Kung-Fu Uniform Name?

[Giuseppe_S]

hello sorry to be a pest, i'm quite new to Kung-Fu as i have been mainly training in Bujinkan Budo Taijutsu, but i was wondering what is the name for a Kung-Fu Uniform, as i am aware that in Karate its known as a Gi and in TKD its known as a Dobok, also the style i have just started in is Hung Kuen and was wondering what colour is usually worn i.e is it all black or can you wear Black with white buttons and white sleeves with the Mandarin Colar, again many apologies for the questions.

Thanks in advance

[David Jamieson]

It's called a kungfu uniform.

the black frog button baby is also called a taichi uniform.

the sleeveless is soutrern kungfu uniform.

the long sleeve is northern kungfu uniform.

the crappy sky blue/orange/pink/chiffon yellow is called a wushu unifrom

the saffron and grey uniforms are shaolin robes

whatever the chinese word is for "uniform" is suitable I think.

[Eddie]

if you want to get fancy, you can use Kung Fu Yi Fu 功夫衣服 :cool:

[Ben Gash]

I was speaking to my Sigung about this a couple of months ago and he said there isn't really a Chinese name as it's only really a uniform for us in the west, in China it was just the kind of clothes you work out in. Ironically he just calls it a Gi because people understand it.

[TenTigers]

yeah, a Tai-Chi uniform, uh-huh, and a tai-chi sword, and tai-chi slippers.
For laughs, try asking a Chinese person what they are, and if he ever stops laughing, he may tell you.
There is no such animal, unless you get all your information from catalogues and magazines.

Guizeppe-if you are studying at a school, wouldn't your Sifu tell you what he expects you to train in? Is there a school uniform? If not, look at what the other students wear, and ask them where to buy them.
The term many use for the uniform is sahm, or cheong-sahm. But Most Hung Kuen practitioners train in t-shirts and lantern pants.

[David Jamieson]

actually tt cheong sam is a long dress like a qipao. not the same at all.
more along the lines of what the bagua dudes like wearing. :p no offense bagua dudes. :D

[Dale Dugas]

We call the uniform Han Zifu or Hifu.

[SPJ]

There is no uniform per se.

Usually, when you practice MA, you are bare chested with long pants. There are some "wraps" around the lower legs.

In the old time;

The cotton clothes are for civilians or Bu Yi.

The silk clothes are for the rich and higher in class.

Personally, I like cotton over silk, because cotton breathes and silk becomes very sticky when you sweat.

I think you may place the name of the style in front of the clothes/ Yi Fu.

such as Tai Chi, mantis, or just Kung Fu clothes.

Uniform is Zi Fu.

:)

[B-Rad]

What uniform is "official" (if any) will vary greatly from school to school. There's lots of different kinds of potential uniforms out there. Ask your Hung Kuen teacher what your options are for his school. If you have to buy your own from an outside source http://www.jonieuniforms.com sells a pretty good quality product. I've got a pair of black cotton "kungfu" pants from there that are very comfortable and durable.

[omarthefish]

Everyone's allready summed up the main points.

Eddie's a little off. You wouldn't call it a "kung fu yi" you would call it a "lian gong fu". If you mean the "silk" pajama looking things, (ours are some sort of polyester thing that feels like rayon-hemp or something) we call those "biaoyan fu" or "performance uniform". lol. Often for class Shifu wears the pants part to one of those but with a polo shirt up top.

"Taiji slippers" are, in China, called "bu xie" or simply "cloth shoes" and have no connotation of taiji training at all. You can see the day laborers doing construction wearing them.

SPJ, your accent it showing. A uniform is called a "ZHi fu". I can hear you saying it with your Taiwanese lisp even over the internet. Why can't Taiwanese pronounce the "zh" sound right? :D

Standard in my classes is whatever allows you to move. Special Taiji or wushu shoes are out because doing Baji in them hurts your feet. My teacher also doesn't allow me to wear a t-shirt even when it's 90+degrees because he doesn't like the way Baji looks with short sleeves. *groan*. I complained that it was f'ing hot out once and he barked at me, "You hear to vacation or to train? Training is bitter. Wear long sleeves." I notice all the Taiji people get to wear whatever they want though.. . .

