Southern Fist - Nanquan - Yang Shi Wen

The term NanQuan can be translated from the Mandarin Chinese to mean Southern Fist. China is traditionally divided by the north and south by the great YangTze River. The main perceived difference between northern and southern styles is that the northern styles (Chang Quan) tend to emphasize high jumps and generally fluid and rapid movements, while the southern styles (Nan Quan) focus more on strong arm and hand techniques, stable stances, fast footwork and powerfull kicks.

Beyond that, there are 2 definitions for Nan Quan:

1) The first is that Nan Quan refers to all the fighting styles developed in Southern China (Traditional Nan Quan). This includes all of the traditional styles used of the South including: Hung Gar Kuen, Choi Gar Kuen, Mo Gar Kuen, Wing Chun, Choy Lay Fut, Fut Ga Kuen, etc.

2) The second definition refers only to Modern or Contemporary Nan Quan that was developed shortly after the founding of the Peoples Republic of China (1949) as part of the new Chinese National sport, the Modern Wushu.

Nan Quan (both Traditional or Modern) is characterized for its low stable stances and strong arm movements. 

The form emphasizes power, speed and stability. 

The movements are powerful and aggressive like those of a tiger. 

In fact one of the routines of Contemporary Nan Quan is a modification of the Tiger & Crane routine (Fu Hok Kuan) present in all Hung Gar branches.

In Nan Quan, the arm combinations are used in their entirety to cover all ranges of attack and defense. Common in it is a unique form of simultaneous attack and defense called 'bridges' (qiao) which use the forearms at diagonal angles to create both a block and a strike.

While the firm stances are required, a high level of mobility is also necessary despite the fact that the practitioner maintaining the low positions.

Also present in Nan Quan is the concept of releasing energy through fa-sheng ('to happen') or 'release shout' which helps generates power through a forceful breathing exhalation and varied sounds articulations, (i.e. 'shout').

Bellow you can see Yang Shi Wen, consider as one of the best Guangdong athletes of all times, performing his version of the Tiger & Crane routine (Fu Hok Kuan), different from some Hung Gar versions but very well coordinated and extremely powerful. Guangdong style has very solid movements, each single hand movement has a strong hand snap, and the stances are not very mobile, but very solid.

'Yang Shi Wen is called as the “King of Nan Quan” (Southern Fist). He had an unforgettable style, SPEED and especially EXPLOSIVENESS that was unrivalled in his time and even today. Speed is simply getting to point A and point B as fast as possible. Explosiveness means to accelerate at a high rate and to have a type of dynamic quality that makes you get taken aback like “Woah!” Yang Shi Wen had that kind of quality and effect.'

'What make him so unique? First, his choreography was so unparalleled. He has a very unique style in which he would throw about 5-8 punches per second while he was in a stance or in between stances or transitioning stances very quickly. His punches would all fire at a rapid pace with power and precision in every technique. Also, the choreography was very fresh and interesting with very little repetition with a variety of techniques including some good traditional techniques. However, he put together movements and combinations that athletes of his time did not think of nor consider. This made him into some type of traditionalist, old school innovator with a modern athlete’s perspective. Yang Shi Wen had an explosiveness that was unparalleled. In modern days there are more explosive athletes in   than Yang Shi Wen. However, he had a better Nan Quan foundation than most of these modern day athletes.'

What does it means?

'We can start thinking that all the beauty and strength and difficulty in a Southern Fist routine lies in the details. A Nan Quan routine looks impressive when the practitioner snaps his horse stance very firmly into front stance, accelerates his arms to a strike, and stops everything abruptly for a split second before moving on to the next step. There is no momentum in a Southern Fist routine, no flow from one movement to another, each movement is initiated from the stance and the hip turn. There are no fancy movements nor big, theatrical movements.  Also, there is a lot of body movement and details in between the hand movements in Southern Fist which when put together as a whole leave an impression.  This is what Yang Shi Wen has done, and though we cannot put a finger on what exactly is the one thing is that impresses us with Yang Shi Wen: it is the athleticism he applies to these perfect movements, it is the spirit and fierceness he displays when attacking his form, it is the unique and innovative style of choreography he applied that still gets imitated today. I heard that he didn’t start training as a professional until he was 13 years old and did not originally begin training professionally (basically he was a complete beginner at the age of 13 was what I heard).'

One last question: where is Yang Shi Wen nowadays?

Bellow, another routine performed by Yang Shi Wen, 'Mr. Dynamite' .... enjoy it!

All citations were posted originally by Beewushu on July 18, 2009
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