Wong Fei-hung was a Chinese martial artist, physician, and folk hero. His recent fame was due to becoming the protagonist of numerous martial arts films and television series. Even though he was considered an expert in the Hung Ga style of Chinese martial arts, his real public fame was as a physician who practiced and taught acupuncture, Dit Da and other forms of traditional Chinese medicine in the now famous Po Chi Lam, a medical clinic in Canton (Guangzhou), Guangdong Province. A museum dedicated to him was built in his birthplace in Foshan, Guangdong.
Shaolin kung fu, also called Shaolin Wushu, or Shaolin quan, is one of the oldest, largest, and most famous styles of wushu, or kung fu of Chan Buddhism. It combines Chan philosophy and martial arts. It was developed in the Shaolin Temple in Henan province, Greater China during its 1500-year history. Popular sayings in Chinese folklore related to this practice include "All martial arts under heaven originated from Shaolin" and "Shaolin kung fu is the best under heaven," indicating the influence of Shaolin kung fu among martial arts. The name Shaolin is also used as a brand for the so-called external styles of kung fu. Many styles in southern and northern China use the name Shaolin.
Hung Ga (洪家), Hung Kuen (洪拳), or Hung Ga Kuen (洪家拳) is a southern Chinese martial art belonging to the southern Shaolin styles. The hallmarks of Hung Ga are strong stances, notably the horse stance, or "si ping ma" (四平馬), and strong hand techniques, notably the bridge hand and the versatile tiger claw. Traditionally, students spent anywhere from several months to three years in stance training, often sitting only in horse stance from half an hour to several hours at a time, before learning any forms. Each form could then take a year or so to learn, with weapons learned last. In current times, this mode of instruction is generally considered impractical for students, who have other concerns beyond practicing kung fu. However, some instructors still follow traditional guidelines and make stance training the majority of their beginner training. Hung Ga is sometimes mischaracterized as solely external—that is, reliant on brute physical force rather than the cultivation of qi—even though the student advances progressively toward an internal focus.
Northern Praying Mantis is a style of Chinese martial arts, sometimes called Shandong Praying Mantis after its province of origin. It was created by Wang Lang (王朗) and was named after the praying mantis, an insect, the aggressiveness of which inspired the style. One Mantis legend places the creation of the style during the Song dynasty when Wang Lang was supposedly one of 18 masters gathered by the Abbot Fu Ju (福居), a legendary persona of the historical Abbot Fu Yu, to improve Shaolin martial arts. However, most legends place Wang Lang in the late Ming dynasty.
Wong Kei-ying or Huang Qiying was a Chinese Hung Ga martial artist and physician of Cantonese ethnicity, who lived during the Qing dynasty. He was one of the Ten Tigers of Canton and was best known for his use of the Tiger Crane Paired Form Fist skill set. His son, Wong Fei-hung, who inherited his martial arts and medical skills, is commonly portrayed as a folk hero in Chinese popular culture.
Southern Praying Mantis is a Chinese martial art originating with the Hakka people. It is most closely associated with Hakka-origin styles such as Southern Dragon Kung Fu and Bak Mei.
In its broadest sense, Northern Shaolin is the external martial arts of Northern China, referring to those styles from the Northern Shaolin Monastery in Henan and specifically to the style practice by Gù Rǔzhāng, the Sōngshān Shí Lù Shàolínquán (嵩山十路少林拳) / Song Mountain Ten Road Shaolin Boxing.
Nanquan refers to a classification of Chinese martial arts that originated in Southern China.
Jow Ga kung fu is a form of Chinese martial art. It was founded by Jow Lung who was born in 1891, on the eleventh day of the third lunar month in Sa Fu Village of the Guangdong province, and died in 1919. His father was Jow Fong Hoy and his mother’s maiden name was Li. At the time of its inception, this particular style of kung fu was labeled as having the head of Hung Gar, the tail of Choy Gar and the patterns of the tiger and leopard, or simply Hung Tao Choy Mei. It was so labeled because the essential techniques incorporated the muscular and mighty movements of Hung Gar and the swift footwork and complex kicking of Choy Gar, making it a very effective form of self defense with emphasis on simultaneous attack and defense.
Lam Sai-wing was a Hung Gar martial artist. He was a student of the Chinese martial artist, acupuncturer and folk hero of Cantonese ethnicity, Wong Fei-hung.
Fut Ga Kuen or Buddhist Family Fist is a relatively modern Southern Shaolin style of Kung Fu devised primarily from the combination of Hung Ga Kuen 洪家 and Choy Gar 蔡家 Kuen. The style utilizes mostly punches, palm strikes and low kicks, further characterized by evasive footwork, circular blocks and using the opponent's force against them.
Ten Tigers from Kwangtung is a 1980 Hong Kong martial arts film directed by Chang Cheh and produced by Mona Fong. It is one of Chang Cheh's tales of Shaolin's historic rivalries with the Qing dynasty and the Canton Tigers. Along with the Brave Archer series, Ten Tigers had an all-star cast of Shaw martial artists.
Fu Jow Pai, originally named "Hark Fu Moon" is a Chinese martial art that has its origins in Hoy Hong Temple out of Tiger techniques of Five Animal Kung Fu, Ng Ying Kungfu. The system "was modeled after the demeanor and fighting strategy of an attacking tiger. Techniques unique to Fu-Jow Pai are ripping, tearing, clawing and grasping applications."
So Chan, also known by his nickname Beggar So, was a Chinese martial artist and folk hero who lived during the late Qing dynasty. One of the Ten Tigers of Canton, he was best known for his drunken boxing.
Choy Lee Fut is a Chinese martial art and wushu style, founded in 1836 by Chan Heung (陳享). Choy Li Fut was named to honor the Buddhist monk Choy Fook who taught him Choy Gar, and Li Yau-san (李友山) who taught him Li Gar, plus his uncle Chan Yuen-wu (陳遠護), who taught him Hung Kuen, and developed to honor the Buddha and the Shaolin roots of the system.
Chan Heung was the founder of the Choy Li Fut martial arts system.
Chan Kowk-wai was born on April 3, 1936, at Taishan in the province of Guangdong, China. He introduced traditional Shaolin kung fu to Brazil through the China-Brazil Kung Fu Academy. His disciples have spread as far as the USA, Canada, Spain, Argentina and the Czech Republic.
Lam Cho was the Hung Ga Grandmaster and Dit Da practitioner of the Lam Family Hung Ga lineage. He was noted to be the last martial arts Grandmaster who lived during the times of well-known martial artists Wong Fei-hung and Lam Sai-wing, his adoptive uncle.
Tàizǔquán is a style of Chinese martial arts whose name refers to Emperor Tàizǔ of Sòng, the founder of the Sòng dynasty.
