Shuai jiao rules

Shuai jiao, in Chinese 中国式摔跤 (Zhōngguóshì shuāijiāo, "Chinese-style wrestling"), is a standing wrestling sport: you win by throwing your opponent, not by controlling them on the ground. There is no single worldwide rulebook, though. The Chinese federation, the European union, national federations and some kuoshu organisations use different texts, and their numbers for scoring, match length and penalties differ. Every detail on this page says which rule set it comes from.

The main rule sets

• Chinese national rules, 2020 edition. The weightlifting, wrestling and judo centre of China's General Administration of Sport (国家体育总局举摔柔中心) published the 《2020版中国式摔跤竞赛规则》 on 19 March 2020 ³. The regulations for the 2025 and 2026 national events still name it as the rulebook in force ⁴⁵. The official text, a .docx attachment, could not be downloaded when this page was checked, so the details below come from the bilingual versions published by the ESJU.
• ESJU bilingual text (2023). The European Shuai Jiao Union published a Chinese-English rulebook titled 中国式摔跤竞赛规则 / Shuai-Jiao Rules and Regulations ¹, announced as the updated rules for the 2023 European Championship ². The document gives no edition number. Its age groups (adults from 16) match those of the 2021 Chinese guide ⁶, but without the official 2020 text it cannot be confirmed that the two are identical. The "Rules" page of the ESJU website, by contrast, still lists the November 2012 rules as "current" ¹⁵.
• ESJU 2017 edition, the earlier bilingual text, with a different points scale (3, 2 and 1 points) ⁷.
• World Shuai Jiao Games 2026, organised by the World Shuaijiao Federation (WSJF): the bulletin refers to "international Shuaijiao rules" and sets the match format and length ⁸. The same bulletin contains the trial rules for 战摔 (zhànshuāi, "PZC Zhanshuai™"), a round-based format presented for the first time at this edition ⁸.
• Derived national and European rule sets: the Fédération française des arts énergétiques et martiaux chinois (FFAEMC, in force from 1 September 2026) ⁹, the International Chinese Kuoshu Federation Europe (2019 summary, "Draft 3") ¹⁰, the United States Shuai-Chiao Association (USSA, 2017, which states it does not apply to international competition) ¹¹ and the Lithuanian Wushu Federation (2023) ¹².
• The IWUF regulations for the 10th World Kungfu Championships (Emeishan, 2025) do not list shuai jiao among the events on the programme ¹⁴.

Uniform

The 2023 ESJU text requires ¹:

• Jacket (跤衣, jiāoyī): 100% cotton or at least 70% cotton, white, with red or blue bands 3.5 cm wide on the edges and cuffs. With the elbow raised to shoulder height and the arm bent at 90°, the cuff must measure at least 8 cm. In the Zhili tradition the jacket is called 褡褳 (dālian, simplified 褡裢) ¹³.
• Belt (跤带, jiāodài): 3.5 cm wide and 0.6 cm thick, a single colour (white, red or blue), tied with a square knot that leaves 35–40 cm of free ends.
• Trousers (跤裤, jiāokù): straight, ankle length, the same colour as the jacket, with red or blue bands.
• Shoes (跤鞋, jiāoxié): soft sole and high top, the same colour as the jacket or black, but not with a dark sole. The English translation leaves out the "or black" option, which appears only in the Chinese text.

At Chinese national events each athlete brings their own uniform: a white jacket with red or blue trim, matching trousers, and shoes in the jacket's colour or black ⁴⁶. At the 2026 World Shuai Jiao Games shoes were compulsory for everyone except the youngest categories, who competed barefoot, and athletes reported in a red or blue uniform according to the call order ⁸.

Competition area

In the 2017 ESJU edition the competition zone is a circle 9 m across, surrounded by a protection zone ⁷. The 2023 text specifies a 14 × 14 m square mat ¹. The Zhanshuai rules also use a 9 m circle ⁸.

How points are scored

The basic principle is that you lose the point if you touch the ground with any part of the body other than your feet, except in certain specific techniques. The score depends on how both wrestlers land ¹.

If the attacker leans on the opponent with a hand after the throw, they do not count as standing ¹. An attack started inside the area is valid even if the opponent lands in the protection zone, if the attacker ends up there after the throw, or if the fall coincides with the referee's stop or with the gong. It is not valid if it comes from a foul or from stepping on the opponent's foot, or if it happens after the stop or after the gong ¹.

