Zui Quan

[ARADOX]

I've heard of this style only in passing, I heard someone mention a style called drunken boxing or drunken fist, looked aroung and eventually foung a wiki that called it Zui Quan, if there's any practitioners of this art who would like to elaborate on this art I would appreciate it greatly as I am considering studying it, thanks in advance.

[autohuman]

Zui Quan (drunken boxing) is a chinese martial arts style that comes from Kung Fu (I believe). It imitates the movements of a drunkard, which is where the name comes from, often times making the practitioner look off-balance or even unaware. The theory here is that the opponent will not know where the practicioner's center of balance is and will not know where the practitioner is going to strike next, since he's swaying and stumbling like a drunk person.

Its usability in modern combat is widely disputed.

[Bajifan]

I know of only one school teaching it publicly as a stand alone art. I've lost track of their website, but the style is called "Lau family Wudang 8 Immortals Drunken Boxing" and I they're out in California somewhere. You could probably find some info in an internet search. Other than that, you can find drunken boxing as part of a number of systems as a more advanced form (drunken monkey in Tai Sheng Pek Kwar, or Drunken forms in Choy Lay Fut for example). There's also at least one or two other stand alone systems out there, and I know of an old guy in Liaoyang (Well... I'm not 100% sure he's STILL there ), who knew a couple traditional types of drunken boxing. He had been a martial arts teacher before standing up to a dishonest government official, which pretty much cost him his career. I never got clarification on whether it was a complete drunken system, or part of something else though. He also had knowledge of Shaolin, Baji, and some other styles, though drunken was his specialty. He'd just started teaching a small group again though and doing public demonstrations when I'd last exchanged emails with him a few years ago, so we may see him ending up in the U.S. someday, which was his dream

[NightOwl]

drunken boxing, while quite old, is very rarely seen as a stand alone style (except in the movies). Rather it is usually found in a 'drunken' move set of Chinese styles such as Choy-lay-fut, Monkey style Kung Fu, Southern Shaolin, Tajichuan, and others. Pure drunken boxing in itself is called Zuijiuquan.

Characterizing these Drunken styles are erratic movements and positions that seem to almost mimic the look of a drunkard, the result being that the practitioner is very fluid and loose, thus being able to bob and weave out of the way of punches easily. Also, it is supposed to lure the practitioner's opponent into a false sense of security to lessen his reaction time to sudden unexpected burst of strikes from what looks like a docile form. Supposedly this is one of the most demanding forms of Kung fu, and often it is only taught to advanced practitioners.

(There must also be a distinction made between traditional and contemporary drunken boxing. Contemporary drunken fist has very highly exaggerated movements and miming that render it purely for show. You usually see this in contemporary wushu competitions where drunken forms show off amazing flexibility and extreme movement that even the most hammered of kung-fu masters could never pull off, but don't do much else than look pretty (

). Traditional is a lot more conservative, with less acrobatics and smaller movements making it a lot more efficient. Regardless, this still brings up the question of Zui Quan's effectiveness in combat.

Well....there is an oft shown video of Drunken boxing vs. Kyokushin:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=S3_b9SUDQ-8

This is the only clip of Drunken boxing sparring that I can find. Mind you, It was done for a Japanese variety TV show and since it was posted on a famous 'in your face MA site), it has come under scrutiny as possibly have being set up (or the drunken boxers were karateka who were trying the style as an experiment). Regardless, it doesn't look so hot. Still...it is unfair to judge based off of just one video. Again, the hard thing that it is so hard to find being practiced instead of just being used in a form. I could see it being useful (but slightly unorthodox) if you practiced it against someone coming on with regular attacks though...whether or not there are places that do that remains to be seen.

Searching the web does bring up some gyms that do exclusively teach it, but the are few and far in between. I personally would love to learn it and experiment with it, as the fluidity could potentially make for a nice way to dodge attacks (which I like doing ^^).

Finally to cap things off...more youtube!

(notice the fist and elbow strikes and absence of miming in this more conservative form)

Also a bit more conservative

http://youtube.com/watch?v=HqeyTHtS5RU (getting more modern)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=LjO_8J1xlRY

http://youtube.com/watch?v=nsF_aNSjNjM

more modern madness...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=zcWOAmIKl8w some in here...and actual KF sparring...nice to see.

Just threw that in...love seeing tourists get beat up

http://youtube.com/watch?v=gGzr-gkIums&mode=related&search= it's in there..

[NightOwl]

An added clip that I forgot:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GaAvNHWjInM&mode=related&search= from one of my favorite MA movies ever...

[bushido_man96]

An added clip that I forgot:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GaAvNHWjInM&mode=related&search= from one of my favorite MA movies ever...

Ah, yes, that one is fun to watch. The kicker that he fights toward the end; that guy has some crazy stuff!

[NightOwl]

An added clip that I forgot:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=GaAvNHWjInM&mode=related&search= from one of my favorite MA movies ever...

Ah, yes, that one is fun to watch. The kicker that he fights toward the end; that guy has some crazy stuff!

Great fight scene..

anyhow I found another place which teaches Drunken boxing as part of its curriculum and does sparring too (although it teaches a mixture of Kungfu styles, not just drunken). However it is located in Japan which is a bit...far away. http://www.seiryukai.jp/

[Bajifan]

I should say that I know of two places here in the U.S. On another board I mentioned Lau family was the only ones I knew of teaching a stand alone system in the U.S. and was corrected by someone on there (I think he was from Minnesota). Anyway, this guy was from a Mei Hua Quan school and they had a stand alone 8 drunken immortals system, though you still have to go through some of the Mei Hua stuff before they get to the drunken. Apparently it's still more difficult to learn (Mei Hua is pretty cool in it's own right anyway, so shouldn't be too big of a deal). http://www.Plumpub.com also sells some videos from something called 8 Shadows Drunken Boxing:

http://www.plumpub.com/sales/dvd/dvdcoll_assorted.htm

[Plastic_Anarchy]

I found a video of some traditional Chinese Kung Fu.

Also here is Drunken boxing and Wushu fighting my style of Karate.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=4967347867886989591&q=kyokushin+karate

and if that link doesnt work, heres the same video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3_b9SUDQ-8

[Bajifan]

Here's a rare traditional drunken form. "Drunken Luohan" according to the guy who posted this on KFM