In the actual wushu schools they wear sweatpants or early 80's style jogging pants plus a t-shirt with the logo of the school on it. No special kungfu pants or belt like in souther styles.

The only time I see uniforms at all is some of the old folks doing taiji in the mornings like to wear the silk jammie looking dealio and of course, at performances which is why in our group, we call them "performance uniforms" (biaoyan fu).

[Giuseppe_S]

yeah, a Tai-Chi uniform, uh-huh, and a tai-chi sword, and tai-chi slippers.
For laughs, try asking a Chinese person what they are, and if he ever stops laughing, he may tell you.
There is no such animal, unless you get all your information from catalogues and magazines.

Guizeppe-if you are studying at a school, wouldn't your Sifu tell you what he expects you to train in? Is there a school uniform? If not, look at what the other students wear, and ask them where to buy them.
The term many use for the uniform is sahm, or cheong-sahm. But Most Hung Kuen practitioners train in t-shirts and lantern pants.

right i just checked the website out, and they wear the full uniform but in the summer months they just wear the black pants and a club t-shirt.

Thanks to all for the response

[BruceSteveRoy]

We call the uniform Han Zifu or Hifu.
Han yifu (pronounced 'ee foo') would refer to clothes of the han dynasty and its people and not a specific uniform. i haven't heard the terms zi or zhifu before though. learn something new every day.

in response to Omarthefish
i used to love watching my chinese professor in college try to correct taiwanese student's pronunciation. I had this one teacher get so frustrated she was yelling at this poor girl and the girl just couldn't understand that what she was saying wasn't how the teacher was saying it. I thought the prof's head was going to explode. good times.

[omarthefish]

Westerners like me, and you too I presume, get an extra special kick out of the Taiwanese accent because it is just so **** fun to see a Chinese dude having as much difficulty as we have suffered through to pronounce things right. So it is with much glee that I make fun of Taiwanese accents!

The best part is that, especially when you live in a really macho place like Shaanxi, the Taiwanese "mistakes" end up sounding like a stereotypical gay accent. lol.

Shaanxi folks talk like they have food in their mouths at all times and of course have already downed half a liter of 110 proof baijiu. I feel that the only competitors for "most manly accent" in China are probably Henan and Shandong. The rest all sound like girly-men by comparison. :p

[David Jamieson]

I had this one teacher get so frustrated she was yelling at this poor girl and the girl just couldn't understand that what she was saying wasn't how the teacher was saying it. I thought the prof's head was going to explode.

this happens in kungfu a lot too. you show someone something, they do something that barely resembles what you've shown them, you adjust, show them again and they continue to do it wrong. Real good times. :p

[Eddie]

Eddie's a little off. You wouldn't call it a "kung fu yi" you would call it a "lian gong fu". If you mean the "silk" pajama looking things, (ours are some sort of polyester thing that feels like rayon-hemp or something) we call those "biaoyan fu" or "performance uniform". lol. Often for class Shifu wears the pants part to one of those but with a polo shirt up top.

liang gong? which liang is that?
I also heard of biaoyun fu before. thanks omarthefish

[omarthefish]

Take a second look at the post that you just quoted.

It's not "liang" gong. It's "lian" gong. No "g" at the end. It means "to train" as in "lian gong" or "duan lian".

Before people said they "trained gongfu" or "lian gongfu" in Chinese, they simply said "lian gong" （练功）。 Before "wushu" entered the comman parlance, the typical terms for gongfu were "wuyi" (武艺) or "wugong" (武功) or to denote training in "gongfu" as opposed to just taolu (forms) or the modern "wushu" people would say "lian gong". My own Shifu uses that term to refer to the basic skills or abilities that underly the more apparent stuff, the subtle skill, the "gongfu" if you will. If you want to train "gongfu" as opposed to "martial arts" (granted, a subtle distinction) that is called "lian gong" as opposed to "lian wushu" or even just "duan lian" (train).


Hope that makes sense.

We call it a "lian gong" fu because we like to emphasise that we are training "gongfu" (subtle skill obtained through bitter training) as opposed to simply "wushu" (military arts or, in the past 50 years, performance arts.)

[Eddie]

got it. thanks.

where in china are you. Im thinking of doing foshan next week. Will be in HK by monday