Tuishou 推手

Shili for two

Tuishou is the partner exercise of Yiquan — the stage at which the force developed in Zhan Zhuang, Shili and Mocabu meets another person for the first time, instead of an imagined resistance. The Chinese primary text says exactly this:

“Tuishou is a form of reality training in Yiquan. It is the concrete embodiment of Shili and Zou Bu Fa Li. Tuishou can supplement the weaknesses of Sanshou and is an auxiliary exercise for Sanshou training. From a training perspective it may also be called two-person Shili.”

That last phrase is the most useful framing: Shili for two. What the imagined water did in solo practice, the partner does here — except that the partner is not predictable.

What is practised

Two people stick, hang, press, push, turn and squeeze against each other. Out of the contact you are to sense the other's strength, weakness and direction of force, and to control them. Attack and defence are not two phases here but one movement.

The teaching canon carries Dan Tuishou (单推手, single-handed) and Shuang Tuishou (双推手, double-handed), along with stepping versions, the integration of Fa Li downward and sideways, strikes with head, shoulder, elbow and knee, and Fan Ying Xun Lian (反应训练), reaction training. The position returned to is always the Cheng Bao triangle.

A historical shift

Under Wang Xiangzhai, Tuishou was still worked fixed — without steps. The moving form with footwork is a later development within the lineage. Anyone laying old and new accounts side by side should know this before concluding there is a contradiction.