Chung-Hua Institute - Martial Arts: Combat Shuai-Chiao

COMBAT SHUAI-CHIAO training is restricted to invitation-only participants. For an interview request, send an e-mail to chanchiao@aol.com. Please list your location, your martial arts background (if any), and goals for Combat Shuai-Chiao training. If you are police or military affiliated, please indicated that as well.

- Sifu Mark Cheng, ACSCA Los Angeles Chapter Representative

NOTE: In practicing any throwing art, a suitable training surface and qualified instruction are indispensable. Most of the throws described and shown here cannot be practiced without a proper landing mat & the watchful eye of an experienced instructor.

Shuai-Chiao is a centuries-old combat art making a modern revival. Little known outside of China and Taiwan, this ancient form of Chinese wrestling has its biggest foreign following in the USA. With a growing audience worldwide and a recent surge in grappling's popularity due to No Holds Barred fighting tournaments, more and more self-defense enthusiasts are flocking to see this forefather of Judo and Jiu-Jitsu.

Combat Shuai-Chiao is a particular understanding of the art, founded by Master David Chee-Kai Lin, who is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. Lin spent years in Taiwan under the direct tutelage of the legendary Grandmaster Ch'ang Tung-sheng, known to the Chinese martial arts community as the "Flying Butterfly" for his ability to move effortlessly around his opponents and send them flying with beautiful and powerful throws. In the USA, Lin was recruited as a hand-to-hand combat trainer for Sionics, a prestigious anti-terrorism school in the southeast.

His prior experience as an instructor at the Central Police Administrators College in Taipei served him well in his new job, and his well-rounded understanding of Shuai-Chiao helped him impart a painfully effective way to handle life-threatening situations to his students. Combat Shuai-Chiao encompasses all ranges of stand-up fighting, moving smoothly into and out of kicking, punching, throwing, and joint locking.

Unlike other martial arts that focus more on striking techniques, Combat Shuai-Chiao revolves around a core of powerful throws. In most traditional martial arts, the throws and joint locks are not taught until the student progresses to a senior level. In Shuai-Chiao, these are the very techniques that are taught from day one - the rationale being that striking techniques are easier to learn than proper locks, throws, sweeps, and breakfalls.

While there is an undeniable amount of pain that is doled out with strikes, there is still a certain amount of give that the striker's body has on impact. In addition, the striking surface of the offending limb is relatively small. These factors mitigate the damaging force that is issued.

When a throw is used against an opponent, especially a high-amplitude throw, the ground becomes the unforgiving striking surface, and gravity becomes the accelerating force, in addition to the acceleration of the throw at the point at which the thrower releases his opponent. These factors combine to make a throw the choice method of incapacitation for people such as Special Forces soldiers, who often find themselves dealing with multiple attackers and cannot waste time exchanging blows.

There are several other factors that need to be addressed here for a more complete understanding of Shuai-Chiao's effectiveness. Most people, even if they learned basic takedowns, are in no way prepared for a huge throw that hurls them upwards into the air. These people often panic in mid-air, failing to tuck their heads and breakfall properly. Even most Judo stylists are unprepared for techniques that do not throw them on their back or side. In addition, the throws of Shuai-Chiao lend themselves to finishing strikes (both hand and foot strikes), follow-up weapons techniques (gun or blade), and submission locks once an opponent has been placed into a less favorable position.

Striking and locking are options for the Combat Shuai-Chiao stylist from the get-go. Whereas sport grappling styles often omit strikes, choosing to focus on throws or dive straight into wrestling, Shuai-Chiao's use of strikes allows for a fighter to use the most practical and speedy methods in any situation to prevail.

Los Angeles-based Combat Shuai-Chiao instructor Mark Cheng cites other points of note: "Striking techniques, while a part of our training, cannot always be practiced full-force on a live training partner. However, the majority of throws in Combat Shuai-Chiao can be practiced in 'training mode' without restraint against a live opponent, even a resistant opponent, without having to worry about causing serious injury. It should be noted that prospective Combat Shuai-Chiao students should be ready to take repeated breakfalls. Oftentimes, people from other martial arts come by to train, and they can't handle being thrown like that over and over for an hour or so. This is not armchair martial arts for weekend warriors!"

According to Master Lin, "Shuai-Chiao has always been a combat art, and it should be clearly understood as such. Using the body's natural handles to control an opponent gives one a distinct advantage, rather than depending solely

on striking from a distance."

To emphasize his point, he cites the No Holds Barred tournaments that have sprung up in recent years. "The guys who can only kick and punch spent a lot of time and effort to learn grappling techniques after they were defeated in the early tournaments. Now imagine putting an added element of danger, such as fighting on a concrete or asphalt surface, instead of a padded floor. When a fighter slams his opponent head-first into the ground, the fight's over. No question about it. You can't argue with a severe concussion or a fractured skull."

The environment also becomes a natural ally with Combat Shuai-Chiao. Any piece of furniture or other objects nearby can be used to further create an added element of danger. While a smooth sidewalk is not necessarily easy to land on, the same breakfall becomes far more problematic when a fire hydrant is in the way.

Bruce Lee once said that a complete fighting system should include kicking, punching, trapping, and grappling. Master David Lin has proved that his art truly contains all of these facets. These attributes make Combat Shuai-Chiao the ancient choice for a modern audience, especially in a day and age when hand-to-hand combat has evolved beyond the confines of a kick-punch system.

FOR MORE INFORMATION OR TO ORDER COMBAT SHUAI-CHIAO UNIFORMS OR VIDEOS, please visit www.combatshuaichiao.com