How Chinese is sanshou/sanda?

[kal]

May sound like a silly question ... but where do the techniques used in sanda/san shou tournaments come from?

Are they from kung fu styles?

Or are they "borrowed" from western boxing and/or muay thai?

 

[Xue Sheng]

May sound like a silly question ... but where do the techniques used in sanda/san shou tournaments come from?

Are they from kung fu styles?

Or are they "borrowed" from western boxing and/or muay thai?

How Chinese is sanshou/sanda?

Very, Real Sanshou (no matter what anyone tells you) is still VERY concerned about rooting and the dantian.

Look into the history of Sanshou and you will see it was a conglomerate of many things but most are Chinese and no matter what styles from other countries you may or may not bring in it is still being brought in from a Chinese perspective about fighting.

What you are looking at is the sports version of Sanda and if you watch the matches that the Chinese Police have on YouTube you will see a very different approach to the fight than a Western Boxer has. First they don't hop; second they go for takedowns third they kick (hard). There are also matches on there of Sanshou vs Muay Thai, watch them and you will see both differences and similarities. But watch any MA vs MA match and you will see that.

There is also a civilian version, I am told, and that has much more Qinna and deals with weapons defense

There is also a Police/Military version (I train) that is incredibly different from what you see in the Ring or in the alleged civilian version and it is so very similar, in many ways, to the other CMA styles I have trained it is scary. IMO it is most certainly a Chinese Martial Art.

However you will see some fighting Sanshou that are definitely approaching this like a boxer but form what I have seen of the good matches on YouTube those guys don't do so well against a well trained Sanshou fighter in China.

 

[kidswarrior]

First they don't hop; second they go for takedowns third they kick (hard).

That's my experience, too, although as some of you know, my background is San Soo, not San Shou.

 

[Steel Tiger]

As Xue pointed out the essential elements of sanda are very much those of all gongfu.

This type of MA has been around in China for a very long time, possibly as long as 1500 years. Nowadays it may look like boxing or kickboxing, but that is only because that is a very efficient way to approach this stylised combat. Chinese arts are vast and varied and it isn't necessary to go outside the gongfu set to find all the techniques you might want.