Chang Shuai Chiao

In Chinese, "Chang Shuai Chiao" is written as. These characters can be found on the graphic at the top of the homepage of this website (the other characters mean "Chinese Bao Ding Kuai Chiao").

"Chang" (pronounced with the second (rising) tone) is a Chinese surname and also has various other uses in the Chinese language. 

The character "Men" (second tone) is a pictograph of a door or gate.

Written together, "Chang Men" means "Chang Style" or "Chang Family Style". 

The character"Shuai" (first tone) literally means "to stumble; to fall', "to throw down", or "to cause to break by falling or throwing down".

The character "Chiao" (third tone) is a pictograph of an animal horn, and has various meanings including, "horn", "angle", and "corner".

Written together, "Shuai Chiao" refers to the martial art style of Shuai Chiao. Interestingly, in Mainland China, "Shuai Chiao" is currently written . The character is also pronounced "Chiao" but with the first tone. It means "to trip". Chang Tung Sheng preferred to write Shuai Chiao with the character . This was the character used to write many of the names for shuai chiao in ancient times. Being a pictograph of an animal horn, it points to the ancient origins of Shuai Chiao. Also, the additional meaning of "angle" and "corner" help to reinforce the idea of fighting strategy and technique.

For those interested in writing the characters, the following tables give the stroke order.