Lien Bu Quan

Several different styles? You’re right: that is intriguing. I wonder why it’s always associated with dragon style… It’s certainly a useful move, if simple.

For those who don’t know the technique, it contains a high block which folds in to the ear (so as not to push the attacking limb away) simultaneously with a step in and a punch to the floating ribs. I suppose the folding-in block does more to guide the punch to the side than to forcefully smother it. Kind of a slippery movement and, as I mentioned, simple.

I personally like to follow up w/ a throw.
the folded arm snaking the punching arm and either stepping through after the punch or turning for a circle throw.

it’s also a good ‘oh, crap’ last resort deflection

> But the point is, my sino-viet MA friend assured me this precise
> move was a kind of trademark signature of dragon sequences
> in several of the vietnamese styles he studied…pretty
> intriguing huh.
Lien Bu Chuan is called “Gua Da”. It is exact like Ravenshaw described, well said. Gua is the defending move. It is not only shown in vietnamese styles. Many northern styles use it also. Many forms in Long Fist have it. Even Shuai Chiao has a basic training like that, called “Gou Gua” or “Gou Gua Lieng Huang”. It is a very good defending move.

Cheers,

w-h-i-z

Didn’t realise our forum censored ****. That’s funny. I guess I can’t say cheese ****. That’s going to reduce my vocabulary considerably.

vocab, or diet…

That move sounds familiar… Seems farely generic (not to knock that) to many styles.

Originally posted by Oso
I personally like to follow up w/ a throw.

Why not punch and throw? Or is that what you meant?

Anyway, the movement in the form is done with a punch, but there really are a ton of techniques you could do off of that block, with a throw not being the least attractive option.

ravenshaw, yep. the elbow deflection turns into a wrap on his punching arm as you punch to stun/setup.

and I’ve been a longtime fan of following up that punch w/ a throat grab to facilitate that throw as well.

Sorry to revive this old thread, but I can shed some light on the form origin.

Lian Bu Quan is from the WESTERN Dragon system, originally.
It is from Yunan province, rare to ever see their martial arts.

I have an old book from 1920s, called Orthodox Shaolin Lian Bu Quan.

In comparing how the form was done way back then to how Lian Bu is generally taught today, it is pretty much the same postures, nothing was lost.
The only difference is that the more newer way to do it that the two famous schools taught has different directions to do the sequences of postures.
They did improve it quite a bit, it was too linear and boring the old way.

You can see one version of the form in one of the Robert Smith books, he shows a step by step photo guide to the form.

Also, a GREAT version of the form is done by the Taoist martial arts schools.
It’s one of the better versions, you can buy the VCD of it here:

http://www.plumpub.com/sales/vcd4/coll_WDtaihe.htm

where it says:

VCD#1273 Dragon Boxing
About an hour, See Main VCD page for prices, CHINESE ONLY

Dragon Fist also known as “Continuous Stepping Fist”. It was created by grand master Liu Chong Jun, President of the Sichuan Martial Association, about 100 years ago. It was introduced in National Nanjing Wushu college & became a mandatory subject for wushu students. Fast movements are well-arranged & balanced. This is often known as Lien Bu and used as a “basic” set though, technically it does not serve that purpose all that well in that it has few truly basic movements. It is very common, the first form taught, for example in the Northern Shaolin system. This version, taught by the teacher with three helpers, bears little resemblance to the typical beginning level version - though it is definitely the same form. It is a fluid set with some complex hand actions.

Wow, I was surprised to see this thread again. Now that I think of it, I’ve known this set twice as long as I did when I started this thread… wish I knew it twice as well.

Thanks for sharing your research, Sal. I may check out the VCD.

Great thread!
My teacher pronounces it Limpo.

Some interesting real life stuff:

One of my students is a Marine Recon Operative and recently while they were in training working on weapons disarming and retention techniques. Using the step back pull and cut technique from the turn around leading to the second strand (Steal the peach from under the leaf, Cat stance, down chop block.) he was able to either retain his weapon or wrench a weapon away from an opponent every time using that stance change combined with the cutting hand technique. The instructor was needless to say impressed while the other trainees complained he was “Doing something funny with his stance.”

