“Beat (a drum) platform”. Is a raised fighting platform, without railings, where often fatal weapons and bare knuckle martial arts tournaments were once held. “Sanctioned” matches were presided over by a referee on the platform and judges on the sides. Fighters would lose if they surrendered, were incapacitated, were thrown or otherwise forced from the stage. The winner would remain on the stage (as its “owner”) unless ousted by a stronger opponent. If there were no more challengers, they would become the champion. Private duels on stage had no rules and were sometimes fought to the death.

.In its present form, the “Lei tai” first appeared in china during Song dynasty. However, ancient variations of it can be track back to at least the Qin dynasty. Today it is used in Sanshou competitions throughout the world.

As previously stated, martial arts were only allowed for performance purposes until 1979. But in March of that year, Zhejiang provincial sports training center, Beijing Physical Education University, and Wuhan Physical Education College were convened by the government appointed china national sport committee (CNSC) to transform Sanshou into competitive sport.

The first official Sanshou rules were drafted in January 1982, when the CNSC convened the national Sanshou competition rules conference in Beijing. Ten month later, the very first Sanshou competition was held on November 1982. The original fighting area was a nine meter diameter open circle, but it was later change to a traditional square “Lei tai” (fighting area as a raised wooden platform without railings).