You have probably seen the MMA fighter vs. Taiji “fighter” challenge match. Defeat in 10 seconds. Are you surprised? We are not.
People say that the Taiji guy does not represent Taijiquan or Chinese martial arts in general.
You know what? He represents all CMA bullshit, all that is with Chinese martial arts wrong. 99% of today’s CMA martial artists would end up exactly the same.
This is a video of the fight. Continue reading
A young kid wanted to learn from a famous martial artist. He was poor, and could not afford the regular lessons.
The Master felt sorry for him, so he told him: “Before I accept you as my student, I want you to do following thing: When you go through the bamboo forest on your way from you work and back to your village, I want you sweep the bamboos with your legs, left and right.” Continue reading
Power jabs, finger jabs, uppercuts, hammer fist groin strikes – right leg forward, right hand striking: that is our beginner’s PHK form “Cross Pattern Plum Blossom Set” (Sap Ji Mui Fa Kyun) in a nutshell.
Why right lead, so called “southpaw stance”?
Mark Hatmaker, of the proponents of southpaw guard, observes that there are more “deliberate southpaws” in today’s MMA (about 40%) than in boxing (about 10%), and explains his reasons why: Continue reading
Man Mou Seung Chyun means “Scholar and Warrior” in Cantonese. It is an old Chinese ideal of a gentleman who can use skilfully both his brush and sword.
After well received book on Lama Paai Gung Fu (review HERE), dedicated to both history and technical curriculum of so called “Tibetan” styles of Chinese martial arts, David A. Ross Sifu of New York San Da brought us practical oriented textbooks of combined old and new methods, bringing the skills of traditional martial arts into the 21 century.
In his latest book, long awaited Chinese Martial Arts: A Historical Outline, he has tackled another difficult task – to present the true history of Chinese Gung Fu. And again, he does excellent job. Continue reading
„Snake, Cat and Crane Combined Set“ (Se Maau Hok Wan Ying Kyun), also called „Three Animals Set“ (Saam Ying Kyun), was choreographed by Leung Wing Haang Sifu, who wrote a detailed book about it in 1950’s. The set did not get so popular as his another creation, “Butterfly Palm” (Wu Dip Jeung) and it is taught today just by very few Hung Ga teachers. Continue reading
In the Hung Kyun collection of Mr. Lam Jou, one of the most classic weapon skill is “Double Dragon Sabre” (Seung Lung Dou), it is the set that master Lam Jou often performed in his time.
The predecessor of Seung Lung Dou has not been previously investigated. However, the pattern of this sword set is similar to “Single Battle Sword” (Daan Pok Dou 單朴刀). Comparing Seung Lung Dou to Geui Chung Dou the former uses different kind of blades. It should also be pointed out that Seung Lung Dou and the Cantonese “Butterfly Knives” (Wu Dip Dou) have a different origin. So we can assume that Seung Lung Dou was created in the beginning of the 20th century when different martial art styles came together in Hong Kong, perhaps this set is a result of inter-exchange between areas and cultures, it is also Lam Jou’s mastery and comprehensive study of Northern and Southern martial arts. Continue reading
The Hang Je Pang is the only double-ended staff set of Lam Family Hung Kyun, it is a set that Lam Jou incorporated to the Lam Family Hung Kyun. The set originates from another style of martial art.
The specific origin of this set, the “Traveler’s Staff”, also known as the “Monkey Pole”, is not well known, some say that it comes from a Northern martial art, whereas some say that it comes from the “Monkey Fist” of Fujian. Regardless of its origin, Lam Jou did some changes to the original set. He made adjustments to the arrangements and techniques, so the “Traveler’s Staff” we know today has a classic Hung Ga flavor to it.
Tit Sin Kyun was a form passed down from Tit Kiu Saam (Iron Bridge Three), one of the ten tigers of Canton and a grandmaster of Hung Ga Kyun. The form was taught to Grandmaster Wong Fei Hung by Lam Fuk Sing, one of the students of Tit Kiu Saam.
Tit Sin Kyun is an internal form (Noi Gung 內功) of the Lam Ga Hung Kyun System. There is a common misconception that Tit Sin Kyun trains self defence techniques. Rather than solely training self defence techniques, Grandmaster Lam Chun Chung suggests that Tit Sin Kyun utilizes dynamic tension, breathing exercises and pronunciation of sounds to generate power in the practitioner’s bridge hands, improve rooting of the practitioner’s stance and improve the overall health of a practitioner by treating each of the five major organs of the human body (i.e. Liver, Heart, Spleen, Lungs and Kidneys). Continue reading
There are a lot of stories on Tit Sin Kyun, the Iron Thread set, creating a mystic air. Some are nothing more than misconceptions and misinterpretations, partly because the Taoist holistic idea is not always easily translated into Western concepts.
This article will go into some often-heard misconceptions heard in the West and offers some references to other comparable current Western concepts. Continue reading
During the 20th century it is said that Hung, Lau, Choi, Lei, Mok were the five big Gung Fu styles of the Guangdong province. Different regions shaped distinctive styles of martial arts, like the Lung Ying Kyun, Southern Praying Mantis, Mok Ga Kyun of the Hakka minority in Eastern Guangdong. The area of Xinhui, Jiangmen, Yangjiang was dominated by Choi Lei Fat. In Chaoshan Choi Mok Kyun was the dominating style. In the martial arts schools as well as the martial arts culture of Guangzhou, Foshan and other big cities were influenced by external elements. Continue reading