Other rule sets count differently:

• ESJU 2017 and ICKF Europe 2019: 3 points if the opponent lands on the trunk and the attacker stays standing, 2 if the attacker falls with them, 1 for hands, elbows, knees or hips on the ground, for going into the protection zone and, in the 2017 text only, for a warning to the opponent ⁷¹⁰.
• FFAEMC 2026: only 1 and 3 points. If the attacker falls together with an opponent who lands on the back, it is worth 1 point ⁹.
• Zhanshuai (trial rules): only 1 and 3 points. A 3 ends the round at once, and the round also ends when one wrestler leads by 3 points ⁸.
• USSA 2017: 1 point if the opponent's first contact with the mat is with an arm, hand or knee, 2 for other body parts, 3 if the opponent makes a full rotation in the air before landing ¹¹.
• Lithuania 2023: 3 points only for a throw with a rotation of at least 180° and a landing on the back ¹².

Grips, techniques and banned actions

The ICKF Europe summary allows gripping the jacket, the belt and "anatomical handles", and permits throws, sweeps and joint manipulation used to throw. It bans continuing to grapple once the opponent has been thrown ¹⁰. The 2023 ESJU text sets out two kinds of foul ¹:

• personal fouls (侵人犯规, qīnrén fànguī): joint locks used to hurt; striking with hands, elbows, knees or head; grabbing the genitals; kicking the opponent or kicking the leg above the middle of the shin; pressing the throat or the face between eyebrows and mouth; pulling hair; clasping the head or neck with both hands; slamming down on the opponent after the throw; lifting the opponent and dropping them head first; striking down with the elbow on the wrist of someone holding you;
• technical fouls (技术犯规, jìshù fànguī): attacking before "go" or after "stop"; interference by the coach; stopping on one's own initiative; holding on to the opponent's trousers; belt or laces coming undone; non-compliant uniform.

Ground fighting is in practice excluded: pressing down on the opponent after the throw is a foul ¹. The FFAEMC rules also ban grabbing both legs as a first attack unless there has first been a grip above the belt, and allow sweeps and reaps only below the knee ⁹.

Match length

• ESJU 2023: for adults two periods of 3 net minutes with a 30-second break; for youths and juniors two periods of 2 minutes ¹. For the 2023 European Championship the plan was two periods of 3 minutes for 12–17-year-olds too, one period of 2 minutes for children up to 8, and one period of 3 minutes for those aged 9 to 11 ².
• World Shuai Jiao Games 2026: two rounds of 3 minutes with a 30-second break; for children two rounds of 2 minutes ⁸.
• ICKF Europe 2019: 2 × 3 minutes with a 30-second break ¹⁰. USSA 2017: 2 × 2 minutes on a stopped clock, with a 30-second break ¹¹. Lithuania 2023: 2 × 2 minutes with a one-minute break ¹².
• Zhanshuai: 2-minute rounds. Whoever wins 2 of 3 (U15 and U17), 3 of 5 (U20 and seniors) or 4 of 7 (annual finals) wins the match ⁸.

An article from the 中国体育报 on shuai jiao's return to China's National Games describes the bout as one 6-minute bout split into two halves, but with a 3-minute break ¹⁶: a different figure from the 30 seconds in the rulebooks.

Weight classes

For the ESJU the adult class starts at 16 ¹; at the Chinese national championships athletes compete from 18 ⁴. The ESJU text allows a second weigh-in within 30 minutes ¹. At the 2026 World Shuai Jiao Games there was zero tolerance, and anyone over the limit moved up to the next category ⁸.

Penalties and winning

Under the 2023 ESJU text ¹:

• a personal foul brings a warning or, in serious cases, disqualification from the bout. Technical fouls and passivity (消极, xiāojí) bring a warning;
• each warning gives the opponent 1 point, and at the fourth the athlete is disqualified from the bout;
• passivity includes not getting up within 5 seconds of a fall, or, for 15 seconds, keeping the head pressed against the opponent, not gripping the jacket or not attacking. If nobody has scored after 60 seconds, the referee penalises the more passive wrestler;
• if the offender throws the opponent, the throw does not count and the foul is penalised. If instead the offender is thrown, the opponent scores and the foul is penalised on top.

The wrestler with more points wins. A 6-point lead ends the bout at once (优势获胜, yōushì huòshèng, win by superiority). If the score is tied, the deciders are, in order, technical points, the number of 3-point throws, and the last point scored. An athlete injured through no fault of the opponent who cannot continue within 2 minutes loses the bout but keeps their technical points ¹. In the 2017 text superiority applied at 8 points instead ⁷.

Quick comparison

Tie-breaks also change from one text to another. The FFAEMC looks first at the highest-value technique, then at points won with techniques against points from the opponent's penalties, then gives a 1′30″ extension and finally a "golden point" ⁹. In the Lithuanian text the number of warnings decides, followed by an extra minute ¹².