Sparring traditions in Chinese martial arts

[Toptomcat]

A style's sparring tradition can dramatically inform the fighting method of its practitioners. Look at the differences between knockdown karate and point karate, or Brazilian jujusu and judo- to a very large extent, the totality of their syllabus of techniques is identical, but because their sparring rules emphasize different qualities their students are good at different things.

Which is why the lack of uniformity in sparring rules in Chinese martial arts interests me considerably: there's all sorts of push hands, there's forms-only people, there's various forms of lei tai fighting, there's san da...

What's your art, and how do you spar/compete, if at all? Tell me everything- give detailed rulesets, tell me what kind of equipment you use, tell me why your style/school has chosen to spar that way.

[clfman]

My style is Buk Sing Choy Lay Fut. We are encouraged to spar as much as we can. Sparing is generally full contact, but we try not to do anything that would cause permanent injury. Also, if you want to go lighter that's ok, for beginners anyway. Generally done in 2 to 5 minute rounds with a minute or so rest in between.

As far as equipment goes, only gloves and mouth guards (and ball guards for men) are compulsory, but a lot of people choose to wear head gear or shin guards too.

People are encouraged to compete in any local competitions with rules that suit our style, usually Muay Thai or Sanda, but pretty much anything without grappling.

[Toptomcat]

What kind of gloves do you use in-house?