Over the years, the art of bare-handed fighting has been rapidly developing internationally, displaying a vibrant and flourishing trend. Particularly, Western Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), Thai Boxing, and Japan’s K-1, with their frequent events, powerful attacks, and shocking promotional effects, have swept the world. Similarly, Chinese martial arts Sanda is also being actively developed just like international combat sports. Whether it’s domestic “Sanda King Contests” or Chinese Sanda facing off against American professional boxing, Thai professional Muay Thai, or confrontations with French Free Fight and Japanese Karate, for a time, martial arts competitions between China and abroad were frequent, with victories widely celebrated, truly dazzling and overwhelming to the public. However, a calm analysis of the current state of Chinese martial arts Sanda reveals many deficiencies that need to be improved and perfected.
The fatal flaw in Chinese Sanda is the insufficient research and inheritance of traditional martial arts combat techniques. Sanda has not yet escaped the shadow of competition formats such as boxing, Muay Thai, and Taekwondo. It’s no wonder some sharply criticize Sanda as “boxing + kicking + throwing.” Therefore, it’s not surprising that domestic Sanda competitions have few spectators. Chinese martial arts, with a glorious history of five thousand years, have extremely rich traditional offensive and defensive techniques. In terms of attack parts and methods, hands, feet, head, knees, elbows, shoulders, hips, and other parts can attack and injure the opponent, with concealed and practical moves. Modern Sanda, due to rule restrictions, limits attack methods to kicking, punching, and throwing, lacking heavy weapons to KO opponents. To elevate our country’s Sanda to a higher level and truly reflect the charm of Chinese martial arts, this article discusses the positioning of traditional martial arts culture in Sanda combat, hoping to promote slight progress.
What are the characteristics of Chinese traditional culture?
Chinese culture is profound and extensive, with a long history. It has evolved into a vast stream over time. What exactly is the enduring essence that has been passed down through the ages within this vast stream? It is the concept of “harmony,” which aligns with the natural order above and human relations below, penetrating the fundamentals of everything.
This philosophy of “harmony” is fully embodied in the Daoist concept of “non-action,” Confucian ideas of “benevolence and righteousness,” and the Buddhist spirit of “compassion.” The most vivid expression of this is the “Tai Chi symbol” — the yin and yang fish embracing each other, seamlessly merging on the inside while forming a perfect circle on the outside. This symbol teaches us: first, every entity contains two opposing aspects; second, these opposing aspects include and transform into each other under certain conditions; third, the coordination and matching of these opposing aspects form a harmonious whole. The third point is the most important because it implies that whatever benefits the other ultimately benefits the whole’s harmony, thereby benefiting oneself; conversely, whatever harms the other damages the whole’s harmony and thus harms oneself.
This spirit of “harmony” is a genetic legacy from our great Yan and Huang ancestors, a characteristic of our Eastern civilization. It appears weak but is actually strong, with an inclusive and pervasive nature. As the “Tao Te Ching” states: “The softest thing in the world dashes against and overcomes the hardest.” That is, “A trickle of water can form a mighty mountain; a constant stream becomes a vast ocean.”
Sanda sports are a product of history.
Combat sports are widespread around the world, including Karate and Judo in Japan, Taekwondo in Korea, Muay Thai in Thailand, and boxing and MMA in the West, each with its own national characteristics. These sports should exchange and develop together. Promoting Chinese martial arts is to let the world better understand us and also promote the development of traditional culture. We have a 5000-year culture and are confident our martial arts are among the best in the world. Some American media conducted a survey last year assessing culture, fitness, historical impact, self-defense, etc., and found Chinese martial arts to be the most charming.
Martial arts are a unique traditional sports project in China with a long history, rich content, and high social value. Sanda, a part of Chinese martial arts, extracts the most direct and simple techniques to quickly knock down or throw opponents as a competitive sport. In recent years, under new rules, domestic and international competitions have frequently occurred, whether it’s the domestic “Sanda King” or against American professional boxing, Thai professional Muay Thai, all entering a healthy development phase and gradually becoming standardized. After generations of effort, the Sanda project has now developed to a certain scale, with techniques and tactics becoming more standardized and mature.
How can Sanda inherit and promote Chinese traditional martial arts culture?
How can Chinese Sanda reflect traditional martial arts techniques and styles and escape the shadow of boxing, Muay Thai, and Taekwondo to create a Sanda mode with Chinese traditional characteristics? We believe that reforming competition rules should be the first step, opening up rules and techniques, and encouraging the use of traditional martial arts techniques. Secondly, we should continuously summarize and generalize the content of strikes to explore ways to comprehensively improve the value of traditional martial arts strikes. Encouragement, support, and motivation for Sanda practitioners, especially coaches and researchers, to study and research modern Sanda and traditional martial arts techniques, improving their cultivation. Additionally, strengthening international exchanges, learning excellent concepts from foreign combat sports, and improving Sanda striking levels is crucial. In this regard, the world-famous martial artist Bruce Lee set a glorious example with his creation of Jeet Kune Do, a synthesis of Chinese and Western boxing techniques. Only by deeply studying and inheriting traditional martial arts techniques, closely integrating them with modern Sanda, and absorbing excellent foreign combat sports techniques and concepts, can we create a Sanda mode with Chinese characteristics and promote the comprehensive development of the Chinese Sanda system.
We have a rich traditional strategic guiding ideology. Sanda competitions are like military confrontations, where tactics and strategies are particularly important in actual combat. Now, let’s talk about strategies in actual combat.
