Master Tse’s Taiji Fist #47

Lie Jing 裂勁

The second Jing, after Cai Jing 採勁, is Li Jing. Lie 裂means break. In Chen Taijiquan 陳家太極拳 it is common to use Cai Jing to control our opponent and then we can break them with the other hand using either the palm or the forearm. In Chen Taijiquan if we grab hold of someone’s hand properly we can control them using Chan Si Jing, that is to say using the spiral in the area where we are holding them. We can also break that part, like the elbow or the wrist with our other hand. This is Li Jing. If we do not want to break it, we can just make them feel pain so they will surrender. Cai and Li Jing can hurt our opponent badly, but also we can use them to control the opponent. Sometimes controlling them is better than hurting them.