Overseas Chinese Fighting Art

Posted by thanquyen, no comments

Chinese martial art has many families some of which from the mainland China might have been altered totally during the revolution. The changes made reduced the effectiveness of these arts fighting applications, and the only styles of the southern Kungfu that I consider true to its traditional form are the Five Ancestors system (Wu Zhu Quan), and Hung Gar. In past few recent decades, Chinese Kungfu became largely successful in the Western world, and people here have no clue or idea what is the difference between practical kungfu and flowery kungfu (which greatly contributed to Kungfu’s popularity). As a 45-year master of the art who studied early on in my familys’ style (Hainan Southern Hung Gar), I learned how to spot what is fake and what is a modified system no matter where the style comes from. The art of Kungfu can be performed solo or in groups (form sparring, free sparring). Kungfu is generally organized by several different systems and is taught by different families (Jia 家), styles (Pai 派), or schools (Tang 堂). For instance, the Chinese martial art from Sandong performed by masters that I had seen was very different then nowadays; even Hung Gar, which is performed in most places on special occasions, are heavily modified beyond their original style. When large overseas Chinese populations fled their home countries (like the Tangren and the Mingxian), they took with them the knowledge of many traditional styles that are not recognized as traditional by modern Chinese kung fu, governed by the association created in China in 1949 (during the Cultural Revolution). For instance, the White Lotus Secret Society may have been one of five branches of the Heaven Earth Society which formed at the Shaolin Monastery among Ming loyalists. This is related to Wu Zhu Quan, which is also related to the Five Buddha Kings photo which highlights Master Guan. The White Lotus Society is credited as forming the organizations known later on as the Triads. Originally, the Triads were martial soldiers but they switched to organized crime when the battlefield no longer needed their expertise.

For a Chinese martial art to be called a traditional martial art (kungfu), it must have some martial art elements like precise movements of hand-strikes, clear footwork, stances, realistic kicks, and good breathing in rhythm of the moves. It should not have running and jumping around like the performance martial art found in “Wushu Kungfu,” which is improvised in gymnastic steps, or having the Ballet-like moves modified into Chinese modern art. Than Vo Dao is a style of martial art with its roots in traditional Chinese – Vietnamese Kungfu culture which has never been altered by the Chinese government for political censorship, or any creative martial art influence. The pure art of fighting is for art’s sake; not flowery Kung Fu. We are proud of the Indo-Chinese style of esoteric martial art. What I described here is the art of the ancient time with the realistic fighting method hidden in fighting animal combat form. It is the fighting magic of body movements and spiritualism that has never been distorted by any government.

No Fancy Kung Fu!