Choy Li Fut
Choy Li Fut is a Chinese martial art and wushu style, founded in 1836 by Chan Heung. Choy Li Fut was named to honor Chan Heung's uncle and the three masters of each family. 蔡褔 who taught him Choy Gar 蔡家拳, 李友山 who taught him Li Gar 李家拳, 青草禪師 who taught him Fut Gar 佛家掌, plus his uncle Chan Yuen-wu, who taught him Hung Kuen, and developed to honor the virtue teachings and philosophy of Buddha and the Shaolin roots of the system.
The system combines the martial arts techniques from various Northern and Southern Chinese kung-fu systems; the powerful arm and hand techniques from the Shaolin animal forms from the South, combined with the extended, circular movements, twisting body, and agile footwork that characterizes Northern China's martial arts. It is considered an external style, combining soft and hard techniques, as well as incorporating a wide range of weapons as part of its curriculum. It contains a wide variety of techniques, including long and short range punches, kicks, sweeps and take downs, pressure point attacks, joint locks, and grappling. According to Bruce Lee:
Founding
Chan Heung, also known as Din Ying, Daht Ting, Chen Xianggong, and Chen Xiang, was born on August 23, 1806, or July 10, 1806 of the lunar calendar, in King Mui 京梅, a village in the San Woi 新會 district of Jiangmen, Guangdong province of China.Chan Heung's uncle Chan Yuen-wu, a boxer from the Qingyun temple near Dinghu Mountain who had trained under Du Zhang Monk, who began teaching him the Fut Gar style of Chinese martial arts when he was seven years old. When Chan Heung was fifteen, Chan Yuen-wu took him to Li Yau-san, Chan Yuen-wu's senior classmate. Li Yau-san had trained under Zhi Shan Monk.
Under Li Yau-san's instruction, Chan Heung spent the next four years learning the Li Gar style. Impressed with Chan Heung's martial arts abilities, Li Yau-san suggested that he train with a Shaolin monk called Choy Fook to learn Choy Gar, a Southern