Zui Quan

Zui Quan is a traditional Chinese martial art concept as well as a classification of form. It is a category of techniques, forms and fighting philosophy that appear to imitate a drunkard's movements. The postures are created by momentum and weight of the body, and imitation is generally through staggering and certain type of fluidity in the movements. It is considered to be among the more difficult wushu styles to learn due to the need for powerful joints and fingers. ''Zui Quan'' is sometimes called ''Zuijiuquan'' .

While Zuì Quán is often accompanied by actual intoxication in fiction, if one were to actually attempt fighting while drunk, they would likely severely hurt themselves and not be able to fight at all, as the form requires a great amount of balance and coordination .

Zui Quan Within Chinese Martial Arts

Many Traditional Chinese Martial Arts utilize drunken techniques and fighting philosophy within forms and techniques. For example:
* Some lineages of Choi Lei Fut contain "drunken" forms. CLF drunken technique teaches feints, explosive power generation, swaying motions and various other distraction techniques.
* Monkey Kung Fu contains a variation of monkey style called "Drunken Monkey" which involves "a lot of throat, eye and groin strikes as well as tumbling and falling techniques. It incorporates a lot of false steps to give the appearance it is defenseless and uses a lot of off balance strikes. The practitioner waddles, takes very faltering steps and sometimes fall to the ground and lies prone while waiting the opponent to approach at which time a devastating attack is launched at the knees or groin areas of the opponent."
* Some Hung Gar lineages.
* Performance contains several exhibition forms called "Drunken" forms that bear no actual connection to the forms found in Traditional Chinese Martial Arts.

Zui Quan in Mixed and non-Chinese Styles

Shaolin-Do teaches Drunken forms beginning at the first degree blackbelt level. It has not been verified whether or not Shaolin Do is a Chinese, Japanese or Indonesian style, or a mix of these and/or other arts.

Zui Quan Practiced as a Style in Modern Times

'Drunken Boxing' techniques are based on the legend of the '. Each of the techniques in the Drunken Set demonstrate an attribute of one of the Immortals. These "elements" from all eight Immortals' styles are combined to form an effective fighting art.

Drunken boxing includes techniques contained in other kung-fu style and applies its deceptive philosophy. As the pugilist staggers about, he or she is concentrating on creating momentum and avoiding attacks with the style's trademark unorthodox adaptive moves; for example, if someone is going to push the pugilist, he or she rolls over his arms and hits him, and sometimes sinks his or her weight upon him, according to the situation.

Bayingzuiquan Style

Based mainly on three things: Finesse, Deception and Whole Body Connection on a Physical combative level. Finesse is the ability for the Drunken Boxer to move from technique to technique fluidly and smoothly. The human eye picks up staccato movements easier than smooth and graceful ones and thus a practitioner who possesses a lot of finesse will have more success than one who does not. The intricate movements and applications in Drunken Fist require one to be fast, smooth and powerful to make them plausible techniques. This is the reason much of Drunken training is done with swaying and rocking movements coordinated with each technique.
Deception is the heart and soul of Drunken Boxing and without it the style simply will not work effectively. The purpose of many of the postures during combat and training is to appear off balance when one is balanced, weak when one is powerful and slow when one is fast. This involves taking the practitioner to the very edge of his balance, strength and ability in order to know and understand when a movement does not just appear awkward and weak but truly is. Once one has trained diligently in the Drunken Forms the body becomes conditioned in such a way that to the uninitiated the practitioner appears weak and soft at all times.

Connection of the body relates to the creation and usage of power in the Drunken fist. In order for any style to be effective in combat it must be able to deliver powerful blows to the opponent and this style is no exception. The connection of the body means that when punching, the practitioner’s entire body generates power for the blow and not just his arm. This is a major difference in what is termed ”external” and ”internal” martial arts. External arts use the force generated by the strength of the bodies limbs for blows while the internal arts utilize the power of the entire body in each blow and thus deal a great deal of damage to the opponent. While Drunken Boxing relies on both external and internal power it is this training for the connection of the whole body that makes it possible for the practitioner to deliver real penetrative power in the awkward positions the style uses.

Drunken Boxing is a system of Chinese Martial Arts usable for combat and preservation of health if trained properly. One does not have to do back flips nor leap great heights like you see in the movies to be proficient. The art of deception and finesse can be learned by anybody and make them an effective martial artist.

Schools

, located in British Columbia Canada.

Verified Practitioners

Ma Qing Lung

Neil Ripski

Media Appearances

Zui Quan received mainstream media attention outside of China after the premier of Drunken Master in 1978. Drunken Fist's legendary style and execution is featured in many books, movies, comics and television shows.