Chin Na or Qinna (擒拿, pinyin: qín ná, Wade-Giles: ch'in² na²) is a Mandarin Chinese term describing joint-manipulation techniques for self defense used in the Chinese martial arts. Also chin na su, su meaning technique. Chin na su literally means technique of catching and locking in Chinese. Other martial art schools simply use the word na to describe the techniques. Pinyin (Chinese: 拼音, pÄ«nyÄ«n) literally means join (together) sounds (a less literal translation being phoneticize, spell or transcription) in Chinese and usually refers to HànyÇ” PÄ«nyÄ«n (汉语拼音, literal meaning: Han language pinyin), which is a system of romanization (phonemic notation and transcription to Roman script) for Standard... Wade-Giles, sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a Romanization (phonetic notation and transliteration) system for the Chinese language based on Mandarin. ... Mandarin, or Guanhua (Traditional Chinese: 官話; Simplified Chinese: 官话; pinyin: ; literally official speech), or Beifanghua (Traditional Chinese: 北方話; Simplified Chinese: 北方话; pinyin: â–¶(?)]; literally Northern speech) is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. ... Chinese martial arts, often abbreviated as CMA, refers to the enormous variety of martial art styles native to China. ...

Very often involving the study and use of acupressure points to enhance the efficiency of the techniques applied by the practitioner. While techniques along the lines of chin na are trained to some degree by most martial arts worldwide, many Chinese martial arts are famous for their specialization in such applications. Styles such as Eagle Claw (Yīng zhua quán 鷹爪拳), which includes 108 different chin na techniques, Praying Mantis (Tánglángquán 螳螂拳) and the "Tiger Claw" techniques of Hung Gar (洪家) are well known examples. Acupressure is a traditional Chinese medicine bodywork technique based on the same ideas as acupuncture. ... Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ... The traditional Chinese martial art known as Eagle Claw (Ying Jow Pai) is one of the oldest and most complex of the surviving Northern Shaolin kung fu systems. ... Hung Gar, also called Hung Kuen, is a southern Chinese martial art associated with the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei-Hung, who was a master of Hung Gar. ...

Chin means to seize or trap, na means to lock or break, and while those actions are very often executed in that order (trap then lock), the two actions can also be performed distinctly in training and self defense. Which is to say, a trap isn't always followed by a lock or break, and a lock or break is not necessarily set up by a trap.

There is quite a bit of overlap between chin na theory and technique with the branches of traditional Chinese medicine known as tui na (推拏) as well as the use of offensive and defensive ch'i kung as an adjunct of chin na training in some styles. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) also known simply as Chinese medicine (Chinese: 中醫學, zhōngyÄ« xué, or 中药学, zhōngyaò xué) is the name commonly given to a range of traditional medical practices used in China that have developed over the course of several thousand years of history. ... Tui na (推拏 or 推拿, both pronounced tūi ná), is a form of Chinese manipulative therapy often used in conjunction with acupuncture, moxibustion, Chinese herbalism and qigong. ... Qigong (Simplified Chinese: 气功; Traditional Chinese: 氣功; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: chi4 kung1) is an increasingly popular aspect of Chinese medicine involving the coordination of different breathing patterns with various physical postures and motions of the body. ...

See also

Dim Mak Dim Mak (dim mak is an approximate Cantonese pronunciation of 點脈, equivalent to 點穴, pinyin diǎnxué) is training the use of the pressure points in some styles of Chinese martial arts to kill or incapacitate an opponent. ...