Hung Ga

Hung Ga
洪家
Also known as	Hung Gar, Hung Kuen, Hung Ga Kuen, Hung Gar Kuen
Focus	Striking
Country of origin	China
Creator	Hung Hei-gun
Famous practitioners	Luk Ah-Choi; Wong Kei-Ying; Wong Fei Hung (son of Wong Kei-Ying); Tang Fung (student of Wong Fei Hung); Lam Sai Wing (student of Wong Fei Hung); Yao Loon Kwong (instructor of Leung Tin Jiu); Leung Tin Jiu (founder of Fut Gar); Lei Jou Fun (founder of Hung Fut); Jow Hung Hei (uncle and instructor of Jow Lung); Jow Lung (founder of Jow-Ga Kung Fu) Philip Ng , Donnie Yen
Parenthood	Shaolin Kung Fu, Mok Gar (additional influence for Wong Fei Hung lineage)
Descendant arts	Choy ga, Fut Gar, Hung Fut, Jow-Ga Kung Fu
Olympic sport	No

Hung Ga (洪家), Hung Kuen (洪拳), or Hung Ga Kuen (洪家拳) is a southern Chinese martial art, which belongs to the southern shaolin styles and associated with the Chinese folk hero Wong Fei Hung, who was a master of Hung Ga.

Hung Ga's earliest beginnings have been traced to the 17th century in southern China. More specifically, legend has it that a Shaolin monk by the name of Gee Seen Sim See was at the heart of Hung Ga's emergence. See was alive during a time of fighting in the Qing Dynasty. He practiced the arts during an era when the Shaolin Temple had become a refuge for those that opposed the ruling class (the Manchus), allowing him to practice in semi-secrecy. When the northern temple was burned down many fled to the Southern Shaolin temple in the Fukien Province of Southern China along with him. There it is believed See trained several people, including non-Buddhist monks, also called Shaolin Layman Disciples, in the art of Shaolin Kung Fu.

Of course, Gee Seen Sim See was hardly the only person of significance that had fled to the temple and opposed the Manchus. Along with this, Hung Hei Gun also took refuge there, where he trained under See. Eventually, Hung Hei Gun became See's number one student.

That said, legend has it that Gee Seen Sim See also taught four others, whom in their entirety became the founding fathers of the five southern Shaolin styles: Hung Ga, Choy Ga, Mok Ga, Li Ga and Lau Ga. Luk Ah Choi was one of these students.^[2]

Because the character "hung" (洪) was used in the reign name of the emperor who overthrew the Mongol Yuan Dynasty to establish the Han Chinese Ming Dynasty, opponents of the Manchu Qing Dynasty made frequent use of the character in their imagery. (Ironically, Luk Ah-Choi was the son of a Manchu stationed in Guangdong.) Hung Hei-Gun is itself an assumed name intended to honor that first Ming Emperor. Anti-Qing rebels named the most far reaching of the secret societies they formed the "Hung Mun" (洪門).

The Hung Mun claimed to be founded by survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Temple, and the martial arts its members practiced came to be called "Hung Ga" and "Hung Kuen."

The hallmarks of the Wong Fei-Hung lineage of Hung Ga are deep low stances, notably its "sei ping ma"(四平馬)^[3] horse stance, and strong hand techniques, notably the bridge hand^[4] and the versatile tiger claw.^[5] The student traditionally spends anywhere from months to three years in stance training, often sitting only in horse stance between a half-hour to several hours at one time, before learning any forms. Each form then might take a year or so to learn, with weapons learned last. However, in modernity, this mode of instruction is deemed economically unfeasible and impractical for students, who have other concerns beyond practicing kung fu. Some instructors, though, will stick mainly to traditional guidelines and make stance training the majority of their beginner training. Hung Ga is sometimes mis-characterized as solely external—that is, reliant on brute physical force rather than the cultivation of qi—even though the student advances progressively towards an internal focus.

