How Many Kung Fu Styles Have You Heard of ?

[LanJie]

121. SPLITTING AND HOOKING FIST: PI GUA CHUAN. Legend has it, that this style was creted by Zuo Baohai, a Shaolin. Some believe that it was created by Li Linbiao of the Hebei Province. It is believed that this style has existed since the Ming Dyansty. Towards the end of the Qing Dynasty, Pan Wenxu was known to have taught this style.

 

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122. SPRINGY LEG STYLE: TANTUIMEN. One legend believes that Tantuimen originated from the Longtan Temple in Shandong Province. This style utilizes powerful, spring like kicks, thereby , the style was known as Tantui. Tan from Longtanand tui for its kicks. Another legend believes that it originated from the Tan Family Village in Henan Province.
Tantuimen is popular among the Hui ethnic Chinese. Tantui training has also been adopted into the foundations training in many other Northern styles. It is believed that originally there were only ten Tantui routines. Later, two more were added to the original ten and became twelve routines. Tantuimen also has a weapon routine known as Liuhe Single Saber (Shou 448).

 

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123. STURDY CITIZEN FIST: KIN MON KUEN. This system can be traced back to the Northern Honan Shaolin Temple. Around the turn of the Twentieth century a Shaolin Monk Leong Sil Jong. The Monk had studied at Shaolin for over 50 years and studied the Choy family system. He then left the temple and moved to Woung-Nam province. There he met a nobleman who asked to train his frail son, Hue Lung Gong in exchange for building him a school, Leong agreed.
Hue studied with his master for ten years until he died. When Leong died Hue took over the school. Leong had a newphew , Leong Tin Chee. Tin Chee had been studying Hung gar and when he heard that his uncle had left the Shaolin temple to teach on his own he sought him out.
Hue then taught Leong Tin Chee the Choy Gar system. Leong Tin Chee combined Choy Gar and Hung Gar. In 1928 when China established the National Central Kuo-Shu Tournament and Examination to find the best masters for instructors for the Chinese military Leong Tin Chee won the sparring competition and placed third overall. He was 52 years old at the time. Leong died at the age of 95.
One of Leong’s students Wong Tim Yuen studied with his master for ten years and then took the art to America.
Wong established the Sturdy Citizen Club or Kin Mon in the 1970s in San Francisco and he died in 2002. http://www.kinmon.org/history/index.html

 

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124. SUN BIN’S STYLE OR SYSTEM: SUNBINQUAN. Legend has it, that this style was created by Sun Bin during the Spring-Autumn and Warring Kingdoms era. Sun Bin ws the descendent of Sun Wu, the greatest military strategist in ancient China. Sun Wu, also known as Sunzi, wrote the Sunzi’s Art of War or Sunzi Binfa, Sunzi Binfa consists of thirteen chapters. It is considered one of the greatest military strategy books in the world.

 

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125. THEORY FIST or SCHOLAR TEXTBOOK STYLE: WEN JING QUAN.
According to legend, this style arose from refugees of the Song dynasty who fled Genghis Khan and the ensuing rule of the Mongolian yuan Dynasty. These people changed their name to Zhao and hid in the mountains. The founder of the style, known only as Zhao, learned meditation from a Taoist mountain hermit, then combined his teachings with laohongquan. Duirng the reign of Qianlong in the Qing dynasty, a governor and master of this style named yang Si hai fell victim to political intrique and was banished to Tibet.
One student named Du Hong Quan followed him, and when he returned , he popularized this style, so it is sometimes known as Du Jia Quan. It is also popular as a practice for old people so it has a third name - Chan Tso Quan (longevity fist). This style is based on the theories of yin and yang, five animals and wen wu (scholar warrior). The wen aspect of practice is quiet and still, while the wu aspect is changing active. It emphasizes both soft and hard techniques and has many partner drills. It is popular in Jinan in Shandong province and Jiangsu province (Burr 37).

 

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126. THROUGH THE BACK SYSTEM: TONGBEIQUAN. Legend has it, that this style was created by the Taoist Biyuan Daoren in Sichuan Emei Moutain during the Spring-Autmn and Warring Kingdom era (770-221 B.C.). Its movements resemble the swinging arms of the ape. Tongbei literally means connected arms, implying that the arms are very integrated in its movements.

Tongbeiquan mimics the fighting characteristics of the ape. It utilizes long range strikes; generates power with the assistance of rounding the back and arcing the chest; and uses the swinging and shaking of the arms and hands in its applications. Both arms alternate in splitting movements (Shou 449).

 

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127. THROUGH THE BACK SYSTEM CHI STYLE: CHI TONGBEIQUAN
Chi Family Tongbei is one of the oldest forms of TongBei we know. In mid-Ching times it was taught by Lu YunChing to Chi Hsin. From this we have the Chi family branch which is taught in Hebei Province. for a serious situation.

 

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128. Through the back system hong dong branch: Hong dong tong bei:

 

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129. THROUGH THE BACK SYSTEM FIVE ELEMENT TAI CHI BRANCH: TAI CHI TONG BEI:
Tai Chi 5 Elements Tonbei Fist was organized at the end of Qing Dynasty & establishment of Republic of China, about 100 years ago, by master Ce Chuang. Tong Bai itself is a very old style with a complex history, appearing and disappearing from the martial scene over the centuries. At one time it was considered one of the best styles in WuShu.