When discussing “strategy,” people often associate it with war, which makes sense. Sun Tzu’s strategies like “War is a matter of vital importance to the state,” “All warfare is based on deception,” and “In all fighting, the direct method may be used for joining battle, but indirect methods will be needed for securing victory” are widely acclaimed. However, as times have developed, strategic thinking has long transcended military bounds and gradually expanded to many fields. For example, in the Sanda world, it can be said without exaggeration that the appropriateness of Sanda strategy not only affects the outcome of the ring but is also key to the development of Sanda sports. Technique and tactics are inseparable, with technique as the source and tactics as the flow. As is known, strategy is the “product” of human mental activity, so discussing Sanda strategy must also involve various modes of thinking and mental activities.
(1) Principle of efficiency
Sanda strategy should adhere to the “efficiency first” principle, that is, achieving the greatest victory with the least cost. The main manifestations of the efficiency principle in the application of Sanda strategy are: first, achieving the greatest victory with the least cost and consumption; second, minimizing the risk and possibility of failure during the process, with a basic assurance of victory after effort; third, whether the initiative has been seized. The initiative is the lifeblood of Sanda strategy application; whoever controls the fighting initiative basically holds the winning ticket.
(2) Overall principle
It is said: “A good strategist devises the situation; a poor strategist devises the move.” “Situation” refers to the whole and the overall; “move” refers to the part and the segment. In Sanda confrontations, quick resolution is certainly advocated, but if facing an equally matched opponent, trying to win with “one punch, one kick” is as difficult as “pulling teeth from a tiger’s mouth” and hard to succeed. Instead, at the end of the match, it often becomes a contest of spirit and will between the two sides. Sometimes, from a scoring perspective, it may not seem worthwhile, but from the strategy of conserving energy and seeking a final knockout victory, it is cost-effective. This principle of measuring from the whole rather than the part is also completely pursuable.
(3) Principle of timeliness and moderation
The principle of timeliness and moderation refers to grasping a certain measure of the opponent’s psychological tolerance when using Sanda strategy. Those with some fighting experience may have realized that Sanda confrontations rarely involve direct attacks, instead using eye contact, body movement, and hand and foot actions to induce the opponent to make unnecessary defensive actions and unprepared attacks. Therefore, when formulating strategies, it’s especially important to control the amount of stimulation given to the opponent, avoiding underloading and overloading their psychological burden. Hence, various feints in “luring the enemy” must be realistic, like shoulder shakes with forward punches, side kicks with leg lifts and hip turns, etc. Only by truly “attacking where they must defend” can the opponent be drawn into the “trap.” Additionally, the correct acquisition of Sanda strategy often presents a situation of seizing the fleeting opportunity, as an excellent player missing the battle opportunity may “be controlled by others.”
(4) Thorough principle. In fact, no strategy can be perfect, only by seeking completeness in incompleteness, constancy in change, can one stand invincible. The most important thing is to distinguish the primary from the secondary, not to “grasp at straws.” That is, on the basis of learning thousands of moves, one should master a few truly “secret weapons” of one’s own. Although these “secret weapons” may not make one as famous as martial arts master Guo Yunshen with his “Half-Step Crushing Fist,” they should at least provide a “basis for confidence.” “Having a basis for confidence” enables one not to be “inevitably defeated,” and one can fully exert one’s strengths, “controlling others without being controlled.”
(5) Caution principle
“Do not fight unprepared battles, do not fight uncertain battles, strive to be prepared for every battle, strive to have a grasp of victory under the comparison of enemy and our conditions.” Practice has proven that this military principle of our army is also a universal law. Although “knowing oneself is easy and knowing the enemy is difficult,” only by knowing their strengths can one “suppress” their strengths; knowing their weaknesses, one can attack their vulnerabilities. Otherwise, acting without clear understanding is like a blind person riding a blind horse, inevitably “hitting a wall” everywhere.
(6) Principle of surprising victory
A martial saying goes: “Punches are unseen, kicks are undefended.” Whether it’s punching or kicking, not only should one aim for speed to outpace the slow, but also pay attention to frequently employing “attacking the unprepared, striking the unexpected” strategies. “Battle is not just about offense and defense, the method is not just about the ordinary and the extraordinary.” What is “extraordinary”? What is “ordinary”? There’s no unified view. Simply put, conventional moves are ordinary, unconventional techniques are extraordinary. In summary, the extraordinary and the unexpected are closely linked, complementing each other; the extraordinary can achieve the unexpected, and the unexpected often requires the extraordinary. Only by not attacking but showing attack, wanting to attack but showing no attack; seeming to take but not taking, seeming not to take but taking; appearing inevitable but not so, appearing not inevitable but being so, can one make the opponent unable to cope, caught off guard.
Traditional martial arts indeed have many advantages, but the biggest problem for those who practice traditional martial arts is that they talk and practice more but fight less. The concept of schools also prevents them from exchanging and losing opportunities for improvement, advancement, and development. The practical experience of traditional martial arts is either degenerating or being lost, while modern Sanda’s confrontational training and competitions are successful examples of improving striking levels in traditional martial arts. Modern Sanda discards the traditional martial arts’ initial foundation training like standing postures, basic skills, and forms, selecting several common leg techniques and wrestling techniques from traditional martial arts, introducing boxing techniques, forming modern Sanda. Modern Sanda is still developing and improving, not yet fully mature, especially in terms of body movement, footwork, hand techniques, and the overall internal coordination, still lacking in level. In tactics and mental strategy, it should continue to draw nutrition from traditional martial arts. It can be said that it is precisely modern Sanda that has brought the skills of traditional martial arts to greater prominence.
