User:Lucaschristo/sandbox/Shaolin Zhou Tong Boxing

Shaolin Zhou Tong Kick-Boxing (Shaolin Zhou Tong quantui 少林周同拳腿) Zhou Tong (周同 or 周侗 ?-1121 AD) was the legendary teacher of the Chinese national hero Yue Fei (岳飛 1103-1142 AD), living during the Song Dynasty (宋朝 960-1279 AD). He was known to have taught him mainly archery and horsemanship, but we do not know any real historical written records on fist and kicks fighting techniques transmissions to Yue Fei. Zhou Tong was born in Tongguan (潼關) in Shaanxi province (陝西), and it is traditionally said that he had learned his Shaolin arts with a monk named Tan Zhenfang (譚正芳). It is also transmitted in Chinese folklore that he will have three other students who were legendary heroes of the novel “The Water Margin”; “Jade Unicorn” Lu Junyi (盧俊義), “Leopard” Lin Chong (林冲), and “Tiger fighter” Wu Song (武松). Zhou Tong is the legendary ancestor of the “Piercing feet” style (戳脚 Chuojiao, who developed later in “Piercing feet and rotating fists” Chuojiao fanzi quan 戳脚翻子拳), the “Mandarin Duck Legs” (Yuanyuan tui 鴛鴦腿) and the boxing style of Yan Qing (Yan Qing quan 燕青拳 or Mizong quan 迷踪拳). Yan Qing was the disciple of Lu Junyi and then Yan Qing quan is supposedly coming from that lineage, while Chuojiao was perhaps taught by Lin Chong and Yuanyuan tui by Wusong or by Lin Chong. For weapons, the “Five steps and Thirteen Spear techniques” (Wubu shisanqiang 五步十三槍) and the “Stick of Zhou Tong” (Zhoutong gun 周同棍) are also supposedly a creation of Zhou Tong. Although whether Zhou Tong had any influence of these styles or not, they are composed of different types of positions and theories of fighting. The only similar characteristic of these four styles of kick boxing (Chuojiao, Zhou Tong quantui, Yanqing quan, Yuanyuan tui) is that they all emphasis on leg techniques, thus the Shaolin monks of the Ming dynasty already perhaps referred to their original style of kick boxing as coming from Zhou Tong as their main ancestor. The real heritage of Zhou Tong himself is supposedly doubtful, however from the Ming dynasty, some of the monks of the Shaolin temple in Henan province (Shaolin si 少林寺) seems to have practiced a method of fighting with the name of Shaolin Zhoutong quantui (少林周同拳腿 or Zhoutui 周腿). Not to be mistaken with the Zhou family boxing (Zhoujia quan 周家拳) of Southern China, transmitted by Zhou Long (周龍1891-1919). Literally meaning “The Shaolin fists and legs of Zhou Tong,” this system has been one of the most characteristic and effective of the Shaolin styles, because using many leg techniques and jumps. Shaolin Zhoutong quantui is not practiced in the temple itself nowadays, but it was in earlier times, before to be transmitted by the warrior-monk Lian Kuo (Lian Kuo Heshang 連闊和尚) to the young Cao Yanhai at the beginning of the 20th Century in Shanxi province. Lian Kuo was the Abbot of the Baiyi Buddhist temple in Sun Zhuan village near Cangzhou in Hebei province. Abbot Lian Kuo who was a good fighter had learned Yanqing boxing (燕青拳) from Chen Guangzhi (陈广智) the son of Chen Shan (陈善), the best student of Master Sun Tong (孙通, 1772-1882) who took the style from The Shaolin Monastery. The fists and legs of Zhou Tong, or “Shaolin Zhoutong quantui” include many jumps and kicks as a main particularity of this system. It is composed of long movements and hard punches and kicks, focusing on attacking forward, ups and down, and from all sides. It is appropriate especially for young and athletic students, and various exercises are made for practicing jumping skills. This ancient style of the Shaolin monastery is based on the development of the physical condition. There is a specific drill included for training called “The work of lightness” (qinggong 輕功) which consists in running on an increasingly tilted wooden board fixed on a wall. This system which is not very long, is immediately effective for fighting, the style having originally ten short routines, or forms (Taolu 套路) effectuated on a straight line. Various other styles of the Shaolin temple are made in order to be performed, to work on a particular skill or simply to keep health. The Zhou Tong style does not have the basic stances of the regular Shaolin routines, and the simplicity of the techniques are made in order to train both physical condition and effectiveness in combat. The Shaolin Zhou Tong boxing system was transmitted to Gong Chengxiang (龔成祥 1892-1980)from Cao Yanhai who learned it from the Buddhist fighting monk Lian Kuo in Hebei. Cao Yanhai (曹晏海 1903-1939) was an outstanding fighter of a tall size, very good at using his legs, and he was as well one of the students of the Nanjing martial arts school (Nanjing guoshu guan 南京國術官) before the Second World War. The Nanjing Martial arts school, known also as the Central Martial arts Institute (Zhongyang guoshu guan 中央國術官) was founded by Zhang Zhijiang (張之江1882-1966) in 1928, and became the first Chinese Martial arts school of New Era China together with the Jingwu Athletic association of Shanghai (Shanghai Jingwu tiyuhui 上海精武體育會). He changed some of the original Yanqing boxing stances and applications, and changed 10 new forms and added the qilin posture to his techniques of fighting. he was named the "pit-viper." There is also the Zhou family transmitting this style of boxing in Lanzhou city, Gansu province. They name it "The little origin of the Zhou family" (Zhoujia xiaomu 周家小母). It has been passed down from Yuzhong prefecture of Gansu to Zhou Daye (周大爺), perhaps a far relative of Zhou Tong himself during the end of the Qing dynasty at the early period of the 20th century. Then the style was transmitted in Lanzhou city by his later pupil Wang Fuhan and then Fuhan's main disciple Wang Fengxiang. Shaolin Zhou Tong Boxing is also known in Taiwan as it has been brought there by some of the Guomingdang officers from Lushan. In the Shaolin temple today, there is a form called Zhou Tong Baoquan, but it is a far cry from the original system.