Chinese Kung Fu (Gung Fu) has a long and rich history of over 4000 years and covers every aspect of martial art training. The term “Kung Fu” has many meanings but it is generally translated as “hard work” or “skill developed through practice”. A more common term used in China is “Wu Shu” meaning martial art or “Chuan Fa” meaning fist fighting. Kung Fu has many styles and methods and can be considered to be one of the most sophisticated and effective systems of self-defense.
Chinese Kung Fu is commonly divided into Northern and Southern schools, which are usually characterised by the type of forms and techniques that they train. The Northern schools generally put more emphasis on mobility and gymnastic movements, incuding techniques such as high kicking, spinning and leaping. The Southern schools tend to put the emphasis onto developing strong rooted stances, explosive rapid hand techniques and short range close in fighting skills. This division though is not strict, as most systems of have a mixture of both long and short techniques to draw from. In Chinese Kung Fu it is often said that the most complete fighter has “Southern arms and Northern legs”, meaning that you need to develop all ranges of techniques, long, short, high and low, to cover for every eventuality.
Even though Chinese Kung Fu can be separated into Northern and Southern Schools, no two styles can be said to be the same, as size and flexibility varies from person to person, each style developing and evolving according to the needs of the practitioner. From this perspective it can be said that there are as many styles as their are people.
My own Kung Fu developed out of my interest and practice of Chinese martial and healing arts that began in 1986. After viewing and training lots of different martial methods I found that many traditional arts tended to force the body to perform unnatural and overly complex movements. These only tended to work if your opponent practised the same or similar art to yourself. For me a good martial artist has to be flexible enough to adapt to any particular situation, not rigidly impose a set of rules or techniques that his system dictates. This means that the player has to be intelligent enough to “read” what is going on, quick enough to react to the situation, and powerful enough to be able to do something about it. The Taiji philosophy of yin and yang for me has to be the basis of any martial system. Soft and hard are mutually dependent, movement is balanced by stillness, fullness balances emptiness and one movement follows another. When we fight we make contact, that contact involves an exchange of energy which can either be joined with or opposed. If opposed, generally the strongest person wins, like two animals butting each other, the one with the thicker skull generally has more chance.
In contrast to this, by sensing, joining, controling and moving with the persons energy, it becomes be possible to feel where their weaknesses are. This information can then be used to your advantage, and your responses then become natural, spontaneous and appropriate. This approach for me involves a high level of skill and understanding.
Sticking/sensing hands, two person exercises and power/technique partner drills are central to the training of Kung Fu. They are needed to develop correct timing and balance in relation to something unpredictable, like another person. Forms and patterns are important, as they develop stamina, internal power and knowledge of techniques, but contact has to be made in order to find out whether it works or not. For the beginner, punching and kicking air can be a useful exercise and way of understanding the mechanics of particular techniques, but I feel that ones progress can be limited if that is all you train. In my opinion, only contact can give you the feedback that you need to develop into a skilled martial artist.
Over the years I have been very fortunate to study with, what I consider, to be some of the finest teachers in the world. Below is a list of the arts that I have studied and the teachers who I have studied them with. My respect and endless thanks goes to these teachers who have passed on their knowledge to me with a good heart, I hope in turn to do the same for the benefit of all beings.
Southern Praying Mantis Kung Fu
Sifu Tony Leung (and his senior Instructors)- Steelwire Mantis
Sifu Wang- Chow family Mantis
Shaolin Hung Gar Kung Fu
Sifu Tony Leung- Steelwire Mantis
Shaolin Mok Gar Kung Fu & Wu style Tai Chi Chuan
Sifu Rob Morgan
Kitaido
Ken Waight
Yang & Nanpai Style Tai Chi Chuan
Dr Shen Hongxun
Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan (Cheng Man Ching)
Adrian Von Schaik
Bagua zuang (Gao Style)
Sifu James Chan