 

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130. THROUGH THE BACK SYSTEM SHAOLIN EIGHT STEP LINKED BOXING: TONG BEI SHAOLIN BA BU LIN CHUAN

Passed on to lay people from Songshan Shaolin Temple and this is very popular among kungfu players. It can be played by one person or in a group fighting against each other. This form contains the Shaolin signatures of strong, clean movement with a firm heart. It is an inheritance of the TongBei system. The moves are simple and explained thoroughly in the tape. The form is short but with many changes.There are eight steps, seven techniques, three palm actions, four leg moves, two chin nah tricks, and other postures. It includes all the four combat techniques: kicking, beating, throwing and snatching. This disc introduces practice methods of the Shaolin Boxing, basic exercises and techniques for every movement and posture of Shaolin Eight-step Linked Boxing.

 

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131. THROUGH THE BACK SYSTEM WHITE APE BRANCH: TONG BEI BAK YUEN CHUAN. According to history in the Spring and Autumn time (around 500 b.c.e), there was a famous martial artist named Yuan Gong. He was old with white hair and white beard and always wore white clothes. One day he challenged a female master, known as Yueh Nu, and lost the match.
Legend says he became a white ape and ran off into the forest. Martial Artists have claimed him as the creator of present day Tong Bei using, as proof, the fact that
there is an ape with unusually long arms known as the Tong Bei Yuan (Through Back Ape).

 

[LanJie]

132. THROW HORN: SHUAI JAIO. Shuai Jiao traces its roots to a primordial combat style called Jiao Di meaning horn hit, attributed to the mythic Yellow Emperor Huangdi.
Ancient books and drawing document wrestlers wearing helmets with horns during contests, which is the origin of the horn in the name. Over the dynasties, this style underwent multiple name changes and variations, but the spirit remained the same, so it can justifiably stake a claim as one of the oldest styles of kung fu.
Renowned for their expertise in this wrestling art, Mongolians will hold contests as part of their cultural festivals. In 1928, under the Republic of China, the Guoshu Institute of Nanjing standardized these contest under the name Shuai Jiao. Today, it has gained worldwide acceptance as a popular combat sport and an effective method of self-defense (Burr 27).

 

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133. TIGER FIST: HU QUAN. This Southern style originated in Yongfu city int Fujian province during the reign of Qing dynasty Emperor Qianlong. Its founder was named Li Yuan chiu, who studied kungfu as a child, but then imitated tigers to add to his training.
Originally, it had two forms
Muquan: Mother or Primary Fist
ZidiluQuan: Claw First Form

 

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134. TIGER FIST: HUXINGQUAN. This is one of the imitations type Southern Styles. It imitates the tiger’s characteristics in its movements. It was created by Xhou Zihe of Fujian Province. It focuses on short range applications emphasizing the strength of the fingers or the claws. Some of the known routines:
Sanzhan
Si Men (4 Doors)
Wufei
Bagua (8 Triagrams)
Qixing (Seven Stars)
Xia Shan Hu (The Upper Mountain Tiger)
Yibailinbashi

 

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135. TIGER CLAW STYSTEM: FU JOW PAI. A Southern Kung fu system. It is believed that this system originated at the Hunan Shaolin Temple in 500A.D. and was called Hark Fu Moon (The Black Tiger System). (Duran 45).

 

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136. Tiger eight trigram: Hu xing ba gua quan

 

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137. TIGHT EIGHT HANDS: JINBASHOU. This was a popular style during the middle of the Qing Dynasty around the Hubei Province. The Known training includes eight routines, sixteen kicking methods, and eight punching methods (Shou 410).

 

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138. TONG FAMILY FIST: TONG QUAN. The Chinese Tong minority in Guanxi province cites a recorded history of this style as far back as the Ming Dynasty. It reemerged in popularity in 1942 when Yang Zhao Yin from Hunan made improvements upon the style aby adding Zhao Jia Quan and Xing Yi Quan into the curriculum. The character of this style is speed and strength, emphasizing hand over leg techniques. It is a close combat style of fighting with a wide range of variety in application. It is most famous for its effectiveness in fighting within the small courtyards typical of Chinese architecture. Stance work and footwork are heavily practiced, as well as a regimen of self-striking and jabbing fingers into rice, not unlike iron shirt or iron palm (Burr 37).

 

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139. TURNING BODY FIST: FANZIQUAN. This is a Northern Style. It was recorded as Bashanfan during the Ming Dynasty(1368-1644) by General Qi Jiguang. Its movements are described as “Two fists are fast like the falling rain drops, and fast like a snapping whip”. Fanziquan routines are usually short and fast.

 

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140. TWO MAN GATE: ER LANG MEN. The actual origin of this style is unknown but it first appears at he end of the Qing dynasty. A Buddhist fighter named Tsu Li learned it from a master nicknamed Fei Jiao Wang (Flying Leg King). That master’s real name has been forgotten. Mastr Tsu, however, claimed to be the eighth generation inheritor of this style.