Fanzi

Fānziquán is a that emphasizes offense and defense with the hands.

As a Chinese martial art, it is usually practiced in sets of preformulated routines. Its movements have been described thus: "Two fists are fast like the falling rain drops, and fast like a snapping whip". Fanziquan routines are usually quite short and very fast. There are no weapons routines for Fanziquan.

''Fānziquán'' is a source of the modern Eagle Claw style.

History

Until at least the Ming Dynasty , ''Fānziquán'' was known as ''Bāshǎnfān'' , or "8 evasive tumbles".

''Fānziquán'' is often taught in conjunction with ''Chuōjiǎo'', not unlike how ''Xíngyìquán'' and ''Bāguàzhǎng'' are often taught together. The routines of ''Chuōjiǎo'', with its kicks, wide open stances and focus on hard power, were known as Martial Routines and those of ''Fānziquán'', with their more compact movements combining soft and hard power, were known as Scholarly Routines, which is why the ''Chuōjiǎo'' ''Fānziquán'' combination is known as "Martial-Scholar".

Both ''Fānziquán'' and ''Chuōjiǎo'' are associated with the 12th century Song Dynasty general Yue Fei and the association between the two may date that far back.
However, as a legendary figure, Yue Fei has had many martial arts attributed to him, including Eagle Claw and ''''.

Nonetheless, the association between the two is old enough that by the mid-19th century, Zhao Canyi, a general in the failed Taiping Rebellion, was a master of both styles.

After the failure of the rebellion, Zhao went into seclusion in in Raoyang, where he taught ''Fānziquán'', which emphasizes the hands, to the Wang family and ''Chuōjiǎo'', which emphasizes the feet, to the Duan family.

During practice, the families would exchange techniques.

Modern Day

According to his official website, martial arts actor Jet Li specialized primarily in Fanziquan and Chángquán during his wushu training.