Master Tse’s Taiji Fist #48

Zhou Jing 肘勁

The third Jing is Zhou Jing肘勁. Zhou 肘 means elbow. Zhou Jing means elbow power but in the situation it means elbow attack. An elbow attack is very powerful and very damaging. If you hit any part of the opponent’s body with the elbow then it can be all over. So it is very powerful but the downside is that you have to be very close to the opponent to attack them. The longest method of attacking is a kick as the legs are longer, after the legs it is the fist or palm. The elbow is the shortest weapon and so we cannot attack with the elbow until we get very close. So when we are fighting or doing Tui Shou 推手 we need to get very close to the opponent.

Generally when we cannot use the kick or punch as we are too close, then the elbow is perfect. We use Cai 採to grab the opponent and pull them to the side, then his body will be open and so we can attack with the elbow. We should however be careful when we are practising and not use this technique on our training partner.