Emphasizing toughness and aggression, Gangrou-quan is a Chinese form of martial arts with a long and colorful history behind it. While it is not necessary to know the full history of this self-defense art form to appreciate what it is capable of today, a brief overview of Gangrou-quan will at least serve to illustrate why it is such a respected form. defense and offense.
It will provide a foundation for the essential teachings that must be committed to the physical and mental memory of those who wish to study.
In a nutshell, this art combines hard and soft techniques. It brings together the rou, which focuses on relaxed techniques with optimal flexibility, with the gang, which focuses on harder techniques. The combination of these two things creates a formidable branch of combat arts.
History and background of Gangrou-quan
Gangrou-quan’s history actually dates back to the 17th century. It could be said that the entire history of this style of martial arts begins with the monks who lived in a southern Shaolin temple, which was located in the province of Fujian. Gangrou-quan’s roots can be found in the secret societies and organizations that were formed in this time period. Some were designed to overthrow governments. Others were simply created to pass on the essential techniques of the self-defense arts that were practiced in a particular region.
Through the years and decades, the southern and northern regions began to exchange techniques and principles. This cooperative move would serve to create many of the fighting styles still in use today, including Gangrou-quan.
At the dawn of the 20th century, the style that is considered to be Gangrou-quan began to take the form it has today. This was because Chen Bu-Gao and Chen Lan-Ching began to assemble various components of Zhejiang martial arts into a more unified approach to attack and defense.
With Gangrou-quan, posture is everything. You want something that emphasizes firmness and stability. You want movements that appear simple at first glance, but will actually be executed with power and firmness. The teachings of this style can be divided into internal and external. The intern focuses on the breath and chi.
The external part focuses on hardening the skin, the body, the bones and everything else.
The bottom line
Through the years, this art has maintained its reputation as a style of martial arts designed to give the student practical fighting skills.
