Women in Kung-Fu

[yutyeesam]

Can anyone give me the names of some prominent American women in Kung-Fu? And also where I can find more information on them?

Cynthia Rothrock and Kathy Long come to mind, but Cynthia is more a movie star who's movements don't look very kung-fu (I know she studied Eagle Claw, but you'd never be able to tell that by watching her films), and Kathy is a kickboxer.

Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

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[SiMui]

Hi all. Being in the minority in the martial arts world, I was wondering if anyone has stories to tell about prominent female martial artists in their schools.

Also, do you think it is reasonable for a woman to aspire to having her own school? Or is there too much stereotyping (or other reasons) that she would be ultimately unsuccessful?

Love to hear your thoughts. Don't worry, I'm not going to pitch a fit if I disagree with your views. Remember I asked. :)

SiMui

[TenTigers]

There are many successful women in Martial arts. Gini Lau, Lily Lau, Graciales Cassias, Melody Shuman, in my neck of the woods, there is Suigetsu Dojo, owned by Dara Masi and Melanie Fine, and Empire State Karate, owned by Joyce Santamaria-a leader in the Martial Arts industry.
Go for it!

[David Jamieson]

Hi all. Being in the minority in the martial arts world, I was wondering if anyone has stories to tell about prominent female martial artists in their schools.

Also, do you think it is reasonable for a woman to aspire to having her own school? Or is there too much stereotyping (or other reasons) that she would be ultimately unsuccessful?

Love to hear your thoughts. Don't worry, I'm not going to pitch a fit if I disagree with your views. Remember I asked. :)

SiMui


Cynthia Rothrock has a school, has been in a bajillion karate movies, plus there are more and more women stepping up every day. Some of the thai fighters in the category de la femme are wicked!

But kungfu has it's share of talented women and many are sifu as well.

[banditshaw]

Mok Gwai Lan who was Wong Fei Hung's last wife was well known and had a school of her own that is still going strong today.

Here is a rare clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k1u7Fn0ahM

[Satori Science]

Chan Mui Gwai aka Rose Chen was Tam Fei Pang's last closed door disciple and is infamous for her whipping power and chop choi. A few of my brothers study with her now and she is a real task master, really old school southern style gung.

[zhugeliang]

Wang Jurong had her school in Houston and her daughter is now running the school and teaching classes.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Lucia Rijker.
One of the best fighters in the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gi7EGIh4TJQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W0yzj0p9BNI

[4 Dragons]

Mok Gwai Lan who was Wong Fei Hung's last wife was well known and had a school of her own that is still going strong today.

Here is a rare clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1k1u7Fn0ahM

That was cool to see, thanks!

Check these Kung Fu ladies out...
http://www.choylaifut.com/about.php

The all time Kung Fu woman was Ng Mui.

[SiMui]

Thanks for your thoughts so far. Here's another thought.... Would you rather be taught to fight by a man or a woman?

Simui.

[NGKSMM]

I’m proud to say that female Sifus / Instructors of our system Ng Ga Kuen of Ark Yuey Wong are inspiriting and capable to perform, compete, and teach in all level as their male counterparts.

Here are some videos of them showing forms in artistic, athletic, and power performace; also in fighting competition.

Double fan form
http://youtube.com/watch?v=T3uvBn9CRUs

Hand form
http://youtube.com/watch?v=JJXHIvtfAdM

Hand form
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NWGaqNEy0PU

Fighting / Sparring Competition, 2 of our Sifu / instructor ended up fighting for 1st and 2 nd place.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71FTgNtO7ms

[Old Noob]

Thanks for your thoughts so far. Here's another thought.... Would you rather be taught to fight by a man or a woman?

Simui.

I'm 6'5", 230 lbs. We have a female instructor in our school who's maybe 5'2" and maybe 100 lbs. She smokes us every time she runs class and her advice on techniques is top notch. She'll tell me "you might be able to knock me down with that sweep but to make it work in general, you need to do [X]" If you've got the goods to teach, people will come.

