Southern Dragon elements in wing chun

[Jens]

Basically, yes. Coiling, rising energy, but there's more to it than that.

I've got a whole set of notes in front of me dusted off so I'll just select some highlights. Under "Dragon": the sum faht of "soft within hard", the Tang Toe Earth movements of swallowing and spitting. The Five Animal Fist second section contains Southern Dragon Fist methods to "steal and leak itno the oppoent using coiling and twisting of the body, blocking and striking with the elements of earth, while invading the opponent's space". These are the same basic elements of Wing Chun. Short range striking, but also short range grappling.

Dragon has claws, unlike Snake and Crane. So, I often wonder, why do so many Wing Chun students forget they have 10 fingers. Always crossing arms, chopping, striking, punching. It's the truly advanced Wing Chun students who find the Dragon and start ripping. Ask Alan Orr.

The common thing between the bridge and mechanics is how the animals are described in Taoist/Buddhist literature, because that was the framework in which the style creators worked. None of it was by chance. Taoist and Buddhist imagery and concepts were the common language of the people who met and interacted and codified things, so when you read a lot of what's been written about the Ng+ Ying styles over the centuries, the techniques when described in writing are rich with symbolism that clarifies a lot.

This is what expands beyond just Hung Ga Kuen as a specific grouping. Let's consider Li Ga, and how Bak Mei surfaced, right down the road. Southern Dragon motifs all over these. Everywhere, really, because "Dragon" is how they referred to old, strong people back in the day in Canton.

It might not jump out but if you read Tang era poetry about dragons (I'm that big of a nerd), or scholarly research into Wing Chun, it starts to knit itself into a big pattern. These scholars below (from Cornell) wrote about the connections between Southern Dragon, Wing Chun, other family styles.

The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts: Judkins, Benjamin N., Nielson, Jon: 9781438456935: Amazon.com: Books

The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts [Judkins, Benjamin N., Nielson, Jon] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. The Creation of Wing Chun: A Social History of the Southern Chinese Martial Arts

www.amazon.com

Great insights into your perspective, thank you. Sounds like what you’re referring to are the core fundamental basics of all Hakka arts power generation methods

 

[Oily Dragon]

Great insights into your perspective, thank you. Sounds like what you’re referring to are the core fundamental basics of all Hakka arts power generation methods

I went through my copy of "The Creation of Wing Chun" and made some notes, I'll post them when I get a moment.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Interesting. Do you have any more info on the northern version? Would like to learn more about it.
Thanks!

It appears I was mistaken. I received this over 14 years ago from my sister-in-law in Beijing when she found out I did Xingyiquan, why she sent me a VCD of Yong Chun Quan, I don't know, but after that I was inundated with VCDs of Shaolin. But my wife saw the Yong Chun Quan VCD and said it is a Northern style. I just read all the notes on the back. The guy demonstrating the form is Peng Shusong and it is from Foshan. Sorry about the error. However the form is Xiao Lian Tou (Siu Lim Tao) and it is considerably longer than what comes from Ip Man

 

[Oily Dragon]

Conflicts between the Hakka and Cantonese speaking people between 1855 and 1867 (the Punti-Hakka Clan Wars) led to the intermixing of several older lineages into a handful.

"Out of necessity, the Hakka people developed Hakka Quan, Southern Praying Mantis, Bak Mei, and Dragon style, which share some important characteristics with Wing Chun".

 

[Oily Dragon]

A related technique from nearby Mount Luofu was Chu ka Shaolin, the Phoenix Eye Fist. Also mentioned as a peer style of Wing Chun, Dragon, and Bak Mei.

Lin He created the Lin Jia Institute in 1862. "First to learn from Shaolin, then from Huizhou" was his school motto. This school blended several Shi family boxing styles with older Luohan styles, and preserved elements of later styles such as "White Eyebrow and Dragon"

I love this technique, it's for ribbing people, literally. Dragon stylists and Crane Digging Method lovers will dig this.

 

[wckf92]

It appears I was mistaken. I received this over 14 years ago from my sister-in-law in Beijing when she found out I did Xingyiquan, why she sent me a VCD of Yong Chun Quan, I don't know, but after that I was inundated with VCDs of Shaolin. But my wife saw the Yong Chun Quan VCD and said it is a Northern style. I just read all the notes on the back. The guy demonstrating the form is Peng Shusong and it is from Foshan. Sorry about the error. However the form is Xiao Lian Tou (Siu Lim Tao) and it is considerably longer than what comes from Ip Man

No worries. Thanks man!