"Since my young years till now, for 50 years, I have been learning from Masters. I am happy that I have earned the love of my tutors who passed on me the Shaolin Mastery…"- Lam Sai-wing

Hung Ga
洪家
Pinyin:	Hóng Jiā
Yale Cantonese:	Hùhng Gār
Literally	"Hung family"

Hung Kuen
洪拳
Pinyin:	Hóng Quán
Yale Cantonese:	Hùhng Kyùhn
Literally	"immense fist"

The Hung Ga curriculum of Wong Fei-Hung

The Hung Ga curriculum that Wong Fei-Hung learned from his father comprised Single Hard Fist, Double Hard Fist, Taming the Tiger Fist (伏虎拳), Mother & Son Butterfly Swords (子母雙刀), Angry Tiger Fist, Fifth Brother Eight Trigram Pole (五郎八卦棍), Flying Hook, and Black Tiger Fist (黑虎拳). Wong distilled his father's empty-hand material along with the material he learned from other masters into the "pillars" of Hung Ga, four empty-hand routines that constitute the core of Hung Ga instruction in the Wong Fei-Hung lineage: Taming the Tiger Fist, Tiger Crane Paired Form Fist, Five Animal Fist, and Iron Wire Fist. Each of those routines is described in the sections below.

"工" Taming the Tiger Fist 工字伏虎拳

pinyin: gōng zì fú hǔ quán; Yale Cantonese: gung ji fuk fu kuen.

The long routine Taming the Tiger trains the student in the basic techniques of Hung Ga while building endurance. It is said to go at least as far back as Jee Sin, who is said to have taught Taming the Tiger—or at least an early version of it—to both Hung Hei-Gun and Luk Ah-Choi.

The "工" Character Taming the Tiger Fist is so called because its footwork traces a path resembling the character "工".

Tiger Crane Paired Form Fist 虎鶴雙形拳

pinyin: hǔ hè shuāng xíng quán; Yale Cantonese: fu hok seung ying keun.

Tiger Crane builds on Taming the Tiger, adding "vocabulary" to the Hung Ga practitioner's repertoire. Wong Fei-Hung choreographed the version of Tiger Crane handed down in the lineages that descend from him. He is said to have added to Tiger Crane the bridge hand techniques and rooting of the master Tit Kiu Saam as well as long arm techniques, attributed variously to the Fat Ga, Lo Hon, and Lama styles. Tiger Crane Paired Form routines from outside Wong Fei-Hung Hung Ga still exist.

Five Animal Fist 五形拳/Five Animal Five Element Fist 五形五行拳

pinyin: wǔ xíng quán; Yale Cantonese: ng ying keun/pinyin: wǔ xíng wǔ xíng quán; Yale Cantonese: ng ying ng haang keun.

These routines serve as a bridge between the external force of Tiger Crane and the internal focus of Iron Wire. "Five Animals" (literally "Five Forms") refers to the characteristic Five Animals of the Southern Chinese martial arts: Dragon, Snake, Tiger, Leopard, and Crane. "Five Elements" refers to the five classical Chinese elements: Earth, Water, Fire, Metal, and Wood. The Hung Ga Five Animal Fist was choreographed by Wong Fei Hung and expanded by Lam Sai Wing (林世榮), a senior student and teaching assistant of Wong Fei Hung, into the Five Animal Five Element Fist (also called the "Ten Form Fist"). In the Lam Sai Wing branch of Hung Ga, the Five Animal Five Element Fist has largely, but not entirely, superseded the Five Animal Fist, which has become associated with Dang Fong and others who were no longer students when the Five Animal Five Element Fist was created.

Iron Wire Fist 鐵線拳

pinyin: tiě xiàn quán; Yale Cantonese: Tit Sin Kyuhn.

Iron Wire builds internal power and is attributed to the martial arts master Leung Kwan (Chinese: 梁坤; pinyin: Liáng Kūn; 1815–1887), better known as Tit Kiuh Saam (Chinese: 鐵橋三; pinyin: tiěqiáosān). Like Wong Fei Hung's father Wong Kei-Ying, Tit Sin Saam was one of the Ten Tigers of Canton. As a teenager, Wong Fei Hung learned Iron Wire from Lam Fuk-Sing (Chinese: 林福成; pinyin: Línfúchéng) a student of Tit Sin Saam. The Iron Wire form is essentially a combination of Hei Gung (Chinese: 气功; pinyin: qigong) or meditative breathing with isometric exercise, particularly dynamic tension, although weights were also used in traditional practice in the form of iron rings worn on the wrists. If properly practiced, it can increase strength considerably and promote a stable root. However, as with both most forms of qigong and most forms of isometric exercise, it must be practiced regularly or the benefits are quickly lost.

