# Pardon my ignorance,



## Wey (Jun 15, 2009)

Can you wonderful people of MT just give me a brief explanation of some of the major styles of Chinese Martial arts, accompanied with your experiences/opinions on them? I've tried searching, but the results have been numerous threads filled with different jibberjabber I'm not looking for. I plan to study abroad/live in China and would like to practice a martial art that is practical. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.


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## Flying Crane (Jun 15, 2009)

it's really too broad a subject to approach like this.  A system that one person has experience with may not be available in your area, or the area in which you will be, so at best we would be speaking in vague hypotheticals.  

If you know that certain arts will be available for you to study, then people might be able to give you some focused and useful information.


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## JadecloudAlchemist (Jun 15, 2009)

This is a list that is not totally complete but if you do not know much about Chinese arts it is enough to handle for now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_martial_arts

After looking at the list it might let you inquire more about a certain style on Martial talk.

HAPPY HUNTING.


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## Xue Sheng (Jun 15, 2009)

Wey said:


> Can you wonderful people of MT just give me a brief explanation of some of the major styles of Chinese Martial arts, accompanied with your experiences/opinions on them? I've tried searching, but the results have been numerous threads filled with different jibberjabber I'm not looking for. I plan to study abroad/live in China and would like to practice a martial art that is practical. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.


 
Do you speak any dialect of Chinese?

What part of China?

How long do you plan on being there?

They are all practical if you find a real sifu, but they take time to learn



Flying Crane said:


> it's really too broad a subject to approach like this. A system that one person has experience with may not be available in your area, or the area in which you will be, so at best we would be speaking in vague hypotheticals.
> 
> If you know that certain arts will be available for you to study, then people might be able to give you some focused and useful information.


 
Agreed 



JadecloudAlchemist said:


> This is a list that is not totally complete but if you do not know much about Chinese arts it is enough to handle for now.
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Chinese_martial_arts
> 
> After looking at the list it might let you inquire more about a certain style on Martial talk.
> ...


 
HEY!!! That's my link 

Agreed


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## ggg214 (Jun 15, 2009)

where will you stay in China? if shanghai, i can give you some clues.
what do you want to learn?
can you speak mandarin?
do you want to attend a class or gain the tradditional training?
.....
there are so many questions before we can give you any idea.


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## Wey (Jun 15, 2009)

Thank you all for your responses. I'm learning Mandarin Chinese right now, I'm not sure what province I'll be studying/living in though. I read some of the information from that link, but can anyone give me any personal accounts of:

The Five Animals
Southern Mantis
Northern Mantis
Fu Jow Pai

Thank you for your help!


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## Xue Sheng (Jun 16, 2009)

Wey said:


> Thank you all for your responses. I'm learning Mandarin Chinese right now, I'm not sure what province I'll be studying/living in though. I read some of the information from that link, but can anyone give me any personal accounts of:
> 
> The Five Animals
> Southern Mantis
> ...


 
I cannot give you any info but there are practitioners of Southern Mantis, Northern Mantis and Fu Jow Pai on MT

The only additional info I can give you is that Southern Mantis and Northern Mantis are rather different and one of the most impressive MAist I ever sparred (that kicked my butt) was Southern Mantis

Also although Mandarin is pretty much spoken throughout China these days some of the older people (greater than 60) do not speak it, they speak there own dialect. And some of these MA sifus are older people. So it is a possibility that if you learn Mandarin and go to Guangzhou, Hong Kong or anywhere else in South China you may not be able to speak to them. Cantonese (Hong Kong and Guangzhou) is rather different from Mandarin


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## clfsean (Jun 18, 2009)

Wey said:


> Thank you all for your responses. I'm learning Mandarin Chinese right now, I'm not sure what province I'll be studying/living in though. I read some of the information from that link, but can anyone give me any personal accounts of:
> 
> The Five Animals
> Southern Mantis
> ...



You listed a school in Cartersville. Are you at that school?


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## Wey (Jun 18, 2009)

There isn't a school in Cartersville, as far as I know.


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## clfsean (Jun 18, 2009)

Wey said:


> There isn't a school in Cartersville, as far as I know.



http://www.purpledragonga.com/pddirect/index.html

Ok... nevermind


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## Wey (Jun 18, 2009)

Purple Dragon is a mix, not strictly Kung Fu.


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## clfsean (Jun 18, 2009)

Wey said:


> Purple Dragon is a mix, not strictly Kung Fu.



Where'd that come from? I asked if you were at that school is all.


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## Tensei85 (Jun 23, 2009)

Wey said:


> Purple Dragon is a mix, not strictly Kung Fu.



Actually I don't think its advertising CMA on any part of its website, it seems pretty legit however.

Karate & Ju-jitsu is a pretty good mix, but I can understand if your just looking for CMA in general.


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## Tensei85 (Jun 23, 2009)

As for your list I can only give you an explanation of Northern Mantis, not that I don't know anything about the others. But I'm better off leaving you with better skilled & knowledgeable practitioners for the other arts.

As far as Northern Mantis: link  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Praying_Mantis_(martial_art)


My own take on Northern Mantis from my experience via (7 Star Praying Mantis)

Is it has a lot of fast techniques, with emphasis on joint locking and tie-ing  the opponent up by mixing techniques from high-low and right-left alternations. It also has an emphasis on whats called the gong & yao concepts. Meaning hard-soft, it uses soft to counter hard and hard to decimate the opponent. 

Also of use is the training of seung kua or of sinking the hips, this is to create distance form the opponent when in close range.

Generally the Northern Mantis system is a close range style but has a lot of tools for long distance. Especially with whats taken from Chang Quan. (note not modern chang quan) 

The Qigong routine that is commonly used is called the Shi Ba Luo Han Qi Gong. Which consists as titled 18 sections. Each section has two parts moving qi gong and whats known as San Gong. Which is the static posture for releasing the energy.

There are generally 88 known forms in the 7 star praying mantis system but a lot of Sifu's have added more and some have taken out quite a few as well.

But Wong Long himself was known to have created 3 forms and everything after that was added from other systems or Masters.

That's pretty much a brief low down on Northern Mantis again I can only speak for Chat Sing Tong Long (xi xing tong long) not any other lineage or style.

Hope this helps


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## clfsean (Jun 23, 2009)

Tensei85 said:


> Actually I don't think its advertising CMA on any part of its website, it seems pretty legit however.
> 
> Karate & Ju-jitsu is a pretty good mix, but I can understand if your just looking for CMA in general.



I was gonna offer to get together & answer questions if they were out of the school I referenced since it's up the road from me, but dang...


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## Tensei85 (Jun 23, 2009)

clfsean said:


> I was gonna offer to get together & answer questions if they were out of the school I referenced since it's up the road from me, but dang...




Lol, my sincerest apologies. :ultracool


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## Wey (Jul 17, 2009)

clfsean said:


> Where'd that come from? I asked if you were at that school is all.



Yes, I do currently train at Purple Dragon. Sorry for the confusion


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