestling").

Shuai Jiao is similar to Judo in many respects, participants wear a uniform (much like a gi, but the sleeves don't go past the elbow), and throws are set up primarily with grips on the cloth. The main difference between the arts is that in competition Shuai Jiao, there is no ground work at all, the action stops when one of the fighters is thrown. In addition, there is no concept of victory by a single throw, there is no way to score an "ippon" with one technique. In Shaui Jiao rules, the match is for a certain period of time and points are awarded for throws for the whole match, the fighter with the most points at the end wins.

Many of the throws are similar, but sacracfice techniques are not used in sport Shuai Jiao (since whoever hits the ground first loses points). It is also illegal in sport Shuai Jiao to throw opponents with techniques that lock the joints.

[Tal S]

Tim:

Thanks for your quick reply. My next question is what is the training like?

Tal Stanfield

[Guts]

I don't mean to butt my way into this thread. But, I felt I could give some good info.

Tal, if your interested in hearing what Shuai Chaio is about from a Shuai Chaio master, check out-

http://www.emptyflower.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi/YaBB.cgi

One of Chang Tung Shengs (one of the best Shuai Chaio players ever) students, John Wang posts there. All his posts are really informative about Shuai Chaio and it's combat mindset. Him and his schoool brother, David Lin call their art "Combat Shuai Chaio". They are really rough by all accounts.

For training, Shuai Chaio really depends upon the teacher. Most teach it in a really grueling fashion. Lot's of belt cracking, stance keeping, and all around power and conditioning training. I've heard it's nicknamed "devils training" in some circles. It's not always that way though, I've had a teacher who taught Shuai Chaio very much like Aikido.

Even though locking is forbidden in tournament competition, most Shuai Chaio I learned always entailed Chin Na. It also had striking to enter. From what I understand, a Shuai Chaio players main goal is to throw the opponent hard, usually at a very akward angle, and possibly breaking something along the way of the throw.

It's a great art.

[Tim Cartmell]

Shuai Jiao training includes basic conditioning exercises and several methods of training with equipment and without. There is usually an emphasis placed on holding various stances. Then there are solo forms, that are basically the movements of the techniques done in the air left and right. Some of the equipment used are long canvas bags filled with bb's that is held at both ends and snapped (or "cracked") to build up power to jerk the opponent off his base (like Guts said, a folded judo belt can also be used for these exercises). There is alot of grip strength training (including twisting of bundles of sticks), work with dumbells and barbells, rolling and falling training, and throwing and catching of various sized sand bags. Back in the day, techniques were also practiced against large bundles of flexible sticks buried in the ground. Entry techniqes are practiced against heavy bags.

Partner training usually includes grip fighting, technical training and sparring. There are some good Shuai Jiao websites (search for "shuai jiao" or "shuai chiao").