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Southern
Chinese Kung Fu -
Hung
Gar Kuen
The
name of the style literaly means Hung Family Fist in Cantonese. It's
probably one of the most popular and best known kung fu styles in the
world. This is of course for a part due to the legendary 'Wong Fei
Hung', about whom there are more than 100 kung fu films made. 'Wong
Fei Hung' was born in the end of the 19th century, and became a
legend in the first part of the 20th century, during the boxer
rebellions in China. He created the most famous of all Hung Gar forms;
the 'Tiger & Crane' form. But before we tell you more about 'Wong
Fei Hung', let's first start with the history and development of
Hung Gar Kuen.
History :
Hung
Gar Kuen is one of the original styles that came from the southern
Shaolin ('Siu Lum' in Cantonese) temple in Fukien after its
destruction by Manchurian troops in the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911). Its
founder was a Shaolin disciple named 'Hung Hei Goon', a student
of the famous last abbot of the southern Shaolin temple 'Gee Shan
Sin Si'.
'Gee
Shan Sin Si' was
famous as a kung fu master because he helped create the '36
chambers of Shaolin', the '18 wooden Luohan dummies', and
was the teacher of many monks and famous fighters such as 'Fong Sai
Yuk', 'Luk Ah Choy', and 'Ma Ling Yee'.
 While
'Hung Hei Goon' was completing his training at Shaolin, the
Qing army had found out about the rebel's (that's how they regarded
the Shaolin monks) secret base and planned a full scale attack on the
temple. The Qings knew about the high level of fighting skill of the
monks, so they were hesitant in attacking, until they found their
advantage in a traitor, named 'Ma Ling Yee'. He was a former
monk who resented his difficult training at the temple, and decided to
seek revenge by helping the Qings, and telling them of the temple's
secret escape tunnels. Some sources claim that it was actually 'Bak
Mei', (famous for the white eyebrow style), and not 'Ma Ling
Yee', that was a treacherous monk. Other sources claims that they
were actually the same person with one real name, and one nickname.
When the manchurians destroyed the temple, the famous fighters 'Hung
Hei Goon', 'Luk Ah Choy', 'Gee Shan Sin Si', and
others , and others escaped.
However
the manchurian 'Bak Mei' continued his pursuit for years, and
finally killed 'Fong Sai Yuk', 'Gee Shan Sin Si', and
others.
Years
before this all took place, 'Hung Hei Goon' had married a girl
named 'Fong Wing Chun', and they had a son named 'Hung Man
Ting'. 'Hung Hei Goon' was an expert in kung fu, along with
his wife and son, but he only specialized in the powerful 'tiger'
techniques (Because of this Hung Gar stylists often use their left
hand as a tiger's claw while greeting.), while his wife specialized in
the elegant 'crane' techniques. 'Hung Hei Goon' was very
powerful, and reportedly had killed a man with one punch, but when he
fought 'Bak Mei', no matter how many times he hit him, he
couldn't hurt him. This was because of 'Bak Mei's skill in the
'Iron Shirt Qi Gong'. Eventually 'Bak Mei' killed 'Hung
Hei Goon' in addition to the other fugitives from Shaolin, making
his revenge complete.
Now,
'Hung Man Ting' knew that in order to avenge his father and
kill 'Bak Mei', he would have to combine the techniques of his
parents, and so kill 'Bak Mei'. When the encounter finally
occured, 'Hung Man Ting' was able to win, getting around his 'Iron
Shirt' defense, and killing him with a 'crane's beak'
attack.
It
was mainly 'Luk Ah Choy' (student of 'Gee Shan Sin Si'
and 'Hung Hei Goon'), and 'Hung Man Ting' that were able
to carry on the teaching of the Southern Shaolin Kungfu. They were
still fugitives, and Shaolin was still associated with the rebels, so
they had to go underground, and disguise their kung fu. That's why
they called it 'Hung Kuen' (Hung Fist). Nowadays, it's known
as Hung Gar Kuen, (Hung family fist), and goes alongside the other
famous family styles of the south such as Lau Gar, Mok Gar, Choy Gar,
Fut Gar, and Li Gar.
