Concepts
The principles behind the movements of Shaolin Gung Fu. Techniques are what the art does; concepts are why it does them the way it does.
What shapes the shape
Each concept is a catalogue row on this art. Facet tags appear only when they are stored on the entry.
Four Categories of Technique (Ti / Da / Shuai / Na)
Chinese martial arts' traditional four-part technique classification — kicking (Ti), striking (Da), wrestling (Shuai), and seize-controlling (Na) — used across this dossier to group its coded techniques (kicks, hand strikes, the throw, and the seizing/Qinna material).
The Five Animals (Wu Xing)
A classical Shaolin framework of five archetypal animal styles — Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Leopard, and Crane — each associated with a characteristic hand-form, strategic quality, and body mechanic, several of which supply this dossier's coded animal hand-form strikes.
Xiao Hong Quan 小洪拳 (Little/Small Flood Fist)
Widely described as the foundational "mother" form of Shaolin boxing — the first full form typically taught, containing the art's core structural and mechanical principles. Named and structurally described here but deliberately NOT decomposed into coded sequence steps — see the file header's HONESTY FLAG. Its companion/counterpart form, Da Hong Quan 大洪拳 (Great/Big Flood Fist), is a separate, larger form in the same family — named here for completeness, not separately catalogued, since no source consulted this pass gives it independent structural description beyond the name.
Eighteen-Lohan Fist 十八羅漢拳 (Luohan Quan / Shi Ba Luo Han Quan)
Traditionally regarded as the oldest documented, systematised Shaolin style, evolved from the Eighteen Lohan Hands exercises and organised (in the Shaolin Wahnam lineage) into 18 sub-sequences totalling 136 named patterns. Named and structurally described here but deliberately NOT decomposed into coded sequence steps — see the file header's HONESTY FLAG.
Ten Traditional Forms + Five Training Forms (Northern Shaolin, Gu Ruzhang lineage)
A second, independently-sourced Shaolin-tradition lineage's named empty-hand curriculum, traced through nine generations from the monk Zhao Yuan to Gu Ruzhang's 20th-century standardisation. Fifteen named forms in total: five training forms — 忠義拳 Zhōngyìquán (Righteous Fist), 練步拳 Liànbùquán (Continuous Stepping Fist, used historically for Chinese Nationalist troop training), 譚腿十二路 Tán Tuǐ Shí'èr Lù (Springing Legs, 12 Roads), 功力拳 Gōnglìquán (Power Generating Fist), and 譚腿十路 Tán Tuǐ Shí Lù (Springing Legs, 10 Roads) — plus ten traditional empty-hand forms: 開門 Kāimén (Open the Gate), 領路 Lǐnglù (Lead the Way), 坐馬 Zuòmǎ (Mount the Horse), 穿心 Chuānxīn (Pierce the Heart), 武藝 Wǔyì (Martial Skill), 短打 Duǎndǎ (Close/Short Combat), 梅花 Méihuā (Plum Blossom), 拔步 Bábù (Uprooting Step), 連環 Liánhuán (Chain of Rings), and 式法 Shìfǎ (Skilled Method). Name-level only — no movement-by-movement source was found for any of the fifteen, so none is decomposed into a sequences[] entry, the same honesty-over-completeness line applied throughout this corpus.
Additional Named Forms (Shi Yanquan lineage, Vienna) and Cross-Lineage Corroboration
A third independently-sourced Shaolin-tradition school's forms list, naming thirteen further routines beyond those already catalogued elsewhere in this dossier: 五步拳 Wǔ Bù Quán (Five-Step Fist), 十三拳 Shí Sān Quán (Thirteen Fist Form), 五行拳 Wǔ Xíng Quán (the school's own English label is "Five Animal Fist," though 五行 literally reads "Five Elements" — recorded as given, not silently corrected), 大通臂拳 Dà Tōng Bèi Quán (Great Tong Bei Fist), 六合拳 Liù Hé Quán (Six Harmonies Fist), 七星拳 Qī Xīng Quán (Seven Star Fist), 小罗汉拳 / 大罗汉拳 Xiǎo/Dà Luóhàn Quán (Small/Great Arhat Fist), 长护心意门 Cháng Hù Xīn Yì Mén (Long-Term Protection Heart-Mind School), 太祖长拳 Tàizǔ Cháng Quán (Emperor Taizu's Long Fist), 小炮拳 / 大炮拳 Xiǎo/Dà Pào Quán (Small/Great Cannon Fist), 朝阳拳 Cháo Yáng Quán (Rising Sun Fist), 十二路弹腿 Shí Èr Lù Tán Tuǐ (Twelve Routes of the Kicking Leg), and 大梅花拳 Dà Méihuā Quán (Great Plum Blossom Fist). Name-level only, per the same scope line as this dossier's other form entries.
Qinna (Chin Na): Small and Big Seizing
Shaolin's seizing/joint-control taxonomy, traditionally divided into "Small Qinna" (palm, finger, and wrist control) and "Big Qinna" (elbow, shoulder, head, and leg control), applying anti-joint and pressure-point mechanisms — the umbrella category for this dossier's coded tiger-claw and eagle-claw seizing techniques and the elbow-dislocation throw.