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 There are several Chinese
martial arts known as Snake Boxing or Snake Style
(Chinese: 蛇拳;
pinyin: shéquán; literally "snake fist") which imitate the
movements of snakes. Proponents claim that adopting the fluidity of
snakes allows them to entwine with their opponents in defense and
strike them from angles they wouldn't expect in offense. Snake style
is said to especially lend itself to applications with the Chinese
straight sword. Both Wing Chun and T'ai Chi Ch'uan are said to be
based on a combination of the Snake and Crane styles. The snake is
also one of the animals imitated in Baguazhang and Xingyiquan. The
sinuous, fluid motion of the snake lends itself to the practical
theory that underlies the "soft" martial arts.
Different snake styles imitate
different movements of snakes. Some, for example, imitate the Cobra,
while others imitate the python, while some schools imitate both for
different applications. There are two unrelated, Northern and Southern
snake styles.
 Northern
Style
Snake is one of the archetypal
Five Animals of Chinese martial arts; the other four being Crane,
Tiger, Leopard, and Dragon. These five animals originally represented
the five classical Chinese elements before developing into their own
styles. Snake is usually Earth, Tiger is Fire, Crane is Metal, Dragon
is Water, and Leopard is Wood. Since they were derived from the Five
Elements, they are kept in this pattern. At this point many styles
delve into more advanced animal training or actual element training.
The Taoist temples of the Wudang Mountains were known to have produced
many snake stylists.
Snake style is based on
whipping power which travels up the spine to the fingers. The ability
to sinuously move, essentially by compressing one's stomach/abdominal
muscles, is very important. Footing is quite grounded. The stancework
is fluid in order to maximize the whipping potential of any movement.
This necessitates building a strong spine to contain the power and
strong fingers to convey the strike. Since breath is important to any
movement of the spine and ribs, snake style is considered one of the
main styles which eventually led to internal training. Snake style is
also known as an approach to weapons training, the Chinese straight
sword and spear in particular. There are even specialty varieties of
sword blades and spear points that curve back and forth down the
length of the blade in imitation of the snake's body known as snake
sword and snake spear.
Snake Style generally aims for
weak points of the human body, such as eyes, groin, and joints,
meaning a snake stylist must always try to avoid conflict, as taking
part in combat may cause great physical damage to an opponent, making
anyone who is skilled in this style very dangerous.
Southern
Style
There is also an obscure
Southern Snake Style (Chinese: 蛇形刁手)
whose grand master was Leung Tin Chu who was born in the late 1800's
and became well known as he ranked 4th in one of Nanking's Martial Art
examination in late 1920. His style was an amalgamation of Southern
Shaolin style (which he learned from a Shaolin monk) and Choy Gar
style learned from a Choy family member. He had two main disciples,
his nephew Master Leung Gar Fong of Honk Kong and the late Master Wong
Tin Yuen who taught this style at his studio on Sacramento Street in
San Francisco for forty years since late 1930. The pugilistic style is
best described as a mid-distance fighting style using, by coincidence,
some Wing Chun-like techniques in Hung Gar-like forms. That attests to
the Southern Shaolin origin of this style and its close relationship
to other styles originating from Southern Shaolin. Force and
techniques are softer than traditional southern styles. Besides
straight punches and bong shou as Wing Chun, the use of southern style
techniques of butterfly-budha palms, the hook, upper cut, and gui quen
(back fist) are central techniques to this style. Biu tze (thrusting
fingers) techniques resembling snake attacks are the secrets, and
hence, the name of this style. There are multiple kicking techniques,
as varied as typical northern styles with high kicks, but also typical
below the knee kicks seen in southern styles. There are six fist sets,
two stick sets, single sword, short double swords, and other
traditional weapons.
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