The
tradition carried on from master to student from 'Luk Ah Choy',
to 'Wong Tai', to 'Wong Kay Ying' and his famous son, 'Wong
Fei Hung'.
 'Wong
Kay Ying' and 'Wong
Fei Hung' became two of the famous "Ten Tigers of
Guangdong", a group of the top ten kung fu masters in Guangdong
province. Another master from the 'ten tigers' was 'Tiet Kiu
Sam', whose real name was 'Leung Kwan'. He was also a Hung
Gar master, whose master, 'Kwok Yan Sin Si', had also learned
at the Southern Shaolin Temple under 'Gee Shan Sin Si'. 'Tiet
Kiu Sam's top student, 'Lam Fook Shing' also played an
important role in Hung Gar history, because he taught 'Wong Fei
Hung' the internal energy form 'Tiet Sien Kuen' (Iron Wire
Form), when he was young. . 'Wong Fei Hung' also learned
traditional Chinese medicine from his father. Both had earned
excellent reputations for their medicine and martial arts.. There were
many adventures that 'Wong Fei Hung' was involved in, from
training the military and being the leader of the Canton militia. One
of those was a famous fight on the docks of Hong Kong where he was
attacked by the dockyard workers. The story goes that he fought over a
hundred men some armed with sticks and metal hooks. He was armed with
a long staff, and had to fight and run to save his life. 'Wong Fei
Hung' also had several wives and children. Sadly the first 3 wives
all died of illnesses, and his eldest son, 'Wong Hon Sum', was
killed by gangsters in the streets of Hong Kong. After this tragedy,
he refused to teach any of his children martial arts, for fear that
evil people would try to get to him through his children.
'Wong
Fei Hung's
fourth wife was 'Mok Gwai Lan', a master of 'Mok Gar'
kung fu, another southern Chinese style. The story of their meeting is
rather ironic, because 'Wong Fei Hung' and his students were
performing a lion dance and kung fu demontstration, when his shoe
accidentally came off and struck 'Mok Gwai Lan' in the face.
Despite 'Wong Fei Hung's attempts to apologize, she slapped him..
'Wong Fei Hung' fell in love with her, and later married her,
and had children with her. 'Mok Gwai Lan' was responsible for
the women's kung fu and gynecology at her husband's school and clinic,
'Po Chi Lum'. Later on in life, at age 87, she gave a powerful
performance of the 'Fu Hok Seung Ying' form, on HKTV, showing
her high level of skill, and the benefits of good training.
'Wong
Fei Hung' had
thousands of students learning martial arts from him. Two of the most
famous masters were 'Lam Sai Wing' and 'Tang Fung'. 'Lam
Sai Wing' was a pork butcher from Canton. He was trained in many
styles of martial arts, (many people believe he was trained in 'Lau
Gar' kung fu and 'Choy Lay Fut' kung fu), and decided to
challenge 'Wong Fei Hung' in a fight. Even though 'Lam Sai
Wing' was a good fighter, he was defeated by 'Wong Fei Hung's
famous 'Mo Ying Guek' (no shadow kick), which was called like
that because it was so fast that one said it had no shadow. After
seeing 'Wong Fei Hung's high level of skill, he asked 'Wong
Fei Hung' to teach him his style of kung fu. 'Lam Sai Wing'
achieved a very high level of skill in Hung Gar and had many famous
students including 'Chan Hon Chung', 'Wong Lee', 'Jee
Yu Jai', 'Lum Jo', and others. 'Lam Sai Wing' was
also trained in medicine and passed his art down to 'Chan Hon Chung'.
He also added the 'Lau Gar' kung fu forms, and numerous weapons
to the Hung Gar kung fu.
'Tang
Fung' was
another student of 'Wong Fei Hung'. Together with 'Lam Sai
Wing' and a few other kung fu people, he had taken a job as a
security force for a Chinese Opera company in Canton that was
continually being robbed by gangsters. When the gangsters arrived,
there was a huge fight. The kung fu masters were locked inside the
theatre with a few of the gangsters, while the other criminals got
reinforcements and set the building on fire. 'Wong Fei Hung's
students managed to break out of the building, but were severely
outnumberred and almost unarmed. 'Lam Sai Wing' unrooted a
small tree to use as a staff for fighting their attackers. After they
escaped, they decided to keep a low profile, with 'Tang Fung'
moving to Singapore, and 'Lam Sai Wing' moving to Hong Kong.
