Tit Kiu Saam (“Iron Bridge” Three) was one of the best fighters of 19th century Southern China – one of the legendary “Ten Tigers of Gwong Dung”. He was famous for her “Bridges” (Kiu), firm stances (Ma) and incredible strength, developed thanks to his “Iron Thread Set” (Tit Sin Kyun).
We don’t have much information about his other techniques, but if: Continue reading
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
Tit Sin Kyun is the highest set in Hung Ga Kyun. Simply said, it’s a Five Elements “Internal Training” set that uses sounds that refer to emotions.
There is much more to Tit Sin Kyun, such as the “Twelve Bridge Arms” (Sap Yi Ji Kiu Sau) and its use in ground grappling/antigrappling, but we will not go into that here. Perhaps another article.
For now we will just focus on the sounds.
The sounds in Tit Sin Kyun are primal sounds, used for boosting the power/spirit on a technical level and for releasing mental and muscle tension. Continue reading
Grand Master Chiu Kau (1895-1995) was definitely one of the most influential Hung Ga Kyun teachers of the 20th century.
He started to learn Hung Kyun in 1909 under the guidance of Wong Sai Wing Sifu in South Pacific. In 1928 he joined „Lam Sai Wing’s 2nd Branch School” in Hong Kong, together with his wife Siu Ying. Continue reading
Question: Sifu Macek, can you please briefly explain the “Twelve Bridge Hands” of Hung Ga Kuen? As your school is called Practical Hung Kyun, I would appreciate some practical examples of how to use the “Twelve Bridges” in training or a real fight.
Jorge C.
Answer: First two Bridges – Hard, Soft (Gong, Yau) and the last two Bridges – Control, Adapt (Jai, Ding) are a general Yam/Yeung (Yin/Yang) framework of the remaining eight. We at Practical Hung Kyun want to end up the confrontation as fast as possible, using hard power and total control. If we meet a stronger opponent, we use soft power and adapt to the opponent’s action.
I took your question as a challenge, and tried to explain the “Twelve Bridge Hands” of Hung Ga in twelve lines/paragraphs. Continue reading