Emei Martial Arts

Emei Kungfu

Emei Martial Arts originated from the pre-Qin period (the 21st century - 221 BC) in the famous  Mt. Emei of Sichuan Province. It was created by a Kung Fu master named Situ Xuankong, who once imitated the behaviors of the white apes to create the White Ape Sword Skills. The Southern Song Dynasty (1127 - 1279) saw its forming to which the White Cloud Buddhist Master (Baiyun Monk) and the White Eyebrows Taoist (Baimei Taoist) made great contributions. Together with Shaolin and Wudang, Emei is one of the three main schools of Chinese Kung Fu.
 The famous Five Flowers of Emei Martial Arts refer to Green City School (Qingcheng School) in Mt. Qingcheng of Chengdu, Iron Buddha School (Tiefo School) in Iron Buddha Temple of Chengdu, Black Ox School (Qingniu School) in Fengdu of Chongqing, Dianyi School in Fuling of Chongqing, and Yellow Forest School (Huanglin School) in Rongchang and Longchang, Sichuan.

Qingcheng School emphasizes emptiness encouraging the practice of the superior Kung Fu. It holds that as long as the superior skills are grasped, the easy ones will naturally be taken in. Besides, it appeals that the mind should be quiet and bear no ill will against anybody. At present, some skills are recorded in the Qingcheng Annals, such as Converse Means of Yin and Yang, Return of the Heaven and the Earth, Nine Approaches for Casting Swords and others.

Yellow Forest School is named due to a legend that during the reign of Emperor Yongzheng of the Qing Dynasty (1644 - 1911), many Kung Fu men were arrested by the imperial court, as a result they were forced to take refuge in Nine-Peak Mountain, where they compared notes and improved the skills of different schools to form a complete Kung Fu series. Later, many followers that went there for learning found the ground covered with the yellow leaves of many Ginkgo trees each autumn. For the beautiful scenery, people call this school Yellow Forest.
 Emei Martial Arts is characterized by the movement of hands or feet, especially the motions of feet changing constantly, quickly and forcefully. The changing styles take both offence and defence into consideration. The movements are usually stretched, steady and powerful, full of ups and downs. The essential is “following strict regulations when learning and using freely according to specific situations”. It emphasizes both strength and softness, whilst the styles are stronger than Wudang School and softer than Shaolin School.

Emei School has 1,093 bare-hand fighting skills, 518 skills with weapons, 41 pair practice routines and 276 practice methods. Based on different contents, forms, characteristics and functions, the major Kung Fu skills include boxing, weapons, Sanshou or Sanda and others. Boxing has four sorts (High Stake Boxing, Short Stake Boxing, Kejia Boxing and Faxiang Boxing), eight small schools called Eight Leaves (Seng, Yue, Zhao, Du, Hong, Hua, Zi and Hui) and eighteen styles (Firedrake Boxing, Yu Family Boxing, Sword Boxing, Arhat Boxing, Monkey Boxing, Tiger Claw Boxing and others). 

 The essence of High Stake Boxing lies in the perfect combination of skills and methods, getting strength by adjusting breath and energy, using internal and external strength together, changeable between power and softness and also between dynamic and static states. Once in a combat, the quick hands attack can be fully presented.

 Short Stake Boxing stresses one-side offence and defence. With steady steps, the learners need to use the combination of short and swift fists and the palms and fingers to attack. It emphasizes “slow moves of the steps and quick attacks of fists”. The main offence skills are twining, lifting, cuddling, knocking, buckling etc. and the defense features are evading, stretching, pronating, withdrawing etc.

 Kejia Boxing features quick moves and the combination of strength and softness. The main styles include hacking, butchering, hanging and others, especially laying much emphasis on the practice of feet, hands, bodies, steps, spirits, strength and skills. Nearly 100 Kung Fu styles belong to this sort, such as Hongmen Palm and others.

 Faxiang Boxing (Animal Imitation Boxing) is a Kung Fu style imitating the animals. It has distinctive skills to sneak attack. When preparing the attack, many imitating moves are made to harass the opponent’s view to fail to tell the real and virtual offence and suddenly the moves are extended to attack. It includes Monkey Boxing, Snake Boxing, Duck-Shape Boxing, Ox Horn Boxing and others.

 Sanshou has been very popular since the Ming and Qing dynasties (1368 - 1911) when boxing contests were usually held. The skills are abundant including various boxing skills featuring quick, hard, pointed and steady attack. Therefore, fists, palms, elbows and knees are complexly applied in Sanda.

 Twelve-Stake Boxing was created by the White Cloud Buddhist Master connecting the situations of Yin and Yang and the physical conditions of human’s body with the martial arts. It emphasizes the twelve skills practiced in a certain order according to Tian, Di, Zhi, Xin, Long, He, Feng, Yun, Da, Xiao, You and Ming. Tian, literally meaning heaven, requires the fighters to train their ability to raise the breath and energy in the body, while Di, the earth, requires to lower the breath and energy; Zhi means to open the breath and show the inner power out, while Xin, literally mind, means to conserve the energy; Long (dragon) here asks the fighters to train their masculinity, while He (crane) here asks for femininity; Feng (wind), features the speed, while Yun (cloud) features the slowness; Da (big) shows the quietness, while Xiao (small) shows the jerkiness; You, literally meaning loneness, requires the practitioners to be peaceful in mind, while Ming, meaning meditation, requires clear observation and thinking.

There are six special static Emei skills, including the Tiger Steps, Heavy Beat, Shrinking on the Ground, Capsule Suspension, Finger Dim Mak and Nirvana Practice. Weapons used in Emei Martial Arts include sword, spear, Jingang Buddhist Cane, Thirteen Whips and also some featured hidden ones like the hairpin and the needle. The pair practice emphasizes both offence and defence without paltering with any movement. The practice methods are all traditional ways including Qigong, Yinggong and Ruangong. All these methods benefit self-defence, body-building and fitness.