FIRE HAWK
04-19-2001, 05:25 AM
By Salvatore Canzonieri, Boonton, New Jersey
Some other southern Shaolin derived styles, the Mok Gar, and the Lau Gar styles have similar forms to Hung Gar, because both these styles were developed from the Fujian Five Animals system also. Whereas Hung Gar emphasized the Tiger forms, the Lau Gar style (developed by Lau Soam Ngan) placed an emphasis on the Crane forms in their Five Animals style. It was a middle range fighting style. The Mok Gar style (developed by Mok Ching Giu) was also Five Animals based, and it placed more of an emphasis on the Snake forms. It is a short range style, with heavy kicks. Besides these two styles, there was also the Li Gar style (developed by Li Yau San), which was a middle range fighting style, with emphasis on the Leopard forms. Finally, there was the Choy Gar style (developed by Choy Gau Yee), which was a long range fighting style, with emphasis on the Dragon forms. Also related are the Choy Mok style, which is of fairly recent origin (over 50 years ago) and is composed of small circular movements and short range fist attacks that combine elements of the Choy and Mok Gar styles; Hung Fut, developed around Hung Hei Kwun`s time, and of which combined elements of the Hung Gar and Fut Gar styles in a uniquely left-hand oriented manner. It was developed by a monk named Chit Sin, who was a student of monk Loy Yuen, who in turn had been a student of Hung Hei Kwun.
Before the final closing of Shaolin, the White Eyebrow style was created by a Shaolin Monk named Bak Mei (who is falsely accused in legends derived from fictitious novels to have betrayed his follow monks by siding with the Ching). The style passed on eventually to Chueng Lai Chuen, the first non-monk who learned the style and became grandmaster of it. It is a highly internal, short range fighting style based on the movements of the Tiger. It uses soft power that suddenly hardens on impact and is characterized by a hunched shoulders effect in order to better concentrate force that is to be sharply expelled, using pressure point strikes, and a loping gait that has whip-like waist generated power behind it.
Related to the White Eyebrow style and developed soon after was the Lung Ying or internal Dragon style. It was founded by monk Tai Yuk, who passed it to Lam Yiu Kwai, who was friends with the grandmaster of White Eyebrow. It is a very strong internal/external style that relies on swift and unrelenting chains of attack, with gripping strikes. It too uses the concave chest, rounded shoulders stance of White Eyebrow. It was a slide stepping walk that appears to slide or shuffle sideways towards an opponent. It is also famous for its terrific Dragon claw.
The Southern Mantis style has an interesting history. It was originally a collection of techniques used by the Ming royal family, who fled south after the Manchu invasion in 1644 AD. The style was originally called Jew Gar (Royal Family) style, and was changed to Southern Mantis to hide it from the Manchu spies. After the Shaolin temples were closed down, the surviving Mings went to the Juke Lum (Bamboo Forest Temple) and others went to areas just outside the Chinese border, where they were known as the Hakka (northern guests) and their style became known as Hakka Quan. Those that stayed at Juke Lum taught their style to monk Sam Dart, who developed the forms that are now known as Southern Mantis. This style is a close range fighting style, with rapid phoenix eye fist attacks to the pressure points. They maneuver from a back leaning stance that shuffles with a sliding step, and don`t withdraw their strikes after completion. It relies heavily on speed of execution and much deep internal power through chi circulation. There are no blocking movements, nstead redirection is made to set up the opponent for a barrage of strikes.
In the late 1700s, Feng Keshan developed the Mei Hua Quan or Plum Flower Boxing style. This style was strongly based on internal chi circulation and large external circular movements. It was developed out of the Shaolin system. In 1814, Feng recruited members for the Eight Diagrams Sect (Ba Qua Jiao) and participated in an anti-Ching uprising. He was caught by the Ching Court, found guilty, and executed by dismemberment. The Mei Hua style was attributed to Wu Mei (also called Ng Mui), who was a legendary figure - a Shaolin nun, in order to disguise Feng Keshan`s underground activities. The style was essentially a condensing of Shaolin`s best techniques into one system and with its own footwork patterns (five directions) unifying the techniques.
Another major style that was practiced at the Fujian Shaolin Temple (and which it is most famous for really) is the Fujian Crane (He Quan) boxing style. This style arose from the Five Animals and concentrated on the movements of the Crane wings and well balanced stances. It featured many open palm techniques that resemble chi sao techniques. The style contains long range and close range fighting aspects, and much chi gung work to power it. The style continued to develop during the Ching Dynasty until there was five main divisions in the style, each with different techniques and methods. Essentially, this style is what Shaolin developed into, as it was worked on by the remnants of the Shaolin Temple, while those that left the temple went on to start many other styles (such as Hung Gar, Choy Li Fut, etc.). The five divisions are: Jumping Crane Boxing, Crying Crane Boxing, Sleeping Crane Boxing, Eating Crane Boxing , and Flying Crane Boxing. Many other temples from the area had input into this system of styles (since Shaolin was now gone), including Taoist ones.
