---
title: The Four Gates (踢打摔拿) — kick, strike, throw, seize
---

Chinese martial artists have a four-character shorthand for the **whole territory of unarmed combat**: **踢打摔拿 (tī dǎ shuāi ná)** — **kick, strike, throw, seize**. They are the four basic *methods* a complete fighting art must cover, and the four-syllable phrase is one of the standard formulations of the **四擊 (four attacks)**. A style may specialize — northern long-fist leans on the kick, mantis on the strike, the wrestling traditions on the throw — but the ideal, repeated across schools, is to be whole in all four.

## The four methods

- **踢 (tī) — kicking.** The leg arts: the springing kicks of [Tan Tui](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/tan-tui), the paired low kicks of [Chuojiao](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/chuojiao-fanzi), the leaping kicks of northern long-fist.
- **打 (dǎ) — striking.** The hand (and elbow, shoulder, knee) arts: the dense "seven long, eight short" hitting of [mantis](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/praying-mantis), the explosive close blows of [Baji](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/baji).
- **摔 (shuāi) — throwing.** Off-balancing and putting the opponent on the ground — the domain of **摔跤 (shuāijiāo)**, Chinese jacket-wrestling, one of the oldest documented Chinese combat arts.
- **拿 (ná) — seizing.** Joint-locking and controlling — the domain of **擒拿 (qínná)**, the art of catching, twisting, and immobilizing a limb.

The classic strategic maxim ties them to range: **「遠踢、近打、貼身摔（拿）」** — *"at distance, kick; close in, strike; body-to-body, throw or seize."*

<Callout type="info">
  **Not the only wording.** The order and characters vary — you will also see **踢打跌拿** (with 跌, "to fell") and **打踢摔拿**. *踢打摔拿* is the most common modern formulation, but treat it as *a* standard phrasing rather than the single fixed canon.
</Callout>

## 擒拿 Qinna — the seizing art

**Qinna (擒拿, "catch and hold")** is the joint-locking and seizing method present, in some form, across nearly every Chinese style. It works the body's hinges against their range — wrist, elbow, shoulder, neck — and traditionally divides into families like **分筋 (separating sinew)**, **錯骨 (mis-seating the joint)**, and **點穴 (pressing cavities / vulnerable points)**. The first two are ordinary, demonstrable grappling. The third shades toward legend:

<Callout type="warning">
  **On 點穴 and the "death touch."** Striking genuinely vulnerable points — nerves, the throat, the floating ribs — is real and is trained. The popular **dim mak / "delayed death touch"** (a light tap that kills hours later by "stopping the qi") is **legend**, not documented technique. The wiki keeps the trainable part and labels the rest as the folklore it is.
</Callout>

## 摔跤 Shuaijiao — the throwing art

**Shuaijiao (摔跤)** — Chinese jacket-wrestling — is among the **oldest** of the Chinese combat arts, descending from the ancient grappling called **角抵 (jiǎodǐ)** and carried into modern times through the **善撲營 (Shànpū Yíng)**, the Qing imperial wrestlers. It is *throwing* raised to a complete system, and it was a documented competition category in the Republican-era [National Examinations](https://wulin.openmindspace.org/national-examination-1928) (摔角門).

## The modern contrast

The point of the four gates shows up sharply in the modern sport of **散打 / 散手 (sǎndǎ)**, which was deliberately built on **踢打摔 — kick, strike, throw — while excluding 拿 (seizing)** for competitor safety. It is a clean illustration of the old framework: the complete classical art claims all four gates; a safe modern ruleset keeps three and sets the fourth aside.

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="praying-mantis" text="Praying Mantis (螳螂拳) — famous for combining all four gates densely" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="chuojiao-fanzi" text="Chuojiao + Fanzi (戳腳翻子) — specialists of the kicking gate" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="national-examination-1928" text="The 1928 National Examination — where the gates were tested in the ring" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="concepts" text="Concepts &amp; Principles — the rest of the ideas behind the movement" />