Ying Jow Pai (Eagle Claw)
鷹爪派Northern Chinese Eagle Claw style that adds grips and levers to long strikes. On China's national heritage list since 2008.
Quick Facts
ChinaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
About Ying Jow Pai (Eagle Claw)
Ying Jow Pai, the Eagle Claw style, is a northern Chinese art that adds grips and levers to long strikes. It has been on China's national list of intangible cultural heritage since 2008 as yingzhao fanziquan from Xiong county in Hebei province. The list derives the style from the Ming exercise of eight flash flips, later called fanziquan, to which grappling methods and claw-like hand shapes were added. Tradition attributes the style to the Song general Yue Fei. According to Wikipedia, however, his biographies do not mention that he created any style. Liu Shijun from Xiong county, born around 1827 and died in 1910, is regarded as the founder. His follower Chen Zizheng taught at the Jingwu association in Shanghai and, according to the website of a Greek school, was its deputy director from 1919. The national list describes the style as fast strikes with a strong emphasis on grabbing and immobilizing the opponent. According to Wikipedia it contains 108 categories of techniques practiced in pairs, and the main sets are xingquan and lianquan. The national bearers are Chen Zhengyao and Chen Guixue.
History
According to the national list of intangible cultural heritage, the style arose from the Ming exercise of eight flash flips, later called simply fanziquan. The Eagle variant arose by combining these flips with grappling methods from another school and with claw-like hand shapes. According to Wikipedia, Liu Shijun, born around 1827 in Xiong county near Baoding, who died in 1910, is regarded as the founder. Chen Zizheng (1878–1933) studied under Liu Chengyou, a student of Liu Shijun. According to the website of the Greek Ying Jow Pai school, in 1919 he became deputy director of the Jingwu association in Shanghai and in 1922 left to head its branch in Hong Kong.
How it differs
The national list derives the style from the Ming fanziquan and does not mention Yue Fei, while school tradition attributes it to the Song general. The Eagle variant differs from the related fanziquan in grappling methods and claw-like hand shapes.
Technique
The national list describes the style as fast strikes with a strong emphasis on grabbing and immobilizing the opponent. According to Wikipedia, the core is the Yue Shi San Shou set with 108 categories of techniques practiced in pairs. The xingquan set, that is the walking fist, has ten to twelve rows and corresponds to today's Shaolin fanziquan.
Training
According to Wikipedia, the lianquan set, the linking fist, has fifty short rows repeated on both sides and builds the foundation of grabbing, levers and qinna.
Ranks and progression
According to Wikipedia, the condition for master level is three hand sets and a spear set.
Today
Yingzhao fanziquan has been on the national list of intangible cultural heritage since the second batch of 2008 under number 799 and code VI-27, nominated by Xiong county in Hebei. The national bearers are Chen Zhengyao, born in 1933, and Chen Guixue, born in 1960. The list warns that after more than three centuries of tradition the style is endangered by the modern lifestyle.
Did you know
Wikipedia lists the actress Cynthia Rothrock among well-known practitioners. Legend says Yue Fei began training with the spear at eleven and mastered it at thirteen.
Frequently asked questions
Did General Yue Fei found the Eagle Claw style?
So tradition claims. The national heritage list derives the style from the Ming fanziquan and Liu Shijun from the nineteenth century is regarded as the founder.
What characterizes the Eagle Claw style?
Fast strikes and a strong emphasis on grabbing and immobilizing the opponent with claw-like hand shapes.
Is the Eagle Claw style protected heritage?
Yes. Since 2008 it has been on China's national list of intangible cultural heritage under number 799.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.