Kuoshu Tournament Clips This short video of just less than 10 minutes in length attempts to capture the essence of what the Kuoshu full contact fighting contests were in the 1990's and to then portray the efforts of Mike Patterson's Internal Martial Arts teams to utilize true Hsing I (xingyi), Pa Kua (bagua) and Tai Chi (taiji) principles within the context of those contests. Full rules of these contests as they were fought can be found HERE. The contests were amateur standing fought to either knockout, TKO or point accumulation over three rounds. The clip has audio (sounds of crowd, impacts, etc.).
The file size is 42.3 MB and the clip length is 9:32 actual time.

About the KuoShu contests

The Chinese KuoShu contest rules have changed gradually over the decades as the focus was shifted away from the concept of only testing the strongest and the best the Chinese styles had to offer in combat, and toward a balance of said test mixed with concerns for the safety of the combatants. Since I am often asked what the rules of the contest are, they are posted in their current form here:

The contests are three rounds of three minutes continuous fighting with a one minute break between rounds. Sometimes the preliminary bouts will be a reduced round length, depending on the promoter of each respective tournament.

The contests are fought on a platform ranging currently from two to three feet high, and twenty four by twenty four feet square.

Contests are decided by either knockout, or point accumulation, with the current point structures as follows below:

One point awarded for any clean and powerful strike to any valid target area. (Forbidden targets are the groin, back brain and throat only.) (No gouging permitted.)
Two points awarded for a clean throwing technique, where the person executing the throw does not touch the floor with any part of his/her body other than the feet. (No ground fighting permitted.)
Three points awarded for execution of a technique, whether strike or throw, that succeeds in ejecting the opponent off the platform entirely.

In International competitions, strikes with the Hands, Feet, Elbows and Knees are allowed. However, in National competitions, the Elbow and Knee strikes are deleted. (No head butting in either structure.)

Currently, the safety gear worn consists of a "head cage" (basically a boxing head guard with a cross hatch of a few plastic bars on the front to protect the nose), fingerless 4 oz. gloves and a groin cup (women also wear breast protectors). No taping of the hands or feet, and no padding of the feet or shins is permitted.

The contests are open to all styles and backgrounds. Classes are according to weight only. To compete in the World tournaments (held every four years), you must demonstrate actual ability in both empty hands and weapons of a Chinese persuasion. This requirement is waived for other events.

In World, International and National events there is also presented an overall team scoring system, and first through fourth places are awarded based on this point accumulation. The point scoring system is as follows:

1st Place Lei Tai fighting = 5 pts.
1st Place Lei Tai fighting = 3 pts.
1st Place Lei Tai fighting = 2 pts.
1st Place Lei Tai fighting = 1 pt.

1st Place forms competition = 3 pts.
1st Place forms competition = 2 pts.
1st Place forms competition = 1 pt.
1st Place forms competition = 1/2 pt.

In this way, it becomes possible to win an overall place even though a team may not have had the greatest number of first place finishes (although it certainly helps go along way). Prior to 1998, this was an overall compilation from both fighting and forms competition events. But, in 1998 the fighting and forms competitions were separated into two different awards.

The following is a listing of accomplishments of Shr Fu Mike Patterson’s Chinese KuoShu Full Contact Teams, since his re-involvement in such training in 1994. All of places depicted below were achieved in World, International, National and Regional Full Contact forums open to all styles and ranks.

The fighters are hand picked students of Shr Fu Patterson and are trained in Classical Hsing I Chuan. Some of them also have Pa Kua and Chen Style Tai Chi training under Shr Fu Patterson as well. We wanted to let people know that the Internal Arts are dynamic and effective fighting systems! As they are well known for in Asia.. This, in addition to having tremendous health benefits to the practitioners involved with their study.