Wong Fei Hung was known for his Fifth Brother Eight Trigram Pole (五郎八卦棍), which can be found in the curricula of both the Lam Sai Wing and Dang Fong branches of Hung Ga, two of the major branches of the Wong Fei-Hung lineage, as can the Spring & Autumn Guandao (春秋大刀), and the Yu Family Tiger Fork (瑤家大扒). Both branches also train the broadsword (刀), the butterfly swords (雙刀), the spear (槍), and even the fan (扇), but use different routines to do so. Mother & Son Butterfly Swords (子母雙刀) can still be found in the curriculum of the Dang Fong branch.

Branches of Hung Kuen

The curricula of different branches of Hung Ga differ tremendously with regard to routines and the selection of weapons, even within the Wong Fei Hung lineage. Just as those branches that do not descend from Lam Sai Wing do not practice the Five Animal Five Element Fist, those branches that do not descend from Wong Fei Hung, sometimes called "old" or "village" Hung Kuen, do not practice the routines he choreographed, nor do the branches that do not descend from Tit Kiu Saam practice Iron Wire. Conversely, the curricula of some branches have grown through the addition of further routines by creation or acquisition.

Nevertheless, the various branches of the Wong Fei Hung lineage still share the Hung Ga foundation he systematized. Lacking such a common point of reference, the "village" styles of Hung Kuen show even greater variation.

The curriculum which Jee Sin taught Hung Hei-Gun is said to have comprised Tiger style, Luohan style, and Taming the Tiger routine. Exchanging material with other martial artists allowed Hung to develop or acquire Tiger Crane Paired Form routine, a combination animal routine, Southern Flower Fist, and several weapons.

According to Hung Ga tradition, the martial arts that Jee Sin originally taught Hung Hei Gun were short range and the more active footwork, wider stances, and long range techniques commonly associated with Hung Ga were added later. It is said to have featured "a two-foot horse," that is, narrow stances, and routines whose footwork typically took up no more than four tiles' worth of space.

Ha Sei Fu Hung Ga 下四虎洪家

The Ha Sei Fu (下四虎) is said to fit this description, though the implied link to the legendary Jee Sin is more speculative than most because of its poorly documented genealogy. Ha Sei Fu Hung Ga of Leung Wah Chew is a Five Animal style with a separate routine for each animal. Other Branches of Ha Sei Fu Hung Ga also contain combined animal sets, like Tiger & Crane, Dragon & Leopard, etc.

Five-Pattern Hung Kuen 五形洪拳

Similar to Ha Sei Fu Hung Ga, the Ng Ying Hung Kuen (五形洪拳) fits the description of Jee Sin's martial arts, but traces its ancestry to Ng Mui and Miu Hin (苗顯) who, like Jee Sin, were both survivors of the destruction of the Shaolin Monastery. From Miu Hin, the Five-Pattern Hung Kuen passed to his daughter Miu Tsui Fa (苗筴花), and from his daughter to his grandson Fong Sai-Yuk (方世玉), both Chinese folk heroes like Jee Sin, Ng Mui, and their forebear Miu Hin. Yuen Yik Kai's books introduced this branch to the Western/European venue. while conventionally translated as "Five-Pattern Hung Fist" rather than "Five Animal Hung Fist", it is a Five-Animal style, one with a single routine for all Five Animals but also has other sets as well.

Northern Hung Kuen 洪拳

There are northern styles that use the name "Hung Kuen" (洪拳; pinyin: hóng quán), though these predate the Qing Dynasty (1644–1912). Other northern styles use the character for "Red Fist".

Tiger Crane Paired Form 虎鶴雙形

The Tiger-Crane Combination style has been found in almost every Hung style. While not as long as the Wong Fei Hung version, it is typically seen as containing 108 movements/techniques.

Ang Lian-Huat attributes the art to Hung Hei Gun's combination of the Tiger style he learned from Jee Sin with the Crane style he learned from his wife, whose name is given in Hokkien as Tee Eng-Choon. Like other martial arts that trace their origins to Fujian (e.g. Fujian White Crane, Five Ancestors), this style uses San Chian as its foundation.

Wong Kiew Kit trace their version of the Tiger Crane routine, not to Hung Hei Gun or Luk Ah Choi, but to their senior classmate Harng Yein.

Remark to different Hung Kuen Styles

Not all share the opinion that several Hung Kuen styles exist, because Hung Ga has its origin in the famous southern shaolin temple. And there the most famous lineage with Hung Hei Gung, Luk Ah Choy, Wong Tai, Wong Kei Yin, Wong Fei Hung and Tung Fung or Lam Sai Wing has its roots.

