Hung Gar Kung Fu, The Powerful Southern Style
April 16, 2008
Hung Gar is an external, hard and powerful Southern Shaolin style of Kung Fu. It is also known as Hung Kuen, Hung Fist and Fu Hok Pai (Tiger/Crane Style). Hung is the sir name of the originator but it also means to stand tall with integrity. Gar means clan or family in Cantonese. Hung Gar translates to Hung Family being one of the five Southern Kung Fu family styles: Hung Gar, Lau Gar, Mok Gar, Choy Gar, Li Gar. They were all named after the originator of the system.
Hung Gar Kung Fu originated in the Fukien Southern Shaolin Temple. Shaolin which translates to youthful forest was known as the number one monastery under heaven. Kung Fu does not mean martial arts. The word for martial arts in Chinese is Wushu. Yet, today’s Wushu is a non combative, creative and acrobatic form system created by the People’s Republic of China as a sport.
Martial Art means war like art. Hung Gar is a true martial art or war like art. Hung Gar is a form of Chinese street fighting. It’s arsenal of attack includes Claws to the eyes, strikes to the throat, low kicks to the groin and knees, elbows, knees, sweeps, iron broom sweeps, and attack to the joints. Hung Gar is not a sport but an art of war. There is no direct translation for the word Kung Fu. Kung Fu could mean accomplishment of man, something you do well or an expertise.
A rebel and tea merchant named Hung Gei Guen (Hung Xi Guan) was perfecting his skills under the tutelage of the head abbot of the Shaolin Temple Gin Sin when one of the top fighting monks the White Eyebrow Priest (Pai Mei or Bak Mei) betrayed the temple. Pai Mei killed Hung’s teacher and the Ching Empire burned the temple down in 1734. Hung’s preferred boxing system was primarily based on the fierce tiger style. The tiger’s attributes are overwhelming power, tenacity and fearlessness. The tiger claws his enemy with hand strikes and tears them up with brutal power, breaking bones and ripping muscle. The tiger is an aggressive, offensive animal.
Just like the tiger that simply will not back down is the Hung fighter. He takes on the spirit of the tiger as he/she smothers, overwhelms and overlaps with strikes an aggressor’s attack with vicious strikes, claws and low kicks to vital and lethal areas of the body. Legend has it that Hung was also schooled in the crane style by his wife Fong Wing Chun (Fang Yung Chun). There is no relationship with Fong Wing Chun and the Kung Fu style of Wing Chun that was popularized by the late great Bruce Lee. Wing Chun is a common Chinese name. The crane is less offensive then other styles, preferring to allow an attacker to commit himself before launching into a series of kicks and smashing hand strikes. The crane evades the attack.
Master Hung is said to have combined the best techniques from both systems to create Hung Gar. Yet, Hung Gar is not only the fusion of the overwhelming and fearless tiger with the defensive and lethal techniques of the crane. Hung Gar is a complete system of fighting and weapons utilizing the three other animals of Shaolin, the snake, leopard and dragon with the five elements.
Hung Gar unlike other martial arts was not developed for sport but for defense and war. This style of kung fu is not soft or flowery like. It is a strong, powerful and aggressive fighting system. Hung Gar has proved itself in the battlefields of China for approximately 300 years. First fighting the Manchurian invaders of the Ching dynasty and then fighting gangs and drug lords in the turn of the last century.
Hung Gar practitioners were also known for their “Thousand Pound Foundation” or Horse Stance. When a Hung Gar practitioner sank into a low horse stance more then ten people with staffs were unable to move him. Hung training emphasizes strong low stances, iron hard forearms, low snapping kicks and ambidextrous deceptive powerful hand techniques. Hung hand techniques use simultaneous blocking and striking.
The blocks of Hung Gar were well respected and feared. Opponents often thought twice before challenging a Hung Gar practitioner, since with a single block he could numb or incapacitate an attacker’s limb, how much more powerful must a strike be? So it is said that we of the Tiger Crane do not block, we strike the strike.
Hung Gar is also know for it’s physical conditioning with Iron Rings and iron forearm training. Hung Gar Iron Ring training can be seen the movies Master Killer also know as the 36 Chambers staring Hung Gar Master Gordon Liu and in Kung Fu Hustle staring Hung Gar Master Chui Chi Ling.
Hung Gar’s most recognized Master is the Chinese folk hero and Hung Gar Grand Master Wong Fei Hung. His life story has been immortalized in numerous books and over 100 Chinese movies. Some of the most recent movies are Legend of the Drunken Master, Once Upon a Time in China and the Iron Monkey. These movies can be found in your local video store. Today’s top action hero’s Jackie Chan, Jet Lee and Gordon Liu have all played Fei Hung in the silver screen.
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About the author: Master Julio Anta teaches Hung Gar Kung Fu in Miami, Florida. He recently came out with the first video on Iron Ring and iron forearm training “Shaolin Physical Conditioning.” For more information on his training DVD you can log on to his web sites at www.AntaKungFu.com or on My Space at www.myspace.com/ShaolinFitness.
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hi
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