Naturally a style known as “Dog Boxing” is going to have at least one other name. So Dog Boxing is also called by such names as Shaolin Di Shu Quan (Shaolin Ground Arts Boxing), Shaolin Di Long (Shaolin Ground Dragon Fighting) and Di Shang Gong Fa Quan (The Skill of Groundwork).
Dog Boxing author and ShihFu Chen Zi Fan.
Many people consider Dog Boxing to have originated in the Southern Shaolin Temple. Some say its creator was the famous martial teacher and nun, Wu Mei. From Wu Mei it was passed to Miao Jin Hua. Miao, another woman, taught her son: Fang Shi Yu who make a hybrid style containing Dog Boxing and Hua Quan. After the Southern Shaolin temple was burned down, Fang did as many others and escaped. He went to Yong Chun, then Da Tian, then to Guan Yan Shi Temple known at the time as Zhu Yuan Shi. Fang started teaching at this temple. Thereafter Dog Boxing became a monk’s style for generations. One of its students was the monk Hui Kai. In his wandering Hui Kai visited FuJian and Guan Dong. He taught one students Zheng Yi Shan who was a native of Nan Tai, Lao Ya Zhou county. Zheng did not pass on the art to many but after an incident force him to flee to Yong Chuan he did teach one Zhuang Zi Shen.
A completely different legend traces Dog Boxing to a Bai Lian Si Temple near the Southern Shaolin Temple. Nuns at White Lotus studied methods invented by the martial genius Qi Ji Guang and also dog boxing. This continued into the Qing Dynasty until a nun, by the name of ‘mother Si Yue’ learned the art then went to Yong Chuan – Yong Qin – Fu Qing – and Fu Zhou. She stayed with one family in particular in Yong Qin and she gave them the art. Once it was in the Chen family it became a family treasure. It passed from one grandmother to Chen Yi who killed a bandit and had to flee to Fu Zhou. Women often did the style – not unlike today in “self defense courses – because it was considered that women could more easily fight from the ground – especially those who might have bound feet and lacked normal stability.
What are the components of Dog Boxing? It contains Rolling, Ground Flowers, Cross Scissors kicks, Push Scissors kicks, Leg Wrapping, Stomp kicking, Diving, Dropping, Kneeling, Grappling, Pulling, Leg Hooking and more.
What is the strategy? To reach retreat to a place of familiarity unfamiliar to the opponent where you neutralize his advantages and emphasize yours. .
Though uncommon in the West Dog Boxing has had a few advocates such as Allen Lee ShihFu in New York.
See our Dog style books in Chinese.
