# Kung Fu San Soo



## Ronnin (Jan 1, 2009)

Can someone tell me a bit about San Soo? Why isn't it as well known as many of the other styles? Is it a good art when it comes to real world application, or is it more like modern Shaolin? Thanks !


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 1, 2009)

All I can say is do a search by topic on San soo and you will find a lot here on MT

Also San Soo is pretty much nothing like modern Shaolin I would actually put it closer to police version of Sanda (not sport), but not the same, than I would to Shaolin

There are some San Soo people on MT that are pretty knowledgeable, hopefully they will respond.


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## Tames D (Jan 1, 2009)

Ronnin said:


> Can someone tell me a bit about San Soo? Why isn't it as well known as many of the other styles? Is it a good art when it comes to real world application, or is it more like modern Shaolin? Thanks !


San Soo is really just a "get down to business" effective fighting system incorporating punches, kicks, throws, leverages, gouges, biting, hair pulling etc. It's used for fighting offensively not defensively. Not that we run around starting fights but once it's established that there is no way around it, we fight offensively to end the confrontation as quickly as possible.

We have weapons training and forms but emty hand fighting is the bottom line.

Although San Soo is a Chinese art we use a belt ranking system as opposed to sash. There is a degree of controversy regarding this among traditional CMA fighters.

Why is San Soo not as well known as other styles? Your guess is as good as mine. Possibly because it's not very flashy or we don't have a school on every corner. I don't know. But I kind of like it being this way.

There are San Soo videos posted here on MT. I posted some a while back. Check em out and let me know if you have any questions.


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## Ronnin (Jan 1, 2009)

QUI-GON said:


> San Soo is really just a "get down to business" effective fighting system incorporating punches, kicks, throws, leverages, gouges, biting, hair pulling etc. It's used for fighting offensively not defensively. Not that we run around starting fights but once it's established that there is no way around it, we fight offensively to end the confrontation as quickly as possible.
> 
> We have weapons training and forms but emty hand fighting is the bottom line.
> 
> ...


I do have a few questions, I have a Japanese martial art background, there looks to be a lot of Karate, Jujitsu, and Taijutsu in here and they were a Karate uniform.......is this a traditional Chinese art? I did some research and I've found that most people place San Soo anywhere form 650ad to 900ad, where do the Karate uniforms come in ?


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## Tames D (Jan 1, 2009)

Ronnin said:


> I do have a few questions, I have a Japanese martial art background, there looks to be a lot of Karate, Jujitsu, and Taijutsu in here and they were a Karate uniform.......is this a traditional Chinese art? I did some research and I've found that most people place San Soo anywhere form 650ad to 900ad, where do the Karate uniforms come in ?


Kung Fu San Soo (actual name of the art is Tsoi LI Ho Fut Hung) was brought to the US from China sometime around 1935 by my original instructor Chin Siu Dek (he changed his name to Jimmy Woo when he arrived in the US). I really don't know how far back the art dates in history. I've heard various dates but never been interested enough to find out the truth

Jimmy always had his students wear "Karate" uniforms as long as I can remember and I began training in the mid 1970's. Some instructors and students do wear traditional Kung Fu uniforms. I think he did that as a marketing thing because the general American public was more familiar with Karate than Kung Fu when he first started teaching here. I will wear a traditional Kung Fu uniform on occasions but my experience has been that they don't hold up well with the training we do. I prefer a heavyweight gi or street clothes when I train.


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 2, 2009)

Ronnin

You already got one of the best people to answer your questions about San soo posting

I know little about San Soo but maybe this will give you a little of the historical background
http://www.answers.com/San Soo


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## oxy (Jan 2, 2009)

Xue Sheng said:


> Ronnin
> 
> You already got one of the best people to answer your questions about San soo posting
> 
> ...



Don't want to start anything. Probably has been noted many times before.

I just found it a bit disconcerting that all the "cited references" were from San Soo literature and nowhere else.

As a side note: answers.com lifts most of its material from Wikipedia so there's no accuracy to be gained from it...


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## kidswarrior (Jan 2, 2009)

oxy said:


> Don't want to start anything. Probably has been noted many times before.
> 
> I just found it a bit disconcerting that all the "cited references" were from San Soo literature and nowhere else.
> 
> As a side note: answers.com lifts most of its material from Wikipedia so there's no accuracy to be gained from it...


That just goes back to QUI-GON's point, that it's not a widely known art. More about effectiveness than creating wide appeal.

Again, as Xue Sheng suggested earlier, for anyone who truly wants to find out about San Soo I'd second his recommendation to do a search on MT. We've covered a lot of this in depth.


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## Xue Sheng (Jan 2, 2009)

oxy said:


> Don't want to start anything. Probably has been noted many times before.
> 
> I just found it a bit disconcerting that all the "cited references" were from San Soo literature and nowhere else.
> 
> As a side note: answers.com lifts most of its material from Wikipedia so there's no accuracy to be gained from it...


 

No problem

Actually Wikipedia is not accepted as a reference for a academic research but it is a lot more accurate than most give it credit, although I have found inaccuracies in it and a couple of those had references elsewhere but this is the stuff of another post.

As for San Soo, Like I said I know little but the 2 to go to on MT are QUI-GON and kidswarrior on all things San Soo don't take what I say on things San soo as anything much.

EDIT

I wanted to add if there were a San Soo school near me I would go check it out. From what I have seen I like its lack of flourish and direct approach.


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## kidswarrior (Jan 3, 2009)

Ronnin said:


> Can someone tell me a bit about San Soo? Why isn't it as well known as many of the other styles? Is it a good art when it comes to real world application, or is it more like modern Shaolin? Thanks !


Just saw your Ranger patches. :asian: 

While I knew some Ranger vets, don't have Army experience myself. But from what I do know, I'd bet some of the moves you learned could be found in San Soo...with a lot of other, similar moves, and a lot of explanation the service just doesn't have the time to include (if the other branches' training are anything like Navy ).


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## San Soo Sifu (Jan 19, 2009)

I wrote a brief article on the lineage of Kung-Fu San Soo a couple of years ago, right here on Martial Talk. You can find it here:

http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48695

Please keep in mind that a lot of the Chinese names used refer to the same person, but in different dialects. So, each person may appear to have three different names, but in reality it is the same person. I would have included the actual Chinese characters for each person's name, to avoid confusion; had I known at the time how to include universal code for Chinese characters.  (Hopefully, what I wrote is clearer than mud.)


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## kidswarrior (Jan 19, 2009)

San Soo Sifu said:


> I wrote a brief article on the lineage of Kung-Fu San Soo a couple of years ago, right here on Martial Talk. You can find it here:
> 
> http://www.martialtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48695
> 
> Please keep in mind that a lot of the Chinese names used refer to the same person, but in different dialects. So, each person may appear to have three different names, but in reality it is the same person. I would have included the actual Chinese characters for each person's name, to avoid confusion; had I known at the time how to include universal code for Chinese characters.  (Hopefully, what I wrote is clearer than mud.)


I remember the piece, and thought it very good.


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