[gunglihchuan]

I think that as long as the Sifu is skillful, respects their students, and teaches good self defense from their style gender is not an issue.

In the first school I attended one of the best fighters in the school was one of my older sisters.

In the last school I attended my sihing's wife was a great performer and fighter. One of my sifu's daughters was an incredible martial artist and I would be happy to be able to achieve her level of ability in the next ten years.

There is a hung gar school that is close to my home in which the chief instructor is a woman, Sifu Wanda White. http://www.bostonacademyofmartialarts.com/instructors.aspx

One of my best friends had a female sifu master Bow Sim Mark before I met him. This friend was over six feet tall and had developed great fighting skills from his female sifu.

I agree with the earlier posters that examples of modern female masters are Lily and Gini Lau; Mimi Chan; I believe Tat Mau Wong has a young daughter that is a master.

I think as long as you have the permission to teach from a legitimate sifu and you want to pass on your knowledge you should open a kwoon.

On the issue of female sifus teaching fighting and which I would prefer. Again it does not matter to me.

I am short and muscular 5'3" and around 130 lbs. I out weighed my sijeh by about 35 lbs but I remember her using a chin na technique that I could not break with all my strength and I can bench press 250 lbs.

She also was able to block almost every one of my kicks in a free sparring session with the soles of her feet. She was very good. I wish did teach her fighting technique to her younger kung fu siblings and her fighting was not nearly as good as her sister- in-law.


I hope things work out for you.
Sincerely,
Steve

[warr10rdude]

Let's put it this way. If someone were to mention the word "sifu" to me, the first
thing that comes to mind is a man, as I had always thought it a male's domain (no
thanks to the gazillion books, media, and Hollywood that helped shape my thinking). I would be lying if I told you otherwise.

That being said, it's the "quality" of teaching that I would be more concerned about than the "equality" aspects. If the woman sifu has a proven record to be a far better fighter and a more efficient teacher than a male sifu, by all means I would go with the woman sifu. At least that's how I feel today.

You cannot ignore the fact though that it's generally ingrained into the male human psyche to naturally gravitate towards a male sifu, whom he will again naturally hold in higher regard to be more superior to a female sifu. That's where homework comes into play, and who and where a person ends up with will depend on how much digging for information they do.

[SiMui]

Thanks for all the great clips everyone! There are some very talented ladies out there.

And thanks for your honesty, WarriorDude. I was wondering how much of this natural inclination would rule men's decision on which sifu to choose. Decisions are not made solely by logic. :)

Simui

[SiMui]

btw, this is a hypothetical question. I am far from the level of skill necessary to become a sifu. But I have dreams. :D

your little sister in kungfu,
Simui

[David Jamieson]

If a woman is granted the title of sifu, then she has done the work.

If there is gender prejudice, then the only person losing is the bigot.

Ultimately, it is up to the individual to learn the information that is transmitted to them by the doing and the practice.

Nobody hands anyone kungfu, you earn it at a very personal level, who opens doors and who gives you keys is important as well, but gender? I think not.

[warr10rdude]

And thanks for your honesty, WarriorDude. I was wondering how much of this natural inclination would rule men's decision on which sifu to choose. Decisions are not made solely by logic. :)

Well, that's why there are leaders, and that's why there are followers. :) It's really up to the individual I would think, and how open-minded they are. For example, I don't hold out much hope for male chauvinists to study under a female sifu regardless of quality. You know the saying "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink"? That's just how it is with some people I guess.


btw, this is a hypothetical question. I am far from the level of skill necessary to become a sifu. But I have dreams. :D

Dreams are a great start! Work on it, and it will become a reality someday. ;) It won't be easy though. If anything, you probably have to work ten times harder than the guys to prove your worth. Still, don't let that deter you. The couple of posts prior to mine have very good points. So hang in there! :cool:

[Chan Da-Wei]

Hi Simui,

Nice post. There are not enough female martial artists around. Especially since females almost always have the most to gain in training in a MA.

