Origin of Chinese Stick Fighting

By Sifu John Cho

The genesis of the Chinese Stick Fighting Program is an extenuation of a side project stemming from my involvement in Chinese martial arts for about the last five decades of my life. I started practicing Long Fist Kung-fu with Mr. Lin Jun-pai back in the 1970’s when I was a student at California State University, Fresno. I spent about one year in Taiwan, studying under Mr. Lin’s instructor, Mr. Shen Mou-hui at Taipei’s New Park. In the 1980’s, I taught a weekly kung-fu class at the Confucius School in West Fresno. For the last thirty years, I opened John Cho’s Kung-fu School in central Fresno. We officially closed the school at the end of December, 2021.

In 2022, I also retired from my teaching position as an Asian American Studies instructor at Fresno City College. So confronted with the end of two of the major parts of my life, I decided to work on some side projects. One of the side projects is the Chinese Stick Fighting Program.

I consider myself as a creative type of person in that I can create or make things ranging from poems to skits to kung-fu sets. So I take this creative frame of mind and combined it with my perspective of myself as an artist and scientist in the Chinese martial arts. When a person has trained many years in a martial art, some things will naturally feel good or bad; this is the art component. The science component explains why should one do it this way. In summation, I like to create sets and techniques with the stick, but to also, give a reason for doing things a particular way.

Our way is not the only way; there are many ways. Find the one that makes sense for you.

A few years ago, I created a stick set with a 28 inch Chinese wax wood stick. This is equivalent in length to the Filipino Escrima stick. One time, a friend who practiced at an American martial arts school, meaning that they taught multiple martial arts styles including the Filipino stick fighting, demonstrated how they might do a strike. Obviously, I would not hit him but I knew what my action with my stick would have been. I know that there are quite a few styles within the Filipino stick fighting arts. Coming from a kung-fu background and some experience in the Chinese broad sword, straight-sword, and Wing Chun, I created the Single Stick Set.

When I was planning to close the kung-fu school, I thought about expanding the Chinese Stick Fighting beyond the single stick. How would it be with a shorter stick at 14 inches or even 9 inches. I like the Chinese wax wood which is used in the makeup of the Chinese spear because it is light and strong. So, I decided to expand the program to encompass eight different sticks.

The Chinese Stick Fighting Program is my contribution back to the Chinese martial arts community. I think that it is easier to learn for kung-fu practitioners because of the foundation from the use of stances and familiarity with other Chinese weapons. The program is not exclusionary; meaning that others whether they have a different martial arts background or not are welcome to join, participate, and learn.

At this point in my life, I am in my seventies now, I wanted a project to work on in creating, developing, and sharing with others who are interested in this area of Chinese Stick Fighting.