Dishu Boxing
01 · Historical Records
Legend holds that this boxing style was created by the Qing-dynasty nun 'Master Fourth Month' of Bailian Convent, and that it has been passed down for five generations to the present day.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Dishuquan, also known as 'Dishu Quanfa' (the ground-technique dog method) or 'Gouquan' (dog boxing), is a boxing style within the traditional martial arts and is widely practiced in the Fujian region. Dishuquan is a style of unique character, formed by imitating the alertness, agility, flexibility, robustness, and ferocity of the dog, as well as its adeptness at overturning, rolling, pouncing, throwing, clipping, darting, scurrying, leaping, drilling, and hanging. Its upper, middle, and lower levels (sanpan) integrate the swift and fierce hand techniques of southern boxing with the flexible and changeable leg techniques of northern boxing; the lower level is its greatest strength. Once thrown to the ground, the practitioner gives full play to ground-based self-protection and grappling-and-binding striking actions, while imitating the ferocity and agility of a dog in combat. Among the Chinese martial arts, there are few boxing styles that focus primarily on fighting from the ground. Dishuquan is a representative style of this type of attack-and-defense technique among the southern boxing schools. As the essential mnemonic of Dishuquan's boxing canon states: 'The dog method lands in pengche lian; it falls, pounces, rolls, and turns, rising and sinking; light, quick, fierce, and swift, its transformations are endless; its kicks, binds, and traps reveal its power.'
The names Dog-art and Dog Boxing
Also called Dog-art or Dog Boxing, the style imitates the dog's alertness and ferocity through rolling, pouncing and leaping.
Upper, middle and lower levels
The style fuses swift southern boxing arms with nimble northern legs, its ground level the most feared and given to locking and binding.
The boxing classic on the grounded dog
The style's classic verse describes the grounded dog, falling, rolling, rising and sinking, and the power of kicks and bindings.
Southern arms and northern legs
Using the ground for power and the back as an axis, the style turns an opponent's pressure into its own roll, rare among southern arts.
Chen Yijiu and Fuzhou transmission
The Fuzhou line descends from the boxer Chen Yijiu, taught today in urban martial halls and security-training schools.
Master Siyue and five generations
Tradition holds that the nun Master Siyue of White Lotus Nunnery created the art in the Qing, handed down through five generations.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
Dishuquan is widely practiced throughout the Fujian region and is especially flourishing in the Fuzhou area. Fuzhou lies in the lower reaches of the Min River and has a strong southern-boxing atmosphere; Dishuquan coexists there with styles such as Hequan (Crane Boxing) and Luohanquan (Arhat Boxing), forming a boxing approach that imitates the alertness, agility, flexibility, robustness, and ferocity of the dog. The Dishuquan currently transmitted in the Fuzhou area derives from the master Chen Yijiu; the Fujian Dishuquan Association and the Fujian Jingwu Security Training School serve as its protecting organizations, and practitioners consist mainly of masters from Fuzhou and eastern Fujian, along with security professionals. Training in Dishuquan begins with stance holding and walking-horse drills, then proceeds to falling, pouncing, rolling, and turning, and finally moves to paired attack-and-defense drills on the ground. Practitioners must have good flexibility and waist-and-leg strength, or they are easily injured when falling; in former times the art was therefore mostly taught in person by masters, who corrected movements face to face. Mnemonic verses such as 'pengche lian upon landing' and 'rising and sinking' are also used to cue the coordination of body movement and breathing. Dishuquan is widely practiced throughout the Fujian region and is especially flourishing in the Fuzhou area. Fuzhou lies in the lower reaches of the Min River and has a strong southern-boxing atmosphere; Dishuquan coexists there with styles such as Hequan (Crane Boxing) and Luohanquan (Arhat Boxing), forming a boxing approach that imitates the alertness, agility, flexibility, robustness, and ferocity of the dog. The Dishuquan currently transmitted in the Fuzhou area derives from the master Chen Yijiu; the Fujian Dishuquan Association and the Fujian Jingwu Security Training School serve as its protecting organizations, and practitioners consist mainly of masters from Fuzhou and eastern Fujian, along with security professionals. Training in Dishuquan begins with stance holding and walking-horse drills, then proceeds to falling, pouncing, rolling, and turning, and finally moves to paired attack-and-defense drills on the ground. Practitioners must have good flexibility and waist-and-leg strength, or they are easily injured when falling; in former times the art was therefore mostly taught in person by masters, who corrected movements face to face. Mnemonic verses such as 'pengche lian upon landing' and 'rising and sinking' are also used to cue the coordination of body movement and breathing. The key to Dishuquan's combat technique lies in borrowing force from the ground and using the back and waist as the axis, converting the opponent's pressing advance into one's own rolling momentum: falling to the ground does not mean losing position—on the contrary, it is the start of the attack. In former times, Fuzhou masters taught their disciples mostly in ancestral halls, temple courtyards, or on riverside sand; falls and pounces were first practiced on soft ground to prevent injury, before gradually progressing to paired drills on hard ground. Dishuquan is also linked to the legends of the 'dog method' in the Fuzhou area; masters often used the pouncing, biting, and clipping of dog fights as metaphors for techniques, making abstract movements easier to memorize.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
The Dishuquan currently transmitted in the Fuzhou area derives from the master Chen Yijiu. At present, most of those who have mastered Dishuquan are advanced in years, and the number of practitioners is very small; rescue and protection work must therefore be strengthened.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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