Sunbin Boxing
01 · Historical Records
Sun Bin Quan was created by later generations under the borrowed name of Sun Bin, and there is still no agreement on when it was founded.
02 · Core Techniques & Process
Sun Bin Quan is a martial arts routine boxing style that draws on the military thought of Sun Bin and combines the striking characteristics of various schools. Because the hand is often hidden within the long sleeve when the form is demonstrated and strikes are issued, it is also known as "Long-Sleeve Boxing". The traditional routines of Sun Bin Quan comprise basic exercises, single-hand practice, the large frame, the medium frame, the small frame, the Sixty Hands, and the Sun Bin Crutch. Its boxing theory calls for stillness like a rooster, movement like a dragon's waist, alertness like a monkey, spirit like an eagle's eye, and relaxed shoulders like a gibbon; its fist shapes are mainly elephant-trunk fists, and its footwork is mainly the staggering step. In performance and technique it is plain and unadorned, compact in structure, and sound in both offense and defense, using spring-like force and whip-tip power; its spiral hand methods unify striking and blocking, so it has the character of free sparring and the essence of martial arts. It can not only strike the enemy and defend the body, but also build fitness and nurture health; it is easy to learn and practice and plays a positive role in carrying forward the traditional martial arts culture of the Chinese nation. The techniques of Sun Bin Quan emphasize "emptiness, feint, insubstantiality, substantiality, shaking, liveliness, and cleverness," mostly covering the hands with the long sleeves and driving the arms with the body; when the hand shoots out it is like a whip tip being drawn forth, and on closing the form it is again like an elephant's trunk curling back. Its routines take the basic exercises and single-hand practice as the entry point, then proceed to the large frame, the medium frame, and the small frame, and finally to the Sixty Hands and the Sun Bin Crutch, moving from the simple to the complex and from the slow to the swift. When Sun Bin Quan is performed, the steps stagger, the fists form elephant trunks, and the body moves like a swimming dragon, presenting a style that looks clumsy but is in fact ingenious. The techniques of Sun Bin Quan emphasize "emptiness, feint, insubstantiality, substantiality, shaking, liveliness, and cleverness," mostly covering the hands with the long sleeves and driving the arms with the body; when the hand shoots out it is like a whip tip being drawn forth, and on closing the form it is again like an elephant's trunk curling back. Its routines take the basic exercises and single-hand practice as the entry point, then proceed to the large frame, the medium frame, and the small frame, and finally to the Sixty Hands and the Sun Bin Crutch, moving from the simple to the complex and from the slow to the swift. When Sun Bin Quan is performed, the steps stagger, the fists form elephant trunks, and the body moves like a swimming dragon, presenting a style that looks clumsy but is in fact ingenious. The free sparring and the frame forms of Sun Bin Quan verify one another, and every posture in the routines can be taken apart into combinations of attack and defense; practitioners must first understand the methods of luring the opponent with "emptiness, feint, insubstantiality, and substantiality," and then seek the chance to take position through "shaking, liveliness, and cleverness." Inheritors in the Shibei District area of Qingdao also preserve the habit of practicing with long sleeves, so as to repeatedly gauge the measure of hiding the hand within the sleeve in the course of the routines.
Elephant-trunk fist and shuffling step
The style's signature fist shape and shuffling step, matched to its rules of rooster-stillness and dragon-like motion.
Basics, single-hand drill and the Sun Bin crutch
The traditional curriculum runs from basic training through single-hand drills and three frames to the sixty hands and the crutch.
The large, middle and small frames
The three central routines whose span narrows and whose power tightens as the practitioner advances.
Hiding the hand in the long sleeve
Because the striking hand hides in the long sleeve, the art is also called Long-sleeve Boxing, its feints echoing Sun Bin's stratagems.
The Sun Bin Art of War in the boxing
The style inherits maxims from the Sun Bin Art of War, fusing military strategy into its theory and its name.
Still as a rooster, moving as a dragon
Its rules demand rooster-like stillness, dragon-waisted motion and whip-tip power, striking and blocking in one spiral motion.
03 · Regional Records & Related Items
It is mainly transmitted in the areas of Jinan, Qingdao, Liaocheng, Zibo, and Guantao in Shandong. Sun Bin Quan is mainly transmitted in the areas of Jinan, Qingdao, Liaocheng, Zibo, and Guantao in Shandong, with the Shibei District of Qingdao being one of the important transmission centers. The local mode of transmission is formally acknowledging a master to learn the art, with oral instruction and personal demonstration; the Qingdao Martial Arts and Literature Association undertakes the collation of the boxing manuals and the teaching of the art. Over the past hundred-odd years, some special techniques of Sun Bin Quan have been scattered among the people, lacking excavation and collation, and are nearly lost and extinct.
Other submitting regions for the same item: Sunbin Boxing.
04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding
Sun Bin Quan is transmitted through formally acknowledging a master to learn the art, with oral instruction and personal demonstration. Sun Bin Quan inherits theories from Sun Bin's Art of War such as "win the hearts of the people at home and know the enemy's situation abroad," "emerge where they do not expect it and attack where they are unprepared," and "as still as a maiden and as swift as a fleeing rabbit," fusing the culture of military strategy. In the course of its transmission and development over more than a hundred years, some special techniques of Sun Bin Quan have been scattered among the people, lacking excavation and collation, and are nearly lost and extinct; protection is urgently needed.
05 · Associated Representative Bearers
Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:
- Liu Haigang 05-2563
06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography
Sources
China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)
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