“Iron Wire Set” (Tit Sin Kyun), one of the “Three Treasures”, secret and most advanced internal set of Hung Kyun’s curriculum.
Very few had the rare opportunity to learn it – Alberto Biraghi was one of the fortunate ones.
Find out more in the sample chapter from his book Hung Ga Story: Me and Master Chan Hon Chung: Continue reading
Question: Hello Sifu, thank you for the excellent information you are sharing at Practical Hung Kyun blog. I am studying Hung Gar Kung Fu for more almost ten years, but I must to say that your approach completely changed my approach to the art, its training and application. In last few months, I have progressed faster than in last few years. I am doing less stuff, but better, as you have suggested.
I have heard my instructor to talk about so called Twelve Bridges, but when I asked for more information, I unfortunately did not get any. I was told that it was lost and secret art….
I have noticed that you have mentioned Twelve Bridges on various occasions. Can you please briefly summarize the theory behind Twelve Bridges of Hung Gar?
Thank you.
Javier E. Continue reading
After lunch I went back to the Chung King mansion and take a nap, because I had started training in the night, too. After the first day I realized that Cheung Yee Keung often trained after dinner. He came back at 10:15 PM from the jeans store in Argyle Street where he worked, had a light dinner (usually some food bought on the street, in Hong Kong most of the meals were consumed at the restaurants, the rest are mainly street food), do some work like cleaning his room, washing the clothes etc., then train. It was a great chance for me to have him at my total disposal, nobody else was training so late, so I sat in Sifu’s office watching TV or flipping through a magazine, or put on the kung fu trousers and do over and over what I had learned in the morning, until he came down in his kung fu trousers for his training set.
The cover photo of Grand Master Chan Hon Chung performing the classic salute posture captures his enthusiasm and genuine joy in sharing his knowledge of Kung Fu. The reader can’t help but be drawn to want to know more about this man, more specifically, what is it about Chinese Kung Fu that brings him such joy.
The contents page chapter titles read like an initiation process; explaining a well-structured, steady and gradual immersion of the author (and through him the reader) into the authentic Kung Fu life. In reading the chapter titles one is impulsively tempted to skip to the chapters whose titles are more exciting and enticing, only to become just as enthused in reading the preceding chapters to get a better understanding of the one just read. Continue reading
Hung Ga Story: Me and Master Chan Hon Chung: exclusive excerpt from Alberto Biraghi’s excellent book!
Hung Ga Story is a memoir of Alberto Biraghi and his martial arts journey.
Alberto studied the traditional Hung Ga Kyun in Hong Kong with the late Grand Master Chan Hon Chung, spending with him more than a month per year from 1977 until the closing of his historic gym at 729 of Nathan Road.
Are you curious about traditional Gung Fu training in Hong Kong in 1970’s and 1980’s? Well, read on!
Learning the Hung style was not easy in 1977, especially if you were Italian.
I knew nothing about Gung Fu apart from what I saw in a few movies, neither did I know about Chinese culture. In these miserable condition I entered a temple of knowledge and tradition and to make it worse, Benjamin Fung introduced me as “an Italian karate expert who wants to checkout Chinese Gung Fu”. As you can understand the first welcome was kind of cold and suspicious (I didn’t realize it immediately, I was told a month later by the students, after friendship had been established, that no presentation could have been worse in that community). Continue reading
Hung Ga’s “Four Gates Plum Flower Single Whip” (Sei Mun Mui Fa Daan Bin), also called “Cross Pattern Plum Flower Single Whip” (Sap Ji Mui Fa Daan Bin) – short video of the first section, performed by my Sifu, Grand Master Lam Chun Sing. Continue reading
Here is the part 2 of Hung Ga’s “Secret of Four Arrivals” (Sei Dou Ji Bei), important concept handed down from the Late Grand Master Lam Sai Wing!
Part two is dedicated to Muk Dou, “Eyes Arrival”. Find out the true meaning of the Muk Dou concept and its practical combat implications!
Grand Master Lam Sai Wing writes in the preface to his “Taming the Tiger in Gung Pattern” book (full translation available here):
Eyes Arrival: Clear and Distinct, not Confused.
(Muk Dou: Jak Gwong Ming Bat Man) Continue reading
Traditional self-defence systems vs. modern combat sports, what is better?
I will answer the question in few seconds.
First of all, I can hear all the so called “traditionalists” with their arsenal of deadly techniques and excuses of not being able to use them in a sport enviroment. Continue reading