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northstar
05-18-2001, 06:26 PM
The classic five family styles of the south are Hung Ga, Choi (Choy) Ga, Mok Ga, Lau Ga, and Lei (Lee) Ga. Hung Ga is widely spread and popular, there is some Mok and Lau in England, and there's a Choi Ga school in Sweden. What happened to Lei Ga?
Also, how old is the concept of the five families? As I've understood it, most of these styles were constructed in the early 19th century. Why were these styles called the five families? Simply because they were named after families? How come only Hung Ga is widely practised today?

Sil Lum Palm
05-20-2001, 05:23 PM
My Sifu is a direct Lineage Holder under Grandmaster Wong-Ark Yuey who taught the Five Familiy Fist System as well as a few others.
The five families are Choi, Li , Mok , Fut , Hung. The Five Element Foot and Fist is also incorporated into this style as well as the Five Animal Forms.
Our school is a Southern Sil Lum ( Shaolin) School.

northstar
05-21-2001, 04:26 PM
Thanks SLP, but I was referring to th five distinct styles of Hung, Choy, Mok, Lau, and Li/Lei. These were considered important enough to be called the Five Families around the end of the 19th century.
My question remains: why these five styles? Why is only Hung Gar widely praticed today?

cyranodb
05-21-2001, 04:30 PM
Wow...I totally misunderstood the topic of this post. As a sicilian living in NY City, I have a completely different idea of what the Five Families are. ;) Just Joking. :D


Peace

Mike
:cool:

Je Lei Sifu
05-27-2001, 03:46 AM
According to certain resources, the five famly style which are Hung, Lau, Choi, Mok, and Lei where considered to be the best styles of southern China.

Due to Hung Ga being considered the best style in the south, may have contributed to its longevity and its continued growth throughout the world.

Peace

Je Lei Sifu

The Southern Fist Subdues The Fierce Mountain Tiger

tnwingtsun
05-28-2001, 10:51 AM
"Due to Hung Ga being considered the best style in the south"

Ouch!!,speak for yourself my friend,
Hung ga is a strong style but there are others.

Once opon a time in 1985 I was at a Kung-Fu demo,
I was a 2nd year student of the White-Eyebrow system,another school that was giving a demo were giving us some hard looks,myself at that time not knowing the tragic history between our styles was taken aback at the time,I could not understand(and still do not) why some people(Americans!)
were mad that our monk killed their monk some 200 hundred years ago!!,my Bai Mei Sifu thought it was silly as he started his training as a boy in the Hung family style and his mother was a Hung ga
Sifu in her own right,at anyrate that night alot of the schools got together for good food and drink,some of the Hung-ga guys turned out to be
great guys while others kept their distance,I'm here to tell ya,us Bai Mei guys and some of the Hung guys had a great time that night.

"The Southern Fist Subdues The Fierce Mountain Tiger"

That night the Southern Fist and the Fierce Tigers out of the forrest subdued each other
with food,wine,song,laughter,pats on the back,fellowship and memories that will last a lifetime.


Cheers to ya bro!!



;)

Je Lei Sifu
05-29-2001, 07:35 AM
No insult intended, but in the past, Hung was considered the number one style of the south. Not saying that it was the best style overall, it is just the way the people viewed it.

Peace.

Je Lei Sifu

The Southern Fist Subdues The Fierce Mountain Tiger

tnwingtsun
05-29-2001, 08:59 AM
Hung,move away from there,said Californias the place ya ought to be ,so they packed up the junk and they moved to Beverly.....Hills that is......
Freaks,***gots,Junkies,****s,Mass Murderers......

Couldn't resist. :D :D

bean curd
05-29-2001, 11:46 AM
the five families are still taught in south china, and on the island.
li gar, mok gar, choi have for the main been a quiet family and have not had the exposure as lau gar and hung gar.

with hung gar it has been very popular due to the many well skilled players who made names for themselves in many areas of the south china communities.

with lau gar though it has been absorbed into hung gar kuen for the fear it would be lost, i do know and have heard there is lau gar in the U.K. however i am not sure this is the same lau gar of the five families.

as too bak mei betraying the siu lam gi, this is a very questionable issue and for the main, it has been found to be a incorrect assumption.

peace

unclaimed effort
05-30-2001, 04:23 AM
Lay Ga is probably practiced even more than hung ga. You just don't look deep enough. There are many popular styles that combine or add lay ga in it. The most popular being choy lay fut.

Stillness in stillness is not real stillness. Stillness in motion is real stillness. - Lao Tzu. :)

md1
05-31-2001, 04:37 AM
what about wong ga kuen?

"when you expect your oppoent to yield/you also should avoid hurting him"

northstar
05-31-2001, 01:55 PM
Lei ga is not a part of choi lei fat. This is a common misunderstanding, see the "North and south of CLF" thread in this forum.
Wang ga? Never heard of it, but it isn't one of the 5.

unclaimed effort
06-01-2001, 04:17 AM
North Star the author did not specifically tell me which one he was talking about for it is specific spelling. And can't be accurate spelling cause it is chinese.No offense intended. :)

If two tigers fight, the result will be one injured tiger.

Stillness in stillness is not real stillness. Stillness in motion is real stillness.