British Shuai Jiao Team Success at European Championships  

Monday 13 June, 2005

European Shuai Jiao Union - 1st European Shuai Jiao Championships

11 June2005, Castellon, Spain

Many of the best Shuai Jiao practitioners in Europe gathered in Spain for the European Shuai Jiao Union's first European Shuai Jiao Championships. Although Shuai Jiao is a far more ancient system of martial arts, with a history dating back some 4,000 years, it is relatively new to Europe, but is growing in popularity each year. Six countries/regions attended the European Championships: Basque Country, France, Great Britain, Italy, Spain and Sweden.

British Shuai Jiao Team:

The ten strong British delegation was led by Master Rob Simpson. The team members were selected from the British Shuai Jiao Team selection process held at Wellspace in Luton, Bedfordshire, and represented some of the best that Great Britain has to offer in Shuai Jiao practitioners.

The team took part in monthly training sessions organised by Master Simpson with his two coaches Neville Seaton and Niki Saddler. The team worked very well together and leading up to during and following the tournament maintained tremendous team spirit. Many of the team had not competed internationally before this tournament and were put through their paces in a grueling tnon-stop tournament with matches running late into the night. The team soon became accustomed to the demands both psychological and physical that the tournament placed on them, and rose to the challenge. 

As European Champions, both Eddy Lewis and Winston Shakespeare have secured their places on the British Shuai Jiao Team attending the World Tournament in Milan, in December.

What's Next:

The next Shuai Jiao event in UK will be at the Wirral Tournament in Birkenhead, on 4 September. This event will present an excellent opportunity for competitors to  'warm up' for the forthcoming nationals, and selections for the World Shuai Jiao Championships, at the BCCMA National Championships, in Bletchley, Milton Keynes, on 26 September. The World Shuai Jiao Championships will be held in Milan, Italy over three days 2-4 December.

Chinese Kuoshu Institute Contact Details:

For more information on Shuai Jiao visit the Chinese Kuoshu Institute website: www.kuoshu.co.uk or contact the Chinese Kuoshu Institute on:

Telephone: 01582 876700  Facsimile: 01582 876701  E-mail: admin@kuoshu.co.uk

Shuai Jiao Background:

China boasts some 400 or so fist styles of martial arts. That roughly correlates to one style per dialect spoken in China. Yet for all the formidable styles and systems that were readily available for the different governments of China to choose from, both sides of the Taiwan Straits retained Chinese wrestling (also known as Shuai Jiao) as the essential combat training for its armed forces and the police. The most ancient of the Chinese martial arts, Shuai Jiao is a system of grappling and throwing techniques which evolved from Mongolian and Northern Chinese wrestling, and traces its history back some 4000 years. Shuai Jiao is often referred to as the Mother of the Throwing Arts, evolving over time and geography into its Japanese cognates of Sumo, Jujutsu, Judo, and Aikido.

Although the Shuai Jiao syllabus contains striking techniques that can be used effectively against the opponent, these are performed usually in the context of throwing. In comparison, fist fighters would hit their opponent with their hands and feet. A throw specialist, by unbalancing and throwing their opponent, would, in effect, strike his opponent with the ground.  The difference between the two strategies in terms of impact is obvious.

In addition, an opponent who is not well versed in break-falling stands little if any chance of walking away uninjured from the fall, and even a skilled opponent may not be able to save himself from severe injury if the throws are delivered such that a safe break-fall is impossible.  Because of this, most Shuai Jiao training was mostly reserved for the military and was rarely ever taught to the public until the modern day (1976).

Whilst masters such as Jiang Hao-Quan taught the armed forces in the People’s Republic of China, Grandmaster Chang Tung-Sheng was retained by the Taiwanese (ROC) government to train its special forces, and establish a training program for its police at the Central Police University in Taipei. Grandmaster Chang was also responsible for standardising the grading system, and created the modern coloured belt ranking system. It is Grandmaster Chang’s Bao Ding style of Shuai Jiao, often referred to as Kuai Shuai (fast wrestling), which is currently being taught in Luton by Master Rob Simpson. Master Simpson is the only Shuai Jiao Master, teaching in Great Britain, recognised by the international governing bodies for Shuai Jiao for both the People’s Republic of China and Taiwan (ROC).

The brand of Chinese wrestling taught is geared towards handling a hostile opponent who may be attacking with a variety of techniques. Unlike many other grappling styles which base their techniques on an opponent who is wrestling and is not striking, the basic Shuai Jiao throws are taught as possible answers to a punch, kick, grab or choke, thus giving the practitioner the ability to deal with the widest possible variety of attacks. And according to the situation, these rapid throws could be altered to merely subdue an opponent or to injure them in a more permanent way. The techniques of the Bao Ding style also steer clear of full dependence on a the opponents uniform for grabbing, and tend to use the bare limbs and anatomical ‘handles’ with which the human body is naturally endowed.

Versatility is a major factor in the appeal of Shuai Jiao. As the system can handle such a wide variety of attacks, it also employs some of those same attacks to set up throws or amplify the shock of a throw. Hands and legs are used in almost equal proportion to create the maximum leverage on an opponent’s weakest angle.  Normally, hand usage is relegated to safe techniques like grabbing, blocking, twisting, pushing or pulling, and the feet are used for sweeping and tripping. In a combat situation, however, those techniques come to include full-power kicking (mostly to the legs) and powerful upper body strikes, such as elbows and palm strikes, all of which can be used in conjunction with a throw to amplify its height, speed and raw power. This gives the practitioner the ability to alter his level of force based on the situation with which he’s faced.  Kicking, punching, joint locking (Chin Na), and throwing are all within his natural vocabulary of motion, and Shuai Jiao ability to work as a non-conflicting adjunct with other striking-oriented martial arts is a large reason for its growing popularity.  This is also the reason why ground grappling, although taught, is conspicuously absent encounters with opponents, as the combination of strikes and violent throws are designed such that an opponent will have minimal opportunity to issue a takedown or land safely if thrown.

Chinese wrestling is currently becoming more popular. The tournament version ‘Sport Shuai Jiao’ of the style can be seen several times a year in tournaments all over the United States, and annually in China, Taiwan (ROC), and Europe. The International Olympic Committee has also expressed an interest in the oldest of the Chinese martial arts, specifically with the Olympic Games in China in mind. With the tremendous success of Shuai Jiao stylists in San Shou and in Kuoshu Lei Tai (Chinese full contact platform), the style is gaining a significant stature in martial arts events. And judging by the reaction of the crowds that watch its competitors, the fast and furious throws of Chinese wrestling are here to stay!

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