Nowadays
Hung Gar kung fu has spread around the world, with thousends of
followers, making it one of the most popular kung fu systems in the
world.
Kung Fu :
Like
in every kung fu style, the first and most important aspect a student
will learn are the basic stances ('Ma Poh Fan Kai' in Cantonese):
(Click
on the pictures to enlarge...)
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Pai Tjoek Ma |
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Zee Ping Ma |
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Pad Chi Tai Ma |
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Ting Chi Ma |
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Tieuw Kug Ma |
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Chi Ng Ma |
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Kauw Ma |
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Kwai Ma |
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Poc Tooi |
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Tan Kug Ma |
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Fist Forms :
The
first forms (called Kuen-Toh in Cantonese) a student will learn, when
studying the Hung Gar system, are usually the long greeting and the
first square, and then the second square (Sap Chie Kuen Toh). Then
there are lots of other forms to be studied in this system, like :
Gung Ji Fook Fu Kuen (taming the tiger form)
Fu Hok Sueng Ying Kuen (tiger and crane form)
Tiet Sin Kuen (iron wire form)
Mui Fa Kuen (plum blossom form)
Lau Gar Kuen (Lau family form)
Deep Jeung (butterfly palm)
Muk Yan Jong (wooden dummy form)
Sup Ying Kuen (five animals, five elements form)
Da Mo Yit Gung Ging (Bodhidharma muscle changing classic)
Siu Lum Yut Jie Sin (Shaolin one finger zen)
Gum Gong Yu Ga (Gum Gong Yoga)
(Click
on the pictures to see the forms...)
The 'Tiger
& Crane' form, as created by 'Wong Fei Hung' :
´Tit
Sin Kuen´ :
´Gun Ji´
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Weapon Forms :
Hao Jie Kwun
or Chai Mei Kwun (monkey king staff or eyebrow height staff)
Lau Gar Pang (Lau family single headed staff, a.k.a. rat tail staff)
Pek Kua Do (cutting the trap broadsword)
Ng Long Pa Kua Kwun (fifth son's eight trigrams staff)
Hang Yuet Seung Do (moon flowing double broadsword)
Seung Long Do (double dragon broadsword)
Wu Diep Do (butterfly knives)
See Gar Cheung (See family spear)
Chun Choy Dai Do (spring and autumn big knife, a.k.a. General Kwan's
halberd)
Kwan Lun Gim (kunlun mountain straight sword)
Yu Gar Dai Pa (Yu family tiger fork)
Cho Tao (hoe)
Fu Tao Seung Ngao (tiger hooks)
Luen Fa Bo Dang (lotus flower wooden bench)
Gau Jie Bien (nine section whip)
Seung Gau Jie Bien (double nine section whip)
Ng Jie Bien (five section whip)
Seung Ng Jie Bien (double five section whip)
Tiet Sien (iron fan)
Tong Siew (bronze flute)
Gee Sau (dagger)
 Sparring
Forms :
Gung Jie Fook Fu
Doy Dar (gung
jie fook fu sparring form)
Fu Hok Doy Dar (fu hok sparring form)
Ng Long Pa Kua Kwun vs Ng Long Pa Kua Kwun (ng long pa kua kwun
sparring form)
Do and Tung Pai vs Cheung (broadsword and Rattan shield vs Spear
sparring form)
Wu Diep Do vs Chueng (butterfly knives vs spear sparring form)
Dan Do vs Chueng (single broadsword vs spear sparring form)
Chai Mei Kwun vs Chai Mei Kwun (eyebrow height staff sparring form)
Chai Mei Kwun vs Dang (eyebrow height staff vs wooden bench sparring
form)
Gim vs Gim (straightsword sparring form)
(Click on the Pictures to enlarge...)
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