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Di Tang Quan or Tumbling fist
By Chris Crudelli
Not a lot is known about the origin of Di Tang Quan although it is thought that it started to become popular in China as an art form on its own about 1,000 years ago.
Most of what we know now about Di Tang Quan is what we see in modern Wu Shu routines performed in northern China and on the competition circuit.
Many elements of Di Tang Quan have been amalgamated into other Chinese martial arts and exercises and movements common to Di Tang Quan can be seen in a range of Chinese martial arts particularly the tumbling, twisting, flying kicks and swallow-tail kicks whereby the practitioners run, jump and turn their body in such a way that they almost roll through the air two or three times before landing, kicking and often following up by leg sweeping their opponent.
Di Tang Quan in an incredibly active and dynamic martial arts form. It is one of those martial arts that if you look at it when it is performed well you really are awe struck at its surprising array of flips, somersaults, twists and acrobatics.
Although what separates this art from a standard acrobatic routine is that if you look closely you can see that every somersault, twist, jump, or flip contains within it a surprise punch, kick, grab or throw.
A common and unusual characteristic of Di Tang Quan is that the practitioner will repeatedly jump backwards up into the air as high as he can and land on the ground with nothing more than his back. Although this exercise might seem strange is an exercise of central importance to the understanding of Chinese martial arts and is something that my own teacher encouraged me to rigorously practice.
One thing that is very clear however with Di Tang Quan practitioners is their enhanced ability to successfully pick themselves up quickly from the floor if knocked down.
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