From the roots of Five Animals, Fut Gar, Fujian Crane, and other styles taught at the Fujian Temple, arose another major southern style known as Wing Chun. This style has its roots in the Fujian area also. There are many versions and legends of its origins (and this one is one that I subscribe to until I am shown otherwise and then a will make adjustments accordingly): After the closing of the Fujian Shaolin Temple, in 1803 AD, Abbot Chi Zin escaped and hid disguised as an actor in the Guandong Opera. The opera traveled on boats called Junks, and Abbot Chi Zin received protection from the Red Junk boatmen, who were called Hung Suen men, and who were secretly part of the Hung Men secret society. While at Shaolin, he worked with other Shaolin monks who were in hiding to develop a style that could be quickly mastered in a very short amount of time, and that would be able to fight other martial artists (such as the Manchu Guards and spies. The styles being explored were the Shaolin Five Animals style and the Fujian Crane style. From this exploration, Feng Keshan developed the Mei Hua style. Then suddenly, the temple was attacked and they were forced to scatter and flee.
Around this time, a non-monk Shaolin boxing master named Yan Si, was from Guanzhou in Fujian Province, left the city to escape the Manchu Ching government spies that were looking for any martial artists involved in the rebel conspiracy. He lived quietly at Liancheng city and practiced martial arts, he passed on his Fujian Temple martial arts, such as forms from the Five Animals, Fujian Crane, and Fut Gar. His daughter, Wing Chun, years later married Liang Batao of Jianxi Province, who was also trained in the Shaolin martial arts. They began to teach their arts, making many new innovations in technique as they worked to revise their style.
They later moved to Guandong Province, after her father died and the restriction to practice martial arts was removed by the government in 1813. In 1815, Ling Botao met actor and martial artist Huang Baohua at an opera performance in Zhaoqing. Together, they all worked to simplify all they knew and distilled the Wing Chun style out of the techniques that they were experimenting with. They took out all the duplication and slight variations of the Shaolin techniques and kept only the most effective an effecient moves. They made a style that was able to be used in close range combat and that was both linear and circular, with hard and soft techniques and good chi circulation work behind them. The style relies on a well balanced stance (that would work equally well if used on land, on the Junk boats, etc. Also, the techniques could be used very well in the dark, since their was a strong emphasis put on the southern marital arts uses of sticky handsþ techniques, redirection, speed, and trapping.
The Choy Li Fut style is another famous southern style derived from the Southern Shaolin Temple, although arising a bit later than Hung Gar and the other Five Families Styles. Choy Li Fut is a mixture of the Choy Gar style, the Li Gar style, and the various other monk styles practiced at Shaolin (such as Fut Gar, Five Animals, Lohan, etc.). The Choy Li Fut style is both a long range and middle range fighting style, composed of fast and balanced techniques that are hard and soft, with powerful extended movements. It was developed in 1836 by Chan Heung. Chan had learned Southern Shaolin martial arts from his uncle, Yuen Woo. After he became proficient at this, in 1823, he was introduced to Li Yau San, founder of the Li Gar style. Li taught Chan his style of fighting. Later, Chan was sent to study with Choy Fok in 1827, who came from the Northern Shaolin Temple originally and practiced a long range fighting style, some think it was related to the Dragon style.
After coming back from Lau Fu Mountain in 1834, where he was studying, Chan went back to his village of King Mui and reviewed all he had studied. He began teaching his Choy Li Fut style in the village. Shortly after, he enlisted in the army and went to Canton to fight the British in the Opium Wars. China was defeated in 1842, and he returned home. He joined the anti-Ching rebellion and his schools taught many of the rebels his Choy Li Fut style for use against the Manchu. (His students finally succeeded in 1894, when they helped the revolutionary forces of Sun Yat Sen successfully fight against the government and made it possible for the Republic of China to come into being.)
Chinese resentment against their Manchu rulers kept growing and between 1843 and 1850, many secret societies were started. Under Hung Hsiu Chuen, the Triad Rebellion arose against the Manchu forces in Kwangsi Province. He was able to defeat the (Continued on next issue)
Salvatore Canzonieri is a free-lance artist & writer for various publications (Wushu Kungfu, Han Wei's Wushu, Seconds, EXIT, and others), with experience in Wu Style Taiji, Southern Shaolin, Northern Shaolin, Qigong and various other Traditional Chinese Kungfu styles. He is currently researching material for a future Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Kungfu History and Forms.