Anyhow my Sifu is female and has trained for a very long time. Despite Sifu being female, we would be no different in terms of attracting and retaining female students than if we had a male sifu I expect.

Cheers,
David

[Su Lin]

Hi Simui.

I'm not posting here as an "expert" or master but I am a woman who does kung fu (and mma). I have always been the only woman in our small club but also lucky enough not to have had any issues surrounding it at all. In fact I barely ever think about being a woman when training, I train as hard as the men and spar as hard so I think I have their respect for that. It's not really hard in mma either, I think I have proven myself by getting on with it and showing I am willing to work and put the work in. I don't get comments such as "oooh you're strong for a girl" etc , instead I get "you did really well there, you have good skills". I think people know me better than to try the " for a woman" thing.

I don't really have aspirations for my own kwoon but I take my black sash in October and may help teach and maybe help with a kickboxing class after that.I haven't been doing mma long but I hope to compete one day and maybe help out with other women who may start training with us.

I would never be put off by a female sifu,as long as I knew she had the skills she would get my respect.

:)

[SiMui]

Hi Su Lin and everyone. I appreciate hearing about your experiences. I've only had good experiences with my kwoons, too. But I think I may be getting a biased view of the situation given all the enlightened people on this board! :D I still wonder if all the unenlightened potential kung fu students would vastly outnumber the ones who had no gender bias. I guess I won't know until I try.

Well, gotta run to kung fu class. Catch you later.
SiMui

[SiMui]

Good luck with your black sash test, Su Lin! You go girrrl!!

SiMui

[GeneChing]

Women and Martial Arts (http://blogs.ashmolean.org/easternart/2018/10/09/women-and-martial-arts/)
Posted on October 9, 2018 by felicitasd
The theme of the third and final blog post in the series complementing the exhibition “A Century of Women in Chinese Art”, on show at the Ashmolean Museum until the 14th of October 2018 is women and martial arts.

First we will look at a hanging scroll that appears in the exhibition by Chen Chongguang 陳崇光 (1839-1896). This shows three characters from Qiuranke zhuan虯髯客 (The Legend of Qiuranke), a work of popular fiction written by the Daoist priest Du Guangting 杜光庭 (850-933) in the latter part of the Tang dynasty.

http://blogs.ashmolean.org/easternart/files/2018/10/EA_1966_85-a-L-446x1024.jpg
Chen Chongguang ,The Hero’s Happy Encounter, 1989, EA1966.85 © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

In this painting, entitled: Yingxiong qiyu tu英雄奇遇圖 (A Remarkable Meeting of Heroes) (1878) the eponymous hero Qiuranke 虯髯客 (Knight with the Dragon Beard) can be seen on the left. After meeting Hong Fu Nü 紅拂女 (Lady of Red Fly-Whisk) (right) and her husband Li Jing 李靖 (centre), together, as the “Three Heroes of the Wind and Dust”, they strove to overthrow the Sui dynasty in order to establish the Tang.

In the story, before the scene depicted in the painting takes place, Hong Fu Nü eloped with Li Jing, escaping from the court of the powerful general Yang Su楊素 (d. 606) where she had been working as a courtesan. Despite her demure appearance as seen in this painting, she is said to have excelled at martial arts and indeed The Legend of Qiuranke, in which she appears so prominently, is often referred to as the earliest Wuxia 武俠 (Martial Arts) novel.

Famously, a poem about Hong Fu Nü can be found in the Qing dynasty novel of manners Honglou meng 紅樓夢 (The Dream of the Red Chamber) in which one of the central characters, Lin Daiyu 林黛玉, is humorously compared to her. The poem takes Hong Fu Nü’s elopement with Li Jing as its theme:

Bowing with hands clasped, the hero’s manner inimitable,

The beauty, with great vision, saw the dead end that lay ahead.

In that moribund place Lord Yang would meet his end,

How could he hope to rein in a heroic woman such as she?

