Question: Chinese spears

[Timo Nieminen]

Originally Posted by KuKulzA28

So far I have concluded that "inner-circle" and "outer-circle" is a bad translation. It's more like "inside my circle" or "outside my circle"... and it's better described in "modern martial arts terms" as my inside/centerline area and outside/back/flank.

"Inside" and "outside" in modern unarmed martial arts are, in my experience, defined by inside or outside the lead hand. In the usual right-handed stance, with left leg and left hand forwards, to the left of my left hand is outside, to the right is inside. My arm being where it is, this corresponds to front of body/centreline being inside, back/flank being outside. It isn't the target area that matters; it's which side of the front arm the attacker comes in on.

Extending this to spear (as I did), it is which side of the spear which matters. Practically, there is little difference between aiming at the belly and aiming at the side if both attacks go in on the same side of the spear. "Inside my circle" and "outside my circle" sound OK as translations.