Combat 2nd edition


Styles - China


 Choy Li Fut
This popular style emphasizes hand techniques. It uses a balanced combination of hard and soft techniques, involves Chinese medicine and philosophy in its methods, and teaches traditional Chinese weapons.

Hop Gar
This style is famous for teaching balance and footwork on "plum flower stumps" -- wooden posts driven into the ground at varying heights.

Hsing-I
Hsing-I loosely translated means "mind-body boxing". It is an internal style but its techniques are linear in nature. There are five basic techniques based on the five classic elements of Taoist alchemy. Development of ch'i is emphasized, and forms are based on twelve classic animals (dragon, tiger, monkey, horse, chicken, hawk, snake, tai bird, lizard, swallow, eagle, and bear).

Hung Gar
This popular school emphasizes strength in the body and low stances. It teaches the use of an aggressive tiger style at close range and the defensive crane style at long range.

Jeet Kune Do
Bruce Lee's legacy, the name means "way of the intercepting fist". This is less a style in philosophy and more a theory. Students are encouraged to discover what techniques work best for themselves. Perhaps due to Bruce Lee's youth combined with his natural talent, it fails to address the fact that students cannot know what techniques truly work best for them until they've practiced the martial arts for decades. Jeet kune do is practiced primarily in America.

Kempo
Another very popular school, kempo is linear and external in nature. Its nature is akin to Okinawan karate. Indeed, it is thought to have influenced the development of karate. Of course, a major difference is that it teaches classic Chinese weapons such as the sword.

Pakua
Pakua, also called Eight Trigrams Boxing, is based on the classic work, the Book of Changes. There are eight trigrams of metaphysical importance and pakua uses them as a basis for footwork. Mobility and circular techniques are emphasized.

Ta'i Ch'i Ch'uan
This style is so old its origins are lost in time. It is a soft and internal style, designed to develop the practitioner's ch'i. Philosophy and medicine are included; the maintenance of one's health and inner harmony is vital to success. Most students use ta'i ch'i ch'uan today for stress relief and exercise. In actuality, the graceful forms map out pressure points and vital areas.

Wing Chun
One of the most popular kung fu styles of the day, wing chun emphasizes hand techniques and low kicks. It is an aggressive external style with a mixture of circular and linear techniques. Its methods are intended for success in street self-defense. A famous training method wing chun devised is the wooden striking dummy.

Wushu
Technically, all Chinese martial arts are called wushu. However, this list distinguishes some of those most prominent types of wushu above. Most of the styles listed below directly derived from Fukien Shaolin. Some of these are quickly growing in popularity, such as:
  • bong po kuen ("praying mantis style", noted for patient hand strikes and counter-strikes)
  • ditang chuan (emphasis on leaping and grappling)
  • chang chuan (considered one of the oldest styles of wushu, with its graceful forms integrated into the Chinese Opera)
  • choy gar (an emphasis on low stances and speed)
  • chuo-jiao-quan (a style that uses almost solely leg techniques, even to block)
  • fong ngan ("phoenix eye style", which focuses on a specific vital area-striking fist)
  • fu-chiao pai ("tiger style", broken down into three major schools: red, white, and black, all of which are themed for their aggressive and relentless attack methods)
  • hao pai ("heron style", which is renowned for its emphasis of a beak-shaped fist)
  • hok pai ("crane style", famous for its one-legged stances and defensive counter-attacks)
  • hung chia chuan ("five elders", named for the five monks who escaped the burning of the Shaolin Temple)
  • hung fut (derived from hung gar, this style emphasizes evasion, employs the tiger claw strike, and always attacks with the left hand first, to deceive with the "off" hand; it is also famous for its "Iron Cloth" form that teaches the student to roll up a garment into a whip-like weapon)
  • kung-li (a style that employs especially low horse stances that takes years to master)
  • liam-i (a style that emphasizes striking with both arms at once)
  • li gar (an original Shaolin style that emphasizes mobility and footwork)
  • lung ying ("dragon style", a well-balanced style marked by unique sweeping side stances)
  • mi-tsung-i (a style known for quick body shifts and feints to confuse opponents)
  • mok gar (an original Shaolin style that uses strong, short kicks)
  • pao pai ("leopard style", similar to "tiger style" but with an emphasis on pouncing on opponents)
  • siu lum (Cantonese Shaolin kung fu that uses short jabs and feints)
  • tai sing rekwar ("monkey style"; a student is taught only one of five kinds of "monkey fighting": lost monkey, drunken monkey, tall monkey, stone monkey, or wood monkey, and the variety is determined by the student's natural aptitudes and skills, and all of which are renowned to confuse enemies)
  • tsui pa hsien ("eight drunken immortals", or drunken kung fu, where students appear drunk and disoriented to confuse enemies)
  • tung pi (a popular style that emphasizes hand techniques)
  • wutang (Shaolin methods that use internal and soft techniques, and use the sword as the main weapon)
  • ying jiao chuan ("eagle claw style", famous for its eagle claw fists and joint locks).