Tong Zhongyi

One of the art's earliest and most complete training manuals, The Method of Chinese Wrestling explores all aspects of this ancient fighting system, including solo training, training with equipment, constructing training apparatus, application of techniques, and the rules of competition. Throwing, gripping, and falling techniques are revealed in minute detail, and in accompanying photographs, the author and his top students illustrate the methods described. Both a fascinating historical document and a practical training guide, the book is an essential reference for anyone interested in the martial arts.

Chinese Wrestling is the oldest and most influential fighting system in China. With roots in grappling styles of the Mongolians and Tibetans, the practice reached a high degree of practicality and sophistication a thousand years before most other Asian martial arts were conceived, and its influence is seen in many of these forms today.

Frist published in Shangai in 1935, The Method of Chinese Wrestling is one of the most complete Chinese martial arts instructional manuals from the early twentieth centrry. Author Tong Zhongyi, a famous practitioner of martial arts and an expert in Chinese wrestling, begins with a thorough history of the wrestling arts in China and goes on to cover all aspects of the practice, including solo training, training with equipment, application of techniques, and the rules of competition.

Filled with photographs that clearly demonstrate the system's movement, The Method of Chinese Wrestling covers the entire spectrum of the art in a clear, concise fashion. The insights of the author, the straightforward presentation of the material, the practicality of the training, and the usefulness of the techniques make this book a valuable resource for anyone interested in realistic martial arts training.

Tong Zhongyi (also known as Tong Liangchen), a Manchurian whose ancestral clan came from Shenyang in Liaoning Province, was born in 1878, the fourth year of the reign of the emperor Guangxu, in Zhili (Hebei), Cang County. His father, Tong Enrui, was a famous practitioner of the Da Liu He School in Cang County. Tong Zhongyi became an expert at Chinese Wrestling not through study with his family, but through his training with a senior student of his father, Tong Zhongyi’s older martial brother Cai Jintian. Cai Jintian was a Mongolian and was an expert at “Guan Jiao” (Mongolian Wrestling). Although Tong Zhongyi trained very hard, he had a hard time making serious improvement and would always lose matches to his older martial brother. Eventually, Tong moved to Baoding to assume the role of head martial arts instructor at the military training school. In Baoding he had the opportunity to train with other Chinese Wrestlers on a regular basis, and his skills quickly improved.

Tim Cartmell began his martial arts training with the Chinese styles, including ten years of study in China. He is an Asian Full-Contact champion, a submissions grappling champion, and a two-time Pan American Brazilian Jiu Jitsu champion. Cartmell holds an eighth degree black belt in Kung Fu San Soo, is a lineage holder in several Chinese Internal martial arts styles, and is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He has authored and translated several martial arts related books, including a sty of Taijiuan by Sun Lutang (North Atlantic Books, 2003), and currently teaches martial arts at the Shen Wu Academy in the Southern California area. He can be reached throiugh his website: www.shenwu.com.

Contents

Foreword by Chen Jiaxuan
Foreword by Jin Yiming
Foreword by Tang Hao
Foreword by Xu Zhiyi
Author's foreword
Brief history of the author
Important points of study
History of Chinese wrestling
Method pf practice
Part One Basics
1 Free hand practice: Chinese wrestling forms
Purpose of Chinese wrestling forms training
One: Single hook and hang
Two: Double hook and hang
Three: Alternate hook and hang
Four: Forward closing elbows
Five: Left and right closing elbows
Six: High and low fast movement
Seven: Left and right forward advancing kick
Eight: Kick forward snap back
Nine: Forward advance rear kick
Ten: Left and right free palms
Eleven: Lower control forward advance, turn back and capture
Twelve: Lower control forward advance, smooth capture and back turn
Thirteen: Stationary body lock
Fourteen: Overturning body lock
Fifteen: Front capture rear reap
Sixteen: Straight advance reverse underhook
Seventeen: Upper control forward advance, tuurn left and right
Eighteen: Upper conrol forward advance, extract the leg and lower to the rear
Nineteen: Plum flower stance walk
Twenty: Twist stance walk
Twenty-one: Leg extraction walk
Twenty-tow: Shoulder movement
Twenty-three: Sliding leg walk
Twenty-four: Circling leg walk
2 Training with equipment
Chapter One: Braided rope
Purpose of training with the braided rope
One: Left and right rolling
Two: Left and right kicking
Three: Lower dontrol forward advance, turn back and capture
Chapter Two: Small club
Purpose of training with the small club
One: High, middle, and low club twisting exercise
Two: Left, right, and center club twisting exercise
Three: Chest poinding exercise
Chapter Three Large club
Purpose of training with the large club
One: Left and right club lifting
Two: Left and right club covering
Three: Left and right kicking with the club
Four: Lower control forward advance, turn back and capture
Chapter Four: Basket
Purpose of training with the basket
Basket shaking
Chapter Five: Barrel
Purpose of training with the barrel
Barrel rubbing
Part Two: Practical applications training
1 Paired practice
Chapter One: Method of paired throwing practice
Chapter Two: Illlustrated guide to grips on the uniform and body
Chapter Three: Rules of engagement
One: Preparation
Two: Holding the jacket
Three: Putting on the jacket
Four: Bowing
Five: Ready posture
Six: Coming to grips
Chapter Four Illustrated explanations of the throwing methods
One: Lower control press
Two: Upper control press
Three: Overturning the sack
Four: Hand pulling
Five: Leg lever whip
Six: Leg rolling whip
Seven: Rowing hook
Eight: Lifting hook
Nine: Pressing method
Ten: Waist encircling
Eleven: Left and right kicking
Twelve: Arm support and kick
Thirteen: Straddle leg kick
Fourteen: Inward kicking
Fifteen: Neck rub and trip
Sixteen: Leg restraining
Seventeen: Lying whip
Eighteen: Outward fall
Nineteen: Hooking method
Twenty:L Lower and seize
Twenty-one: Kneeling connection
Twenty-two: Leg piercing underhook
Twenty-three: Left and right rolling
Twenty-four: arm support rolling
Twenty-five: Big connection takedown
Twenty-six: Wrapping neck connection
Twenty-seven: Hand propping
Twenty-eight: Single leg propping
Appendix
Competitive throwing
Fighting for grips
The method of breaking falls
Rules of Chinese wrestling competition
Uniform and belt
How to make a uniform… (lisätietoja)