The story of the three heroes became the inspiration for a number of related literary works, and, as with so many traditional stories in China, has recently been made into a television drama series – an historical love story – “Hong Fu Nü of the Three Heroes of the Wind and Dust” (Fengchen sanxia zhi Hong Fu Nü 風塵三俠之紅拂女) (2004), starring the popular actress Shu Qi舒淇. In this, it is she and her fellow Tang court ladies who take centre stage, all of whom excel at performing the most unlikely of airborne, acrobatic, martial arts moves.

http://blogs.ashmolean.org/easternart/files/2018/10/EA_X_3531-a-L.jpg
Dish with figures from the novel The Water Margin, 1680 – 1720, Mallett bequest 1947, EAX.3531 © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

It will be remembered from the previous instalment that amongst the 108 “brothers” in the Ming dynasty novel, the Water Margin a handful are women and as with all other heroes in the story they excel at martial arts. There a number of ceramic examples in the Ashmolean collection decorated with figures from the Water Margin, each showing three heroes carrying distinctive weapons in a variety of martial arts stances.

In this example can be seen, from right to left: Zhang Qing 張清 “The Featherless Arrow”; Yang Zhi 楊志 “The Blue-Faced Beast”; and Suo Chao 索超 “The Impatient Vanguard”, all three carrying weapons as if ready to engage in battle. Suo Chao wields the Guandao關刀 (a weapon named after the Chinese god of war, Guan Yu 關羽), Yang Zhi has a sword sheathed on his belt and in addition, grasps in his hand a variation of the weapon known as the Monk’s Spade, and Yang Qing appears to carry a pot and a ball, no doubt also to be used as weapons.

http://blogs.ashmolean.org/easternart/files/2018/10/2006AW1987_2500-e1539011107459-768x756.jpg
Porcelain painted in enamel colours, ca. 1700, Salting bequest, C.1196-1910 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London

A similar example in the Victoria and Albert Museum again shows Yang Zhi, this time together with Xie Zhen 解珍and one of the three female heroes from the novel, Gu Dasao 顧大嫂 “The Tigress” (Mu da chong 母大蟲), as introduced in the last instalment of the blog. In the scene depicted on this plate Yang Zhi and Gu Dasao have been battling with Xie Zhen and have apparently succeeded in disarming him. Yang Zhi holds a trident-like spear and Gu Dasao the sword known in Chinese as the baojian 寶劍 (Precious Sword).

By the second half of twentieth century martial arts had become firmly established as a national sport in China, having been formalised in the decades immediately prior to this. In a 1974 Cultural Revolution propaganda poster in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, a young girl demonstrates her skill with the baojian in front of her classmates, with their master looking on in approval. The poster is a reproduction of a painting by the artist Ou Yang 鸥洋 (b. 1937) entitled Chuying zhanchi雏鹰展翅 (The Fledgling Eagle Spreads its Wings). The painting, showing members of the youth organisation, the Shaoxiandui 少先队 (Young Pioneers), promotes the future role these young people might go on to play in the defence of the Mother Country, as suggested by the martial theme and the large cannon seen in the background.

http://blogs.ashmolean.org/easternart/files/2018/10/sword-etc-001-645x1024.jpg
The Fledgling Eagle Spreads its Wings. Poster (1974), EA2006.208 © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

More examples of girls practicing with a baojian can be seen in a set of souvenir matchboxes showing a variety of different postures. These postures, all standard forms learned in martial arts practice, are not named, the writing on the reverse of each matchbox simply listing basic instructions on how to use matches.

http://blogs.ashmolean.org/easternart/files/2018/10/EA_2010_95_1-to-4-a-768x219.jpg
Four matchboxes with small girls practicing martial arts EA2010.95

For an excellent example of sword technique and the postures as practiced in one style of martial arts we can see the extraordinary skill of Chen Suijin in the 1st Taolu World Cup – first place in Women’s Taijijian (Taiji sword).


