Style Question!!

Discussion in 'Kung Fu' started by phatfire, Jul 8, 2006.

  1. phatfire

    phatfire New Member

    I have a school near me that teaches Northern and Southern Style Shaolin and Internal Styles. Well my quezstion is what is Shaolin Styles and Internal Styles. The Sifu is Daniel K Lee.. Doen't know if that makes a diff or not. Well if someone could give me some info i would really be greatfull. Thank You for oyur time.
     
  2. Yohan

    Yohan In the Spirit of Yohan Supporter

    Shaolin is not a style, but a blanket under which many styles fall. I could probably name a few off the top of my head: Shaolin Longfist, Shaolin Black Tiger. You should find out what style your teacher teaches.
     
  3. phatfire

    phatfire New Member

    Well I believe it's Hung Gar.....That could explain the Northern and sourthen style and the internal style. If read the info right...Hung Gar is suppose toi be a mix of both northern and southern styles and a good deal of internal style. I have sent the Sifu a E-Mail so hopefully I can get the full details at that point. Thank you for the response.
     
  4. butcher wing

    butcher wing Oi, Fatso!

    re:

    You have a local Hung Gar School?

    You lucky devil!!

    Go for it.
     
  5. sliver

    sliver Work In Progress

    Not to discourage you from studdying the very excelent style of Hung Gar, but just as a point of historical fact, it's highly debatable that Hung Gar really has any connection to the Shao lin orginzation at all. Anything ending in "gar" or "ga" (different ways of romanizing the same chinese sound) means it's a family style. Depending on who you ask and how credible their evidence is, people will either tell you the Hung family took in a shao lin monk who repaid their kindness by teaching them the kung fu which became the basis of their family style; or they will tell you the hung family style developed independent of shao lin but was influenced by many other indiginous styles in the area in which it developed, many of which were shao lin derived. The real history of any style of kung fu is very fuzzy and hard to find hard facts on. What is certian is Hung Gar is one of the historical five great family styles of the south (the others being Choi, Lau, Lee, and Mok), and by far and away the most well known and widely praciticed in the modern era.

    The above is just a historical foot note really. If you have a legitimate Hung Gar school with a good teacher near you I'd say go for it, it's one of the better and more practical kung fu styles you'll run into IMHO. Be well.
     
    Last edited: Jul 8, 2006
  6. Freud > God

    Freud > God Valued Member

    Southern is external- train your outside like fitness and so classified as hard where northen like tai chi is more soft and internal- u get the chi flowing. both are good- external u can devolop quicker and was used to train ppl in self defence at short notice where tai chi was perfected over a long period of time i think.

    I study Lau Gar kung fu at temple martial arts birmigham but in my black sash lessons we dnt train externally but internaly by doing 8 sections of brocade or something. I personally prefer southern styles especially mine becasue i train both internally and externally but external is more the focus.
     
  7. Graham2006

    Graham2006 New Member

    The use of 'Shaolin' in titles of Chinese kung fu systems was used many times to popularize training in kung fu. For instance, the legend of Ng Mui founding Wing chun was and still is used to get people to train, but she was a character from a 16th century novel, used in the 17th century to allay people's fears that such training was tantamount to thuggery. The rebels involved in the Boxer Rebellion in China used the legends of 'superhuman' feats of the Shaolin monks to get people to join them in their rebellion against western occupation. They told their trainees that their kung fu training would make them invulnerable to bullets. This was a bad call as it almost stopped the training in all of the styles throughout the country.

    The generic categorization of styles as External or Internal can be misleading as all 'external' styles have elements of 'internal' techniques in them, and vice versa.

    'External' styles can be categorized as relying on muscular effort to power their offensive techniques. These would include the so-called blocks which tend to be used in such styles as methods of forcing a way through the opponents defence to land telling blows, or gain control by grappling, throwing, locking etc.

    'Internal' styles can be categorized as relying on utilization of the body weight of either the attacker, the defender, or both to finish the fight. Blocks tend to be redirections of incoming force rather than a full stoppage as inexternal styles. These styles also spend a great deal of their training time in increasing the health of their trainees.

    It can sometimes be difficult to categorize styles as external or internal as all styles seek to cultivate the production of 'chi' & it's storage. In external styles this will usually be at a late period in their training, while internal styles usually seek to cultivate it from the earliest period, once the trainee has got the hang of the techniques required.
     
  8. phatfire

    phatfire New Member

    So now the question is; WHat is Hung Gar like? I only read about it, so anything you guys could tell me would be great.
     
  9. Graham2006

    Graham2006 New Member

  10. phatfire

    phatfire New Member

    Thanks for the link..but I have read it. I waqs hoping to get the skinny from a person that practices or has practiced Hung Gar.

    On the same note...I found out they also teach I Hsing and a northern style called something like Iron Palm... anyone know about these styles.
     
  11. TheDarkJester

    TheDarkJester 90% Sarcasm, 10% Mostly Good Advice.

    Iron palm isn't a style but a method of hand conditioning used to exponentially increase striking power.

    Xing Yi is known as Mind Intent Boxing and is probably the most combat oriented 'internal' martial style in the chinese arsenal. Power generation has been described as being akin to a cannon shot.
     
  12. phatfire

    phatfire New Member

    Sounds like fun.....and the great thing it's only 80 a month.....and no contracts...goin to see a class on my next day off.

    oh and on the iron palm thing... it was a style...but the two words Iron Palm was in it...i am goin to ask him again.. to get the skinny
     
  13. funnytiger

    funnytiger Earthbender...

    Hung Ga is largely considered a Southern based style. I would be wary of anyone packaging it as a Northern AND Southern style. But my knowledge of Hung Ga is based on what we learn of it from our style, Jow Ga, which is a mixture of Hung Ga (southern), Choy Ga (southern) and some Northern Shaolin. Our style is considered a Southern style with Northern influences.

    "Hung Ga is a very popular southern system noted for its powerful stance work and bridge hands. This style is also known for its animals, elements and internal Hei Gung (Qi Gong)." ~ lifted from ShaolinRoundTables.com description of the style.

    There is a very good Hung Ga forum there too: http://www.shaolinroundtable.com/viewforum.php?f=5&sid=3ec7ed7b4c17641f050ebbaf09ad1088

    I hope I was of some sort of help!

    - ft
     
  14. phatfire

    phatfire New Member

    Yeah Thank you for the help....What I found out is the Sifu teaches Hung Gar: southern....He also knows a Northern style but I can't remember it. Also teaches Hsing I, from which I understand is a heavy Martial Internak Style and considered one of the oldest. I beleive the Northern style had Iron Palm in it. And yes I do know that Iron Palm is a conditioning technique. But I do believe it was in there.... gotta check with him again.....And thank you for the info again...... I think I found my niche in the MA world. :D ....Every thing I look at looks great....
     
    Last edited: Jul 11, 2006

Share This Page