Fourth in a series: Sifu Randy Choy is a well-respected martial arts teacher in Hawaii. Sifu Fong thanks him for graciously sharing his thoughts on training here.

Training in Cannon Fist Boxing

Chen family's second boxing routine is called Pau Chui, which means "Cannon Fist Boxing". This boxing system incorporates both hard and soft boxing, short and long range boxing, and internal and external boxing. It requires you to have a good grasp of the principles and energies of Chen family Taijiquan.

For those practitioners who may have already learned Cannon Fist boxing, it would be a good review to go through this checklist of the Rules of Chuan. Are you practicing ding jin, yao jin, dang jin, gou jin, kai jin, he jin, xu jin, fa jin, chan si jin, and nei jin? If your answer is yes, congratulations, you are an expert; but if you are not sure, let's review. Ask your Taijquan instructor to explain the ten powers of Taijiquan. Ding jin means upwards pressing power. Yao jin refers to waist power. Dang jin refers to the crotch area power. Gou jin is hooking power. Kai jin is opening power and He jin is closing power. Xu jin refers to accumulating power. Fa jin means issuing or explosive power. Chan si jin refers to the silk winding power and Nei jin means internal power.

Even though every jin or "power" is important, you'll have those practitioners who only want to learn about fa jin. I can't complain because I did the same thing. My Taijiquan teachers, Mr. Pan Wing Chow and Mr. Peter Tai gave me these words of wisdom and now I'm giving them to you. Fa jin is yang in nature. It encompasses both hard and fast movements. This explosive energy comes from all parts of your body at the same time. Fa jin doesn't just come out from your fist; you can feel as if your entire body explodes with this energy.

Fa jin can be used in fist strikes, elbow strikes, shoulder strikes, and even in your side kicks. Fa jin energy comes directly from relaxed, smooth movements. Tense or stiff movements will not produce the correct fa jin power. To understand this explosive energy, you must understand the Rules of Chuan and seek more training from your Taijiquan instructor.

A word of caution: do not go hog crazy trying to fa jin everything all day. This is exactly what I did. In Taiwan, I tried to fa jin the trees all day. I kept punching into the trees until my knuckles were badly bruised. This produced no good results. A month later, I went to visit my older school brother, Mr. Shao Su Gwo at a park in the Yung He district just outside of Taipei City. He taught me to fa jin on a small, young slender tree which was full of leaves. It took a long time and continuous training before I could make the leaves of the tree shake. This took a lot training in dou jin and fa jin.

As I progressed, my teacher, Mr. Pan Wing Chow gave me three more rules to follow. First, you don't fa jin if your opponent is fighting back. Secondly, you don't fa jin if your opponent is stable, and finally, you don't fa jin if your opponent can issue power to meet your power. I take these words to heart whenever I practice Cannon Fist boxing.

In 1931, my teacher Mr. Pan Wing Chow learned Cannon Fist boxing from Grandmaster Chen Fake in Beijing, China. At that time, Grandmaster Chen taught the 38 Sections of Cannon Fist boxing.

The first five sections commence with the six sealing and four closings to the first Buddha warrior attendant pounding the mortar. After the first single whip, you fa jin in the fists protecting the heart. The next five sections continue with offensive striking as turning the head and chopping the body and drilling hand to the first hidden hand punch and elbow strike. There is fa jin in your fist and elbow strike. The tempo of the form changes to be defensive in the primary red fist and secondary red fist.

The next two sections consist of quick advances in fair lady works at the shuttles to riding the unicorn to the rear, followed by the fa jin of the second hidden hand punch.

The sixteenth section, called wrapping crackers, uses a lot of dou jin and fa jin. Dou jin is shaking strength while fa jin is explosive strength.

The next three sections include elbow strike, splitting of the fists to the third hidden hand punch. All these sections have fa jin. In the twentieth section, taming the tiger has fa jin when you sit back and sink your elbow. After dragging backwards, you strike forward with the dragon stirs the water.

The next fa jin will be in your left and right side kicks followed by another fa jin in the fourth hidden hand punch. In the twenty-sixth section, after you sweep your leg around 270 degrees in sweeping the shin leg, you fa jin on the fifth hidden hand punch. The next three sections include a lot of fa jin in multiple fist striking, in two fist striking and downward fist striking to the sixth hidden hand punch.

The tempo of this form again changes in the next three sections from the cross step forearm strike, the large change jump, and the cannon fists. The conclusion of this 38 section Cannon fist boxing ends with a series of fa jin in the waist elbow strike, the twisted elbow strike, and in the elbow strike to the heart to the Buddha warrior attendant pounding the mortar.

For those practitioners who want to learn more about Cannon Fist boxing, you may want to explore Mr. Hong Junsheng's 64 section Cannon Fist Boxing. My teachers, Mr. Pan Wing Chow and Mr. Hong Junsheng, were students of Grandmaster Chen Fake in Beijiing in the early 1930s. There are many excellent texts on the subject of Chen family Taijiquan. My suggestion is to invest in your education: learn from a well-qualified professional such as Professor Gregory Fong of Gregory Fong's Chinese Martial Arts who maintains a well-written and impressive educational website.

Mahalo,
Professor Randy Choy
Founder of the Chinese Athletic Arts Academy
Advisor to the Hawaii Martial Arts International Society
Chuk Kai Tai Chi Preying Mantis Organization-Hawaii

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