开合试力 kāi hé shì lì: testing force by opening and closing the arms — against springs you imagine between your hands. After pushing (Pingtui), it is the second of the three basic Shili. The arms make the big movement, the legs and trunk the small one, and both happen at the same time.
| Main axis | left ↔ right: the arms open (stretching springs) and close (compressing springs) |
|---|---|
| Secondary directions | opening = backward and slightly upward · closing = forward and slightly downward |
| Stance | parallel stance (Pingbu): feet about shoulder-width apart, knees slightly bent, sitting down slightly |
| Weight | about 60 % forward at the end of closing, about 60 % back at the end of opening |
| Hands | in front of the chest, palms facing each other, 2–3 fist-widths apart; up to about 50 cm when opening |
| Mental picture | springs between the hands and arms; springs from the fingers to a tree far ahead; you stand chest-deep in water |
| Tempo | very slow; stand still for a few seconds at both end points |
The legs stand as in the posture Pingbu Chengbao Zhuang. The hands come in front of the chest, the palms upright and facing each other, about two hand-widths apart. Fingers and thumb point loosely forward; the thumb is neither spread out nor tucked in. The elbow is lower than the wrist, the index finger roughly horizontal, the little finger slightly lower.
In teaching videos the hands often look higher than they are: a low camera distorts the perspective. What counts is the spoken instruction, chest height. One training script gives shoulder height instead; the question remains open.
It is right when you feel the resistance not only in the fingers and forearms but in the upper arm and shoulder as well.
It is right when the movement comes from the legs and trunk and the arms are merely carried along.
The point is not to press the springs but to want to move the tree through them. This is a preparation for partner contact: the force aims through the point of contact at the other person’s centre. The mental picture serves the feeling of force. No action at a distance is meant.
If the arms are difficult at first, you can forget about them and practise opening and closing between the legs alone: going forward the springs between the legs are compressed, going back they are stretched.
“Opening and closing the arms is the big movement; shifting the centre of weight is the small movement.”
— Han Luquan, a student of Yao Chengguang, on this exercise (translated by Andrzej Kalisz)70 % of the weight on the back leg; the rear hand half a hand-width lower. When opening, further springs stretch between head and front foot and between rear hip and front knee. Opening ends at 70 % back, closing at 50/50. The hands move along a line across the direction you face.
The same arm movement combined with the friction step (Mocabu). The foot moves as if through mud; step, body and hands should arrive together.
Opening and closing is also one of the methods for seeking force while standing. In Jian Wu it returns in free variation: as a ball growing larger and smaller.