Red Boat Opera

[Yang Style]

Just curious, what are all the styles that are associated with Red Barge Opera/ Red Boat Opera?

[CFT]

Wing Chun / Weng Chun are probably the most prominent. Not sure if there are any others.

[David Jamieson]

Here's a little story, among several others that are in the archive here at the ezine.

http://ezine.kungfumagazine.com/ezine/article.php?article=539

It's pretty safe to say that not only wing chun was secreted onto the red boats during the closing century of anti qing sentiments. Virtually all the styles you can think of have someway in some form been on the opera junks.

wing chun in particular ties it's history closely to this, but Hung Gar has a strong connection as well with at least one story where Hung Hei Gwun is hiding out with the red junks.

anyway, you'll find enough legends and myths to keep you occupied for a while if you look around. Don't just stick to websites, you can actually enrol in uni courses where I live that cover this subject in depth, so it stands to reason there are libray tomes to be perused. The martial arts after all were not the reason for the boats and were in fact secondary.

the boats acted as mobile shelters for rebels, but only for a period. the original intention was opera! :)

[Lee Chiang Po]

Wing Chun was the result of many years of learning and developing a fighting system that could easily apply on the confines of a junk. The opera consisted of many actors and acrobats, hookers, pick pockets, snake oil sales, and gambling. They had to be able to defend themselves not only against irate individuals that they had cheated, robbed, or otherwise swindled, but also against river pirates. Fighting in the smaller confines of a junk was indeed compared to fighting in a phone booth. Both bare handed and with knives. The pole was used not only to propel the junk in shallow water, but it also served to prevent pirates from boarding the junk. Who in the world understands the mechanics of the body better than an acrobat? Wing Chun is an individual thing, and yet it must always adhere to certain principals in order for it to work. No two peoples Wing Chun looks exactly the same because of this, and because of this there are so many different so called styles. Wing Chun is Wing Chun.

[Xiao3 Meng4]

Wing Chun was most definitely Junk Fu. :eek: ;)

Fighting on a cramped, swaying boat had its unique challenges. Wing Chun's training methods and applications seem too well suited for that scenario for it to be coincidence.

My view is that Wing Chun evolved from an earlier sailor style. Other arts on the Red Boat probably had the same heritage.

One other art that I heard was on the Red Boat was Mantis. Southern or Northern, I don't know, but it seems to have influenced Yeung Fook's Wing Chun a bit - for instance, the goh sau in SLT looks quite mantis-ey compared to Ip Man's.

[Syn7]

anyone have any good books on the subject??? articles??? documentary???

[Yang Style]

One other art that I heard was on the Red Boat was Mantis. Southern or Northern, I don't know, but it seems to have influenced Yeung Fook's Wing Chun a bit - for instance, the goh sau in SLT looks quite mantis-ey compared to Ip Man's.


Well, anyway if you do happen to find out. I'd be happy to hear about it, I'm very interested in Red Boat Kung fu styles.

[Lee Chiang Po]

Wing Chun was most definitely Junk Fu. :eek: ;)

Fighting on a cramped, swaying boat had its unique challenges. Wing Chun's training methods and applications seem too well suited for that scenario for it to be coincidence.

My view is that Wing Chun evolved from an earlier sailor style. Other arts on the Red Boat probably had the same heritage.

One other art that I heard was on the Red Boat was Mantis. Southern or Northern, I don't know, but it seems to have influenced Yeung Fook's Wing Chun a bit - for instance, the goh sau in SLT looks quite mantis-ey compared to Ip Man's.

The mantis I have experienced would not fit on a junk very well. I doubt it ever went aboard one. I think WC evolved amongst the members of the junks inhabitants.

[Xiao3 Meng4]

Don't forget, they were an opera troupe. Flashy Kung Fu was part of their training as well. It may not have been the core method, but some of the stuff must have mixed imo.

That's also why I have no idea if it was Northern or Southern Mantis, because I don't know what the theatrical stuff was comprised of. My guess is it was a mix of pretty much anything that came aboard.

[Yang Style]

Could that mantis style have been Chow Gar? I did some research and that's what I found. Dunno if it's true, though.

[bawang]

the only native style of my home jiangsu province, yanghu quan, SINGS while performing forms. b careful what u get into.

old authentic dog sh1t is dog sh1t.