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Chin-na

The Chinese art of seizing and locking that uses striking and seizing of acupuncture points, grasping of tendons and blood vessels, and the locking of joints, techniques widely incorporated into Chinese fighting arts. Included is a mix of throws, takedowns, kicking, punching, and joint manipulations that parallel techniques in Judo, Jujutsu, and karate. Techniques are also associated with Dim-mak

Chinese Boxing

Generic term for most Chinese martial arts.

Chinese Wrestling (Shuai-Jao)

Modern Chinese wrestling, mostly groundwork, but has some flipping and throwing.

Chiao Ti

Ancient Chinese wrestling, where the practitioners both wore horned helmets and tried to gore each other.

Dim-mak

Also Dim-mok, or Dian-mai. The Chinese science of attacking the body and/or its acupuncture points or nerve centers to disrupt internal energy (ki, chi, or qi), organs, or blood flow and cause injury, or death, immediately, or hours, days, or weeks later. Techniques are associated with Chin-na.

Pa Qua

A form of Daoist boxing meaning "eight diagram palm," referring to the eight trigrams symbols used as the basis of the Chinese classic, I-Ching (Book of Changes), that reflects the constant change and intuition central to pa qua practice. Pa-qua's central exercise is walking in a circular pattern with careful foot and body postures, however, this should not be confused with the art's strategy. Many assume that a Pa-qua practitioner circles an opponent looking for an opening, but the circularity instead refers to use of circular movement, shifting, adjusting, and turning as a method of gaining advantage to the side or behind. Opponent attacks are avoided, redirected, dissolved, lead, or unbalanced, which permits short, powerful counters. Defenders sometimes flow around an opponent's center, sometimes they enter into the center. They are always spinning, unbalancing, and controlling with constant counterattacks of sticking, open hand attacks, elbows, and striking palms, while always avoiding any fixed position or direct resistance. The effect is to create circular energy and power within circular movement of the opponent, similar to Aikido's strategy.

Although pa qua's origin is unknown, history recounts that the discipline was taught to Tung Hai Ch'uan (1798-1879) around 1820 by an unnamed Taoist priest in Kaingsu province who found Tung nearly dead from starvation and nursed him back to health. Later Tung moved to Peking and became quite well known for his boxing skills. There he was challenged by another famous boxer, Kua Yun-Shen, from a rival style, hsing-i (divine hand), that was known for its direct and powerful linear style. The match lasted three days. During the first two days neither could gain advantage; both were equally matched. On the third day, Tung took the offensive and ended up defeating his challenger. The two ended up as friends and vowed thereafter to teach the two styles together. Thus, even today when you find one system, the other is often taught along with it. Both are classified as internal disciplines that develop and utilize internal energy of ki (chi in China). Both disciplines share the concept that the mind unites actions and thought into one. Thus, training the mind allows transformation of the internal to the external technique. Pa qua is classified as an internal system along with hsing-i and tai-chi.

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