One of my long time female students was visiting Barcelona in Spain last summer. While sightseeing she came upon a group of young men grabbing various women’s behinds, laughing and giving high fives to one another so she put herself on guard. She was momentarily distracted by some curio in a nearby shop forgetting senior
a s s grabbers and one of the fellows crept up behind her. Feeling his presence before she was accosted she turned just in time to block the groping hand. Unconsciously she happened to use the same technique described above cutting into the man’s wrist with her full body weight. He was transported to a nearby hospital with a broken wrist…

I gotta be careful whose @ss I grab…

sal would you be able to scan any of the photos from that book and post them on here? i am curious to know if the version i know is the same. the one i do is more linear and different in a few ways than the ones i have seen videos of. also yunnan province (which which is has spring time weather all year and is a good place to find awesome coffee and fried potatoes) is where many of the chinese muslims live. they are the ones (at least to my knowledge) that developed the tan tui. while i was there (in Kunming and Lijiang) i saw a lot of elderly people practicing bagua and tai chi in various parks and parking lots.

the one i learned all runs on a T shape with most of the hoo ha happening on the long bit and the opening bits running on the cross bar bit.

for such a simple set it has interesting doo dads in it.

[QUOTE=David Jamieson;729313]the one i learned all runs on a T shape with most of the hoo ha happening on the long bit and the opening bits running on the cross bar bit.

for such a simple set it has interesting doo dads in it.[/QUOTE]

actually i you’re right mine is the same. Capital T begining and ending on the cross bar of the T and the majority of the form on the long part. but i was thinking it was linear just bc the bulk of it is on the long part.

The version I know has one step to the left in the beginning, then we step back to the starting point before turning and going in a line… so I guess it’s more of an L shape than a T, though the foot of the L is very short.

This is more or less how I do it. I always thought this set was so jerky compared to the other sets in the BSL curriculum, even the 18 Techniques. Seems like single technique followed by single technique with only a few real combinations.

Hi All,

Please find the post attached regarding Lianbuquan.
http://wugong.satirio.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?p=163#163

…scans of the 1919 book [Shaolin Orthodox Lianbuquan] are also there.

Kind Regards
Wu Chanlong

so much info on lain bu chuan. this is great. i never knew that much about it.

Ravenshaw,

Your Lien Bo is really a T shape that everyone is referring. If you take the distance moving to the left, you’ll find that it is equal to the distance traveled to the rigth. And when you start going on the center line (the main line), where the left leg or foot is placed, it really is the mid-point such that the distance going to the left is equal to the distance going to the right, thus it is a T-shape.

SM,

Thank for the scan document. I’ve been told that Lien Bo was connected to the five animals i.e., specifically Dragon. However I did not know exactly who should take the credit. However, I do know who take the credit for standardizing Lien Bo at the Nanjing Kuo Sho school. I’ll dig it up and post it later if anyone is interested.
.

Thanks for the scans!

[QUOTE=NorthernShaolin;730107]I do know who take the credit for standardizing Lien Bo at the Nanjing Kuo Sho school. I’ll dig it up and post it later if anyone is interested.
.[/QUOTE]

I’m interested, as always.

According to the text, Wu Lin Chang Ku, the Five Tigers from the North went South and an official announcement by Li Chi Shen was made that Wan Li Sheng was to be head of both of the Central National Arts Provinces Schools in Kwangsi and Kwangtung.

WLS then assigned Kuo Yu Chang (BSL) to be head of Kwangtung Provincial School and Wang Shao Chou (Ch’a and BSL) as head of Kwangsi Provincial School. WLS requested that all the Five Tigers meet with Wang Shao Chou in setting up a standard martial arts program for the Provenicial schools. As a result of this meeting, all the masters agreed that the standard basic set would be Lien Bo Chuan from Wu Chih Ch’ing who was a master of Ch’a Style and Short Strike Style. He also authored several books on Tan T’ui, Ch’a Number Four and Short Strike Fist.