70-Year-Old Kung Fu Master Li Liangui Demonstrates the Body Contorting Art of Suogugong

Great Big Story visited 70-year-old kung fu master Li Liangui to talk about how he spent the last 50 years contorting his body into impossible positions while practicing the ancient art of suogugong (body shrinking).

For the past 50 years, kung fu master Li Liangui has been contorting his body into seemingly impossible positions as he practices one of the more unusual Chinese martial arts. The 70-year-old is an expert in suogugong—or body shrinking kung fu— in which practitioners dislocate their joints to help them achieve unlikely positions and feats of contortion. But this is no simple story of double-jointedness. Liangui is among the world’s last suogugong masters, and his ability to withstand pain has given him the flexibility and bones of a 30-year-old.

A post shared by Great Big Story (@greatbigstory) on May 10, 2017 at 10:44am PDT