Fanzi Quan or tumbling boxing is also known as Bashanfan (eight-flash boxing). It is so called because of its eight major flashing movements, which are executed as fast as lightning and thunderclaps. The movements in tumbling boxing are varied and continuous.

 

The Fanzi Quan ballad says: Wu Mu has passed down the Fanzi Quan which has mystery in its straightforward movements. Wu Mu is the other name for Yue Fei, a famous general of the Southern Song Dynasty. Some people have taken this to mean that Fanzi Quan was created by Yue Fei, but no historical record has verified this.

 

The eight-flash boxing mentioned by Qi Jiguang is exactly tumbling boxing of today. Bashanfan was the old name used in the Ming Dynasty. From Qi's account, it is evident that Bashanfan was already a comparatively complete and perfect style of fist fight in the Ming Dynasty.

 

Fanzi Quan spread far and wide after it was introduced into Hebei, developing many branch styles. The eagle-claw tumbling boxing was evolved on the basis of a combination of the eagle-claw moving boxing, eagle claw running boxing and tumbling boxing. When hitting, the hand is in the form of clenched fist. When retrieving, it is in the form of an eagle claw. Fist jabbing can be as fast as the swing of a whip and as relentless as teeming rain. Another combination is Digongquan (ground stroke boxing) and Fanziquan (tumbling boxing), called Digong Fanzi Quan (ground stroke tumbling boxing). It absorbs both the tumbling boxing tricks of fastness and variation and the ground stroke boxing moves of falling, pouncing, wrestling and leg locking. Because there are some feet-poking tricks in the ground stroke tumbling boxing, it is also called by some the feet-poking tumbling boxing. Other combinations include Shaolin tumbling boxing, long-style tumbling boxing, short-style tumbling boxing, Yanqing-style tumbling boxing and soft palming tumbling boxing.

 

Fanzi Quan stresses the combination of external and internal strengths and energies. Exercises involving the circulation of air- flows inside the body are carried through the water conduit, blood vessels and network of sinews which Chinese medicine believes exist in human bodies. These three networks and channels merge under the guidance of the mind. Tumbling boxers take root in their legs while emphasizing hand tricks and movements. The tumbling exercises are divided into two classes of major moves and minor moves. The major moves include jabbing, axing, elbowing, jamming, wrestling, rubbing and holding. The minor moves are rolling, lifting, turning, penetrating, slipping, hammering, provoking and flicking. In tumbling boxing, the routine is made rhythmic by slow and fast movements, continuous and intermittent actions. Tumbling boxers prefer to fight in a straightforward way. They change freely from hardness to softness and vice versa. When the hand hits out, the foot follows with a quick step. The body clutches together while moving around fast. The fist never hits out aimlessly nor does the hand retreat without trying to attack on its way back.

 

The routine of tumbling boxing is short and terse. Its movements are agile and quick and arranged in compact patterns. While practicing, the footwork is steady, posture upright and square, and actions are versatile. One moment the two fists hit straight and the next they are rounded for their attacks. Various tricks and moves are like whirl-winds and the entire routine is completed as if in one breath.