CR: Zuijiuquan (A Drunkard's Boxing) by Longyun and Shankang.

[arnisador]

I wrote about a book on drunken boxing by Leung Ting. Here is another, Chinese Kung Fu Series 4, by Cai Longyun and Shao Shankang. This 156 page book on low quality paper by Hai Feng Publishing Company (1982) bills itself as a Chinese-English edition, and indeed the left-hand pages are in Chinese and the right-hand pages are in English (translated by Ji Shao Xiang).

Unlike Dr. Ting, they present Zuijiuquan (their italics) as a system of boxing, with several forms. The book is devoted to the presentation of a single form through line drawings and detailed descriptions. Apart from head shots of the authors there are no photographs, and the authors are apologetic about their low level of production quality.

The form is fairly acrobatic, with jumps, falls, even a headstand (no hands, just standing on the head). It certainly has a Wushu feel, and the authors--both described as Wushu experts--mention the exercise benefits of the system. The routine is said to be traditional, however, placing emphasis on the skills of falling, pouncing, rolling, and somersaulting. Falling is further broken down into "forward falling," sideway falling on a twisted leg," etc.

I was disappointed by the complete lack of applications and background information on the system, and the poor production quality. The detail in the descriptions however is very good, and I did learn more about the importance of falling and pouncing skills in this style of fighting.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Did a little digging...found -very- little on this.

Surprising since one site claimed:

Zuijiuquan (style of drunk) - most funny of imitative styles. All the movements imitate behavior of the drunk. They are impulsive and look very unlogical. Wushu experts count this style as a very effective one.

Yet, Google only came up with about 100 hits, most references to that book.

 

[7starmantis]

hmm, now htat I think about it, I don't know of any schools that teach strictly drunken forms, most that have them reserve them for their very advanced students. Maybe because they are so hard to actually do correctly, or maybe the application of them is what is hard to grasp. I can see where it would be pretty dang hard to use them effectivly.

7sm

 

[arnisador]

My understanding is that it isn't meant to be stand-alone but rather is advanced material.

I have the impression that in olden days people often did sonmethlink this: They studied 5 animal kung fu as an "undergraduate degree" and then took a couple of "masters degrees" in very specialized areas (snake, drunken, etc.), then maybe further specialized in one narrow area. The notion of a style isn't quite what it is now--one expected to do basic work in one general area, then specialize in something else that may not stand alone on its own.

 

[7starmantis]

Originally posted by arnisador
My understanding is that it isn't meant to be stand-alone but rather is advanced material.

Exactly, its like a supplement to your advanced training you are already doing. Hmm, I'm not getting what I'm thinking onto this keyboard very well today. Anyways, I agree with you, and having learned just a little bit, I can see why it is reserved for advanced peoples.

7sm

 

[Trent]

All the posts above are correct I think. KTS has a drunken monkey form that is for advanced practitioners due to the sophisticated and complex movements required as well as the physical attributes necessary to perform the form properly. It will take awhile to develop the strength, resilience, timing and dexterity required to begin to learn the form properly, let alone perform it adequately.