Chinese martial arts have a reputation in some unschooled circles as being too flowery to work in a real fight. Those critics have never even seen Sanshou, one of the most formidable martial arts humans have developed to date.

This highlight clip is from the 2003 Sanshou world cup.

Sanshou is one of the world’s great martial arts, and unfortunately has not yet received the worldwide recognition is deserves as a core combat sport, alongside Muay Thai, Folkstyle/Freestyle/Greco, boxing, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, and Judo.

Sanshou, also referred to as Sanda, or Chinese Kickboxing, is, along with taolu (forms) training, one of the two components of Chinese martial arts training. Sanshou is often practiced along side older, more traditional approaches.

Sanshou developed from bareknuckle, no-rules lei tai contests. Developed in Whampoa, China, during the 1920s, at the Kuomintang’s original modern military academy, Sanshou was later adopted by the People’s Liberation Army of China. Over time rules and equipment were added, until a complete modern art and sport was developed.

The techniques draw from traditional Kung Fu styles, military combatives, Shuai Jiao (takedowns, throws, and sweeps), and Chin Na (joint locks and chokes). As well new, modern techniques have been developed. In practice, Sanshou is a contact sport, emphasizing full-power punches and kicks, and high amplitude throws. There are pro and amateur rule sets, with some of the former including knees and elbows to the face. Prohibited techniques include no blows to the back of the head, throat, spine, or groin, and no ground fighting.

Leading exponents include Pat Barry, Liu Hailong, Cung Le, Simon Marcus, K J Noons, Muslim Salikhov, Zhang Tiequan, and Zou Shiming. While Cung Le is perhaps the best known Sanshou based fighter, he has never won a world championship. it is only a matter of time before more Sanshou-based fighters rise to international combat sports prominence.

Sanshou is so comprehensive an art that parts of it can be adopted, and applied to a wide variety of rule sets. A Sanshou student could enter a boxing competition, or American rules kickboxing, or international rules, or Sanshou, or MMA.