Martial arts: the Qin Na of master Zhao Da Yuan

Back in summer 1997 I had the chance to meet master Zhao Da Yuan in Beijing, and have a brief lesson on Qin Na. Zhao Da Yuan is the chief instructor of martial arts at the police academy in Beijing, and a master of Ba Gua Zhang. He wrote an great book on this topic combining his experience on qin na techniques with a sound biomechanical approach.

The result is a book entitled "Practical Chin Na", translated now in several languages, which is an excellent introduction to this discipline.

Unfortunately master Zhao did not let me take pictures or shoot videos (except one after the lesson, where we look sweat, dusty and beaten up) , but I recorded some of the techniques when we were in Shaolin, before we forgot all the sequences . Then recently I started converting my VHS videos into digital format and this is what I recovered:

(six VHS frames combined with Photoshop - click image to enlarge)

In this sequence, shot in one of the gym inside the International Shaolin Wushu Guild, Ivan and Andrea are demonstrating one of the qin na techniques we learnt, while in the background Elena is rehearsing what looks like Lohanquan.