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Some other southern Shaolin derived styles, the Mok Gar, and the Lau Gar styles have similar forms to Hung Gar, because both these styles were developed from the Fujian Five Animals system also. Whereas Hung Gar emphasized the Tiger forms, the Lau Gar style (developed by Lau Soam Ngan) placed an emphasis on the Crane forms in their Five Animals style. It was a middle range fighting style. The Mok Gar style (developed by Mok Ching Giu) was also Five Animals based, and it placed more of an emphasis on the Snake forms. It is a short range style, with heavy kicks. Besides these two styles, there was also the Li Gar style (developed by Li Yau San), which was a middle range fighting style, with emphasis on the Leopard forms. Finally, there was the Choy Gar style (developed by Choy Gau Yee), which was a long range fighting style, with emphasis on the Dragon forms. Also related are the Choy Mok style, which is of fairly recent origin (over 50 years ago) and is composed of small circular movements and short range fist attacks that combine elements of the Choy and Mok Gar styles; Hung Fut, developed around Hung Hei Kwun`s time, and of which combined elements of the Hung Gar and Fut Gar styles in a uniquely left-hand oriented manner. It was developed by a monk named Chit Sin, who was a student of monk Loy Yuen, who in turn had been a student of Hung Hei Kwun.
Before the final closing of Shaolin, the White Eyebrow style was created by a Shaolin Monk named Bak Mei (who is falsely accused in legends derived from fictitious novels to have betrayed his follow monks by siding with the Ching). The style passed on eventually to Chueng Lai Chuen, the first non-monk who learned the style and became grandmaster of it. It is a highly internal, short range fighting style based on the movements of the Tiger. It uses soft power that suddenly hardens on impact and is characterized by a hunched shoulders effect in order to better concentrate force that is to be sharply expelled, using pressure point strikes, and a loping gait that has whip-like waist generated power behind it.
Related to the White Eyebrow style and developed soon after was the Lung Ying or internal Dragon style. It was founded by monk Tai Yuk, who passed it to Lam Yiu Kwai, who was friends with the grandmaster of White Eyebrow. It is a very strong internal/external style that relies on swift and unrelenting chains of attack, with gripping strikes. It too uses the concave chest, rounded shoulders stance of White Eyebrow. It was a slide stepping walk that appears to slide or shuffle sideways towards an opponent. It is also famous for its terrific Dragon claw.
The Southern Mantis style has an interesting history. It was originally a collection of techniques used by the Ming royal family, who fled south after the Manchu invasion in 1644 AD. The style was originally called Jew Gar (Royal Family) style, and was changed to Southern Mantis to hide it from the Manchu spies. After the Shaolin temples were closed down, the surviving Mings went to the Juke Lum (Bamboo Forest Temple) and others went to areas just outside the Chinese border, where they were known as the Hakka (northern guests) and their style became known as Hakka Quan. Those that stayed at Juke Lum taught their style to monk Sam Dart, who developed the forms that are now known as Southern Mantis. This style is a close range fighting style, with rapid phoenix eye fist attacks to the pressure points. They maneuver from a back leaning stance that shuffles with a sliding step, and don`t withdraw their strikes after completion. It relies heavily on speed of execution and much deep internal power through chi circulation. There are no blocking movements, nstead redirection is made to set up the opponent for a barrage of strikes.
In the late 1700s, Feng Keshan developed the Mei Hua Quan or Plum Flower Boxing style. This style was strongly based on internal chi circulation and large external circular movements. It was developed out of the Shaolin system. In 1814, Feng recruited members for the Eight Diagrams Sect (Ba Qua Jiao) and participated in an anti-Ching uprising. He was caught by the Ching Court, found guilty, and executed by dismemberment. The Mei Hua style was attributed to Wu Mei (also called Ng Mui), who was a legendary figure - a Shaolin nun, in order to disguise Feng Keshan`s underground activities. The style was essentially a condensing of Shaolin`s best techniques into one system and with its own footwork patterns (five directions) unifying the techniques.
Another major style that was practiced at the Fujian Shaolin Temple (and which it is most famous for really) is the Fujian Crane (He Quan) boxing style. This style arose from the Five Animals and concentrated on the movements of the Crane wings and well balanced stances. It featured many open palm techniques that resemble chi sao techniques. The style contains long range and close range fighting aspects, and much chi gung work to power it. The style continued to develop during the Ching Dynasty until there was five main divisions in the style, each with different techniques and methods. Essentially, this style is what Shaolin developed into, as it was worked on by the remnants of the Shaolin Temple, while those that left the temple went on to start many other styles (such as Hung Gar, Choy Li Fut, etc.). The five divisions are: Jumping Crane Boxing, Crying Crane Boxing, Sleeping Crane Boxing, Eating Crane Boxing , and Flying Crane Boxing. Many other temples from the area had input into this system of styles (since Shaolin was now gone), including Taoist ones.
