Pachi Chuan

One of the oldest systems of marital arts, dating back 5000 years to the Huang Di Dynasty, Pachi Chuan was first documented under the name Pa Men Shiong Chuan (The Eight Bear Gates Style). The reason for using “Bear” was simply because of the armor they wore. In those days the militant’s armor was made of dried and hardened animal skins. The higher up the rank, the tougher and heavier the animal skin armor was. The highest rank used bearskin. This practically impenetrable (for the weapons of the times) armor, was also very heavy, making very limited mobility. For this reason Pachi Chuan was developed to be a very martial and efficient system, projecting explosive energy in a direct path much like a cannon. In Pachi Chuan, the student focuses not on deflecting the opponent’s blows, but rather on penetrating his attack to overwhelm him. This system is so powerful that during the Ching dynasty it was the official system of the Emperor’s Court. Thus “Eight” referring to the number of guards who would escort the Emperor at all times.

Pachi Chuan is a very physically demanding style, utilizing the idea of 100% of available force in every technique. Differing from its sub-style, Hsing-I Chuan, Pachi Chuan works with several different kinds of energy projections (Chin). These are Spiral Energy, Crossing Energy, Falling Energy, Explosive Energy and Penetrating Energy. Apart from using the Five Basic Energies (Wushing Chi), in the Pachi Chuan system the student learns how to project each one, or a combination of the different “Chins”, thus creating a vast amount of attack possibilities.