Kao
靠
Literally: to lean
A shoulder strike, one of the eight basic energies of internal Chinese styles, used among others in bajiquan for close combat.
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Kao (靠), literally to lean or to tilt, is a shoulder strike, one of the eight basic energies or techniques (ba jin) of internal Chinese styles. The meaning of the character reflects the oblique path of the strike. Force is generated from the ground through the legs and transmitted by the shoulder; the strike can be directed forward, backward or, traditionally, sideways, to break free from an opponent's hold. Kao is a technique for close-range combat, similar to Zhou, the elbow strike: both are fast, short techniques for close contact, but Kao comes from the shoulder and Zhou from the elbow. Fast elbow and shoulder strikes belong to the explosive short power that characterizes bajiquan (八極拳). Bajiquan originated among the Hui people in Hebei province. The first historically documented practitioner is Wu Zhong (1712–1802) from Mengcun, who passed the art on to Wu Ying in 1790.