From the roots of Five Animals, Fut Gar, Fujian Crane, and other styles taught at the Fujian Temple, arose another major southern style known as Wing Chun. This style has its roots in the Fujian area also. There are many versions and legends of its origins (and this one is one that I subscribe to until I am shown otherwise and then a will make adjustments accordingly): After the closing of the Fujian Shaolin Temple, in 1803 AD, Abbot Chi Zin escaped and hid disguised as an actor in the Guandong Opera. The opera traveled on boats called Junks, and Abbot Chi Zin received protection from the Red Junk boatmen, who were called Hung Suen men, and who were secretly part of the Hung Men secret society. While at Shaolin, he worked with other Shaolin monks who were in hiding to develop a style that could be quickly mastered in a very short amount of time, and that would be able to fight other martial artists (such as the Manchu Guards and spies. The styles being explored were the Shaolin Five Animals style and the Fujian Crane style. From this exploration, Feng Keshan developed the Mei Hua style. Then suddenly, the temple was attacked and they were forced to scatter and flee.
Around this time, a non-monk Shaolin boxing master named Yan Si, was from Guanzhou in Fujian Province, left the city to escape the Manchu Ching government spies that were looking for any martial artists involved in the rebel conspiracy. He lived quietly at Liancheng city and practiced martial arts, he passed on his Fujian Temple martial arts, such as forms from the Five Animals, Fujian Crane, and Fut Gar. His daughter, Wing Chun, years later married Liang Batao of Jianxi Province, who was also trained in the Shaolin martial arts. They began to teach their arts, making many new innovations in technique as they worked to revise their style.
They later moved to Guandong Province, after her father died and the restriction to practice martial arts was removed by the government in 1813. In 1815, Ling Botao met actor and martial artist Huang Baohua at an opera performance in Zhaoqing. Together, they all worked to simplify all they knew and distilled the Wing Chun style out of the techniques that they were experimenting with. They took out all the duplication and slight variations of the Shaolin techniques and kept only the most effective an effecient moves. They made a style that was able to be used in close range combat and that was both linear and circular, with hard and soft techniques and good chi circulation work behind them. The style relies on a well balanced stance (that would work equally well if used on land, on the Junk boats, etc. Also, the techniques could be used very well in the dark, since their was a strong emphasis put on the southern marital arts uses of sticky handsþ techniques, redirection, speed, and trapping.
The Choy Li Fut style is another famous southern style derived from the Southern Shaolin Temple, although arising a bit later than Hung Gar and the other Five Families Styles. Choy Li Fut is a mixture of the Choy Gar style, the Li Gar style, and the various other monk styles practiced at Shaolin (such as Fut Gar, Five Animals, Lohan, etc.). The Choy Li Fut style is both a long range and middle range fighting style, composed of fast and balanced techniques that are hard and soft, with powerful extended movements. It was developed in 1836 by Chan Heung. Chan had learned Southern Shaolin martial arts from his uncle, Yuen Woo. After he became proficient at this, in 1823, he was introduced to Li Yau San, founder of the Li Gar style. Li taught Chan his style of fighting. Later, Chan was sent to study with Choy Fok in 1827, who came from the Northern Shaolin Temple originally and practiced a long range fighting style, some think it was related to the Dragon style.
After coming back from Lau Fu Mountain in 1834, where he was studying, Chan went back to his village of King Mui and reviewed all he had studied. He began teaching his Choy Li Fut style in the village. Shortly after, he enlisted in the army and went to Canton to fight the British in the Opium Wars. China was defeated in 1842, and he returned home. He joined the anti-Ching rebellion and his schools taught many of the rebels his Choy Li Fut style for use against the Manchu. (His students finally succeeded in 1894, when they helped the revolutionary forces of Sun Yat Sen successfully fight against the government and made it possible for the Republic of China to come into being.)
Chinese resentment against their Manchu rulers kept growing and between 1843 and 1850, many secret societies were started. Under Hung Hsiu Chuen, the Triad Rebellion arose against the Manchu forces in Kwangsi Province. He was able to defeat the (Continued on next issue)
Salvatore Canzonieri is a free-lance artist & writer for various publications (Wushu Kungfu, Han Wei's Wushu, Seconds, EXIT, and others), with experience in Wu Style Taiji, Southern Shaolin, Northern Shaolin, Qigong and various other Traditional Chinese Kungfu styles. He is currently researching material for a future Encyclopedia of Traditional Chinese Kungfu History and Forms.
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