The dissemination of Hung Kuen

The dissemination of Hung Kuen in Southern China, and its Guangdong and Fujian Provinces in particular, is due to the concentration of anti-Qing activity there. The Hung Mun began life in the 1760s as the Heaven and Earth Society, whose founders came from the prefecture of Zhangzhou in Fujian Province, on its border with Guangdong, where one of its founders organized a precursor to the Heaven and Earth Society in Huizhou. Guangdong and Fujian remained a stronghold of sympathizers and recruits for the Hung Mun, even as it spread elsewhere in the decades that followed. Though the members of the Hung Clan almost certainly practiced a variety of martial arts styles, the composition of its membership meant that it was the characteristics of Fujianese and Cantonese martial arts that came to be associated with the names "Hung Kuen" and "Hung Ga". Regardless of their differences, the Hung Kuen lineages of Wong Fei Hung, Yuen Yik Kai, Leung Wah Chew, and Jeung Kei Ji (張克治) nonetheless all trace their origins to this area and this time period, are all Five Animal styles, and all claim Shaolin origins. Northern Hung Kuen (洪拳), by contrast, is not a Five Animal style and dates to the 16th century. Cantonese and Fujianese are also predominant among Overseas Chinese, accounting for the widespread dissemination of Hung Kuen outside of China.

Lam Sai Wing's most notable disciple was Chan Hon Chung, who was very famous in Hong Kong and represented what was best in his generation of masters. He held incredible knowledge and had the full Hung Kuen system passed down from Lam Sai Wing. In 1938, he established the Chan Hon Chung Gymnasium to teach Hung Gar (Hung Family) kung fu. At the same time he had a chiropractic clinic. In 1970, he formed The Hong Kong Chinese Martial Arts Association with the intention of co-ordinating and promoting Chinese martial arts in Hong Kong, and held the position of chairman for many years.

With exceptions such as Frank Yee (余志偉; Yee Chi Wai) of New York City and Cheung Shu Pui in Philadelphia, both of the Dang Fong lineage, the foremost teachers of Hung Ga in the United States belong to the Lam Sai Wing branch. As one of many students of Lam Sai Wing, Lam Cho (林祖) (Lam Sai Wing's adopted nephew) has taught well known masters such as Y.C. Wong (黃耀楨) (San Francisco) and Bucksam Kong (江北山) (Los Angeles and Hawaii). Lam Cho's eldest son, Lam Chun Fai, now carries on his Hung Ga teaching in Hong Kong. Lam Chun Fai has also done much to spread Hung Kuen in Europe.

Other students of Lam Cho include Kwong Tit Fu and Tang Kwok Wah (鄧國華). Kwong and Tang taught in Boston, Massachusetts for twenty years before retiring from teaching. Among Tang Kwok Wah's students currently teaching in the area are Winchell Ping Chiu Woo 胡炳超 (Chiu Mo Kwoon, Boston), Yon Lee 李健遠 (who is also the master instructor for the Harvard Tai Chi Tiger Crane kung fu Club at Harvard University since 1985), and Sik Y. Hum. Calvin Chin of Newton Highlands carries on Kwong's legacy. In 2007, after 2 successful pilgrimages to the Shaolin Temple and several exchanges arranged through the Municipal Government of Dengfeng (登封市) City, China, Yon Lee and his students formed the Harvard Shaolin Cultural Foundation (少林文化基金會). In 2010, the Harvard foundation and the Songshan Cultural Research Foundation (嵩山文化研究會) of Dengfeng hosted a conference on Shaolin culture, focusing the link between kung fu and medicine (禪武醫).

Chiu Kau (趙教) began learning Hung Kuen in Singapore. He later married Wong Siu Ying (黃邵英), who began learning Hung Ga from her husband. The couple eventually settled down in Hong Kong, where they continued their Hung Ga training at the Lam Sai Wing National Art Association Second Branch. Their sons Chiu Chi Ling (趙志淩) of Alameda, California, and Chiu Wai (趙威) of Calgary, Alberta, Canada are the inheritors of this lineage. Kwong Wing Lam of Sunnyvale, California, studied with Chiu Kau, Chiu Wai, and Lam Jo and learned the Ha Sei Fu style from Leung Wah Chew. In Hong Kong, the original Chiu Wai Hung Kuen school continues under the teaching of Chiu Wah (趙華), and in 1998 another branch (洪拳學社) was established in Hong Kong under the teaching of Gam Bok Yin (金博賢).

