Fānziquán

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Fānziquán (Chinese: 翻子拳; literally "tumbling fist") is a Chinese martial art that emphasizes offense and defense with the hands.

As a Chinese martial art, it is usually practiced in sets of preformulated routines. Its movements have been described thus: "Two fists are fast like the falling rain drops, and fast like a snapping whip". Fanziquan routines are usually quite short and very fast. There are no weapons routines for Fanziquan.

Fānziquán is a source of the modern Eagle Claw style.

1 History
2 Modern Day
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] History

Until at least the Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), Fānziquán was known as Bāshǎnfān (Chinese: 八閃翻; literally "8 flash tumbles"), or "8 evasive tumbles".

Fānziquán is often taught in conjunction with Chuōjiǎo, not unlike how Xíngyìquán and Bāguàzhǎng are often taught together. The routines of Chuōjiǎo, with its kicks, wide open stances and focus on hard power, were known as Martial Routines and those of Fānziquán, with their more compact movements combining soft and hard power, were known as Scholarly Routines, which is why the Chuōjiǎo Fānziquán combination is known as "Martial-Scholar".

Both Fānziquán and Chuōjiǎo are associated with the 12th century Song Dynasty general Yue Fei and the association between the two may date that far back. However, as a legendary figure, Yue Fei has had many martial arts attributed to him, including Eagle Claw and Xíngyìquán.

Nonetheless, the association between the two is old enough that by the mid-19th century, Zhao Canyi, a general in the failed Taiping Rebellion, was a master of both styles.

After the failure of the rebellion, Zhao went into seclusion in Hebei Province in Raoyang, where he taught Fānziquán, which emphasizes the hands, to the Wang family and Chuōjiǎo, which emphasizes the feet, to the Duan family.

During practice, the families would exchange techniques.