hung ga

[Drunken Monkey]

actually, i'm more afraid of my capoeria friend when he is up close.....

[dingyuan]

Maybe, but my friend is extremely good with his kicks

[Zhong Gau]

Todays shaolin monks do shows, also in their temples(read jet lis biografy, an theres a national geografy episode with it). But shaolin in almost al of china has become wushu now...its very difficult to find a school with the origonalclassik shaolin styles.

 

Check Chuang Tzu Ni's schools and publications out of seattle, wa. he was a buddist prefect durring the Cultural Revolution. They teach Ba gua, and a non named Choy li fut to devotees who join thier temple. Also founded Earth Form tai chi.

 

Check some of the Shaolin weapons videos. the guy that does the Monk's spade is the real thing.

 

Durring the Maoist revolution those monks that survived the purging of the temples and made it to beijing and hong Kong joined wushu national teams to hide.

 

Shaolin systems common in the states: Hung Gar, Hung Fot, Wah Lum, Wing Chun, Ba Gua.

Edited December 12, 2004 by Zhong Gau

[Zhong Gau]

Hi there, I just wish to ask how many animal forms are there in Hung Gar? I am not really familiar with Southern styles and just what's the different between Hung Gar and Choy Lee Fut?? Thank you.

 

Hung Gar was founded on the basis of combining the hardest of the hard and the softest of the soft. thus Tiger-Crane. All of its techniques can be boiled down to techniques from these two systems and variations. It is cansidered a Hard-Soft system. It is the oldest of the Choy Li Fut principle governed styles. It's primary empty hand forms are the Seven Star Linking/ Five Elements Cascade, Profound, Wave, Tiger-Crane, Whipping Crane and Iron Whip.

 

Styles that are similar to hung gar are: Mok gar, fut gar, hung fot, crane, snake, tiger, dragon, 5 elements hsing-I, Sil Lum, Mantis Boxing.

 

Choy Li Fut has no direct translation but the concept in english is a combination of a hard whirlwind and a rock at the end of a rope, or a flail. A tornado carrying debris comes to mind.

[Infrazael]

Hi, new here, not new to MA or forums tho (on like 8 others lol).

 

Anyways, I am a practitioner of Hung-Sing Choy Lay Fut, but I do have a limited amount of knowledge regarding to Hung Gah from explicit studies or the Art and frequent conversations with many other practitioners of it.

 

First of all, a little about Hung Gah (also called Hung Kuen, Hung Gar, or Hung Ga). Hung Gah is a Southern CMA to the extreme, with extremely deep stances and powerful, destructive strikes. The primary emphasis is the concept of "bridging" which is essentially blocking the opponent's strikes, connecting with a "bridge" and controlling the opponent, closing in and literally smashing your way through like a sledgehammer through a wall. Fun times.

 

Stances are extremely deep and very well rooted, strong, and very hard to break. Hand techniques are the most powerful once a bridge is connected, maintained, and controlled, but if not then HG typically employs short to mid-ranged strikes, all from the heavily rooted stances.

 

Another saying of Hung Gah is that "we NEVER block, we ALWAYS strike." In HG, everything is a strike. Every block is a strike. Blocks are strikes. Strikes are strikes. Always on the offensive.

 

Kicks are very, very few, put when used properly they are extremely low, never exceeding the waist (mabye the floating rib, I wouldn't know), and extremely powerful.

 

Techniques rely much more on mass OVER acceleration and velocity. Movements seem rigid, but can be soft as well (certainly more so than Karate). It is said that Hung Gar is "Silk covered in a layer of iron."

 

In the long run, you'll develop extremely powerful hand techniques, heavy, low stances, very good endurance, and be able to take hits. You'll truly be a force to be reckoned with.

 

As for the TKD. . . . . drop it. No offense TKD people, but it is a very young style and it's reliance on nothing but leg power is very weak. I have seen 2nd degree black belts who are doing the same kicks we do in a SOUTHERN kung fu style, and not much better at it either. Hung Gah is MUCH more complex and complete system, offering everything from extreme power generation to good health, endurance, and fighting abilities.

 

If you're thinking about cross-training TKD and HG, forget it. The two are NOT COMPATABLE AT ALL. All it will do is confuse the hell out of you, and make you a much worse fighter.

 

If you have any questions, feel free to PM me or ask. If you wanna know about CLF, u can ask me too.

 

Regards,

 

Infrazael.

[KF Dude]

quote="dingyuan"]Hi there, I just wish to ask how many animal forms are there in Hung Gar? I am not really familiar with Southern styles and just what's the different between Hung Gar and Choy Lee Fut?? Thank you.

 

Hung-Ga is a southern shaolin 5 animal system: dragon,snake,tiger,leopard & crane.

 

Most people mistake HG as only tiger/crane. Fu Hok is our most popular hand form but there is also 3 more animals to play with. I believe there is Fu Hok Pai a kung fu system separate from Hung-Ga that uses tiger/crane exclusively.

 

From my experience HG puts more emphasis on stance training than CLF (or any other martial art). Starting out, HG is challenging on the legs & not knowing any better you constantly are asking yourself 'How does all this stance stuff apply to fighting? Do I really want to put up with this?'. The foundation training is long and hard with really only a few basic fighting drills taught to break up the monotony. Only those who stay & endure come to find out there is a definite method to the madness. I don't know much about CLF, we do use some of their techniques: sau, chop, jin, qua choi(s) with HG body connection. Both are good kung fu systems.

[siufeifei]

It isn't that Hung Gar is ONLY tiger/crane but the Tiger/Crane is the backbone and emphasis of the school and it's training. The Five Animals form you mentioned is just a form that they have that was introduced into the school from it's early Shaolin origins. The most accurate way of describing the school is as Tiger/Crane beacue the Four Pillars are based on Tiger and Crane. The Five Animals, or Ten Forms fist sets that they have are just another training form that features animal elements. Hung Gar does not have separate Animal forms in the way that Shaolin does.

 

So really, the answer to the question of how many Animal forms are there in Hung Gar is that there are no Animal forms in Hung gar.

 

There are however, forms that have animal elements in them.

 

Also, in reference to Shaolin and Choy Li Fut that also have a Five Animals Form, the Hung Gar form is nothing like them.

 

Something that a friend of mine said after showing me a slightly funny video of hung gar forms.

 

"everyone looks stupid doing hung gar forms"

[Infrazael]

Actually Hung Kuen is alot like CLF, but in the opposite way.

[siufeifei]

Candidate for oxymoron of the year?

[kzshin]

Okay, after I read the Chinese character of Hung Gar. There is something I want to clairified. According to the history chart from website that was provided by ealier post. Hung gar is originally based on Shiaoling Tiger/Crane style, no other animals.

 

One thing I am confused is, I don't know why everyone here pronunced it as Hung Gar, cuz the first word pronumced Hong in chinese, but second work pronunced as chuan, which mean Fist. Dunno where that "Gar" came from. And even in Fukanese or Cantonese, fist doesn't pronuance "gar"

 

Another thing, from the lineage chart, I see the founder of Tiger/Crane is Huang Fei Hong, or Won Fei Hong (in Cantonese), Jet Li play this character in a series of movies that got him famous in Asia. The movie title is Huang Fei hong, so you guys can rent it to watch if interest.

Edited January 20, 2005 by kzshin