John Leong learned from Lam Sai Wing's student, Wong Lee. The Chang Ke Chi (張克治) branch of Hung Kuen is represented by Steven C. George (史帝夫) of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and Daniel Král, Vladimír Šanda, David Kříženecký, Stanislav Fraibiš, Martin Veselý of Prague, Czech Republic.

One of the more-famous teachers of Hung Kuen today is the famous Shaw Brothers movie director/actor, Lau Kar Leung (also from the Lam Sai Wing lineage), who has many students in Hong Kong. One of Lau Kar Leung's notable disciples is Mark Ho, also known as Mark Houghton, an Englishman who has lived in Hong Kong for 20 years. Mark Ho, with the blessing of Lau Kar Leung, has opened a unique Hung Kuen school in Fanling. The school itself looks like a scene from a Shaw Brothers movie; it has many training chambers, wooden dummies, and hanging logs. There are now Lau Family Hung Kuen schools in China and England.

Chris Dougliss in Ireland trained for a while under Mark Houghton. Chris then trained under Dave Bradley, who was a student of Mark Houghton in Birmingham before Mark went to Hong Kong. Chris moved to Ireland and continued training for many years with a select few students of his own. He then formed Clonmel Hung Gar Kung Fu School, which has trained rigidly according to tradition.

In popular culture

In the cartoon series Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, the style of Earthbending is based on the Hung Gar style of fighting.^[6] The series' creators consulted a professional martial artist in the design of the show's fighting style.^[7]

References

^ Ashley Martin (2013). The Complete Martial Arts Training Manual: An Integrated Approach. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 1-4629-0555-2.
^ Vinh-Hoi Ngo (1996). Martial Arts Masters: The Greatest Teachers, Fighters, and Performers. Lowell House Juvenile. ISBN 1-5656-5559-1.
^ Sei Ping Ma
^ Bridge Hand
^ Tiger Claw
^ "Inside the Nicktoons Studio: Avatar: "Earth" Episode Clip". Nickelodeon. Retrieved 2013-10-21.
^ "Kisu - Filmography by TV Series". IMDb. Retrieved 2013-10-21.

Sources

Kennedy, Brian; Guo, Elizabeth. Chinese Martial Arts Training Manuals: A Historical Survey. Berkeley, California: North Atlantic Books. pp. 152–153. ISBN 1-55643-557-6. [quote] Fujian province was reputed to be home to one of the Shaolin temples that figure so prominently in martial arts folklore. As a result, Fujian province and the adjacent province of Guangdong were the birthplace and home of many southern Shaolin systems, at least according to the oral folklore. A military historian might be of the opinion that the reason those two southern provinces had so many different systems of martial arts had more to do with the fact that, during the Qing Dynasty, rebel armies were constantly being formed and disbanded in those provinces, resulting in a wide variety of people who had some training and interest in martial arts.
Rene Ritchie, Robert Chu and Hendrik Santo. "Wing Chun Kuen and the Secret Societies". Wingchunkuen.com. Retrieved August 14, 2005.
Wing Lam. Southern Shaolin Kung Fu Ling Nam Hung Gar. Copyright 2003 Wing Lam Enterprises. p. 241. ISBN 1-58657-361-6.
Hagen Bluck "Hung Gar Kuen - Im Zeichen des Tigers und des Kranichs"; 1998/2006 MV-Verlag, Edition Octopus, ISBN 978-3-86582-427-1
Lam Sai Wing. "Iron Thread. Southern Shaolin Hung Gar Kung Fu Classics Series". Second Edition, 2007. Paperback, 188 pages. ISBN 978-1-84799-192-8 / Original edition: Hong Kong, 1957; translated from Chinese in 2002 - 2007
http://www.chinese-lessons.com/cantonese/vocabFamily.htm

External links

[1] Ashley Martin (2013). The Complete Martial Arts Training Manual: An Integrated Approach. Tuttle Publishing. ISBN 1-4629-0555-2.

[2] Vinh-Hoi Ngo (1996). Martial Arts Masters: The Greatest Teachers, Fighters, and Performers. Lowell House Juvenile. ISBN 1-5656-5559-1.

[3] Sei Ping Ma

[4] Bridge Hand

[5] Tiger Claw

[Avatar_Earth-6] "Inside the Nicktoons Studio: Avatar: "Earth" Episode Clip". Nickelodeon. Retrieved 2013-10-21.

[Kisu-7] "Kisu - Filmography by TV Series". IMDb. Retrieved 2013-10-21.

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