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVvXFJmtdRk continued next post

[GeneChing]

A stylised form of swordplay is also central to martial roles played in Peking Opera and one of the most famous of these is the sword dance performed by Yu Ji in Bawang bieji 霸王別姬 (Farewell my Concubine), the story of Xiang Yu 項羽, King of Chu, and his concubine Yu Ji 虞姬. In recent times this was made famous by Chen Kaige’s film Farewell my Concubine (1993). Earlier in the century, though, the double-sword dance towards the end of the opera was made a speciality of the great male performer of female roles Mei Lanfang. Following the sword dance Yu Ji snatches Xiang Yu’s sword with which she commits suicide.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=63iYpn2v2HM

Another martial role played by a woman is Mu Guiying 穆桂英 from the Peking Opera Yangjia jiang 楊家將 (Generals of The Yang Family), a staple of the Peking Opera repertoire, in which the female members of the family are prominent in their exhibition of martial prowess.

http://blogs.ashmolean.org/easternart/files/2018/10/EA_2007_48-a-L.jpg
Song Guangxun 宋广训 (b. 1930, Baxian, Hebei) from The Generals of the Yang Family, Mu Guiying in a Beijing opera, 1978 (design), 2006 (print), EA2007.48 © The artist

An inkstick with impressed decoration, showing a baojian and a set of Chinese books, is dated the eighth year of the Xianfeng reign (1858) and is made in a traditional form that stretches back centuries. Such inksticks were ground with water on an inkstone to produce the pigment that was applied with a brush in both traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy practice. This example was made by the Hu Kaiwen, an ink factory established in 1765.

http://blogs.ashmolean.org/easternart/files/2018/10/EA_X_5521-a-L-768x1024.jpg
Ink stick with decoration showing a book and sword, Hu Kaiwen Ink Factory, EAX.5521 © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The decorative motif found on this inkstick refers obliquely to one of the group of semi-mythological figures known as the Baxian 八仙 (Eight Immortals). This is in fact an example of one of the An Baxian 暗八仙 (Hidden Eight Immortals). In such imagery, the Eight Immortals do not appear in person but are substituted by the specific attributes with which they are associated, in the case of Lü Dongbin, as shown on the inkstick, these are the baojian and a set of books. A mythical figure associated with both scholarly pursuits and martial arts Lü Dongbin 呂洞賓 is said to have been the founder of the internal martial arts style known as Baxian jian 八仙劍 (Eight Immortals Sword). The silk hanging below is one of a pair in the current Ashmolean exhibition and depicts the Eight Immortals with their attributes.

For more on the Eight Immortals please see my previous blog for the exhibition “Pure Land: Images of Immortals in Chinese Art” shown at the Ashmolean in Gallery 11 in 2016.

http://blogs.ashmolean.org/easternart/files/2018/10/EA_1958_83-RAT-3-2018.jpg
Embroidered Hanging (detail: Lü Dongbin) EA1958.83 © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Despite what is often suggested by martial arts practitioners, it is most unlikely that a style of sword practice such as this could have been passed down through the centuries, and this example, as with most martial arts styles, no doubt developed into what we see today during more recent times; perhaps more specifically in the nineteenth century or the Republican period at the time when martial arts made a resurgence as a national sport.



The exhibition “A Century of Women in Chinese Art”, at the Ashmolean Museum closes on 14 October 2018.

Posted on behalf of Dr Paul Bevan, Christensen Fellow in Chinese Painting, Ashmolean Museum.

This exhibit has closed already, but this article is definitely worth preserving here.

[GeneChing]

Bringing honor to us all. READ Beyond Hua Mulan - The Role of Chinese Women in Warfare and Martial Arts by Luis Priego-Casanova with Emilio Alpanseque (http://www.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=1567)

http://www.kungfumagazine.com//admin/site_images/KungfuMagazine/images/ezine/8376_Beyong-Mulan_Lead2.jpg