Master Tse’s Taiji Fist #49

Kau Jing 靠勁

The last Jing is Kau Jing靠勁. Kau 靠 means shoulder. Many people do not think about using the shoulders to attack an opponent, but it is actually a very powerful way of attacking if we use it properly. Using Kau Jing means you use your whole body to attack the opponent. When the strength of the whole body runs into an opponent it can knock them down and seriously hurt them. When we are close to the opponent we can use the whole body to push or crash into them using the shoulder, chest, back or hip. All these are Kau Jing. It means we can use any part of the body to attack our opponent. Imagine our body is like a ball and we can use any part of it to hit and attack the opponent so we should not limit ourselves. When we use Kau Jing we are very close to our opponent and so kicking, punching or elbowing might not be so convenient. So in Taijiquan 太極拳, when we practise our forms we must move with the body as a whole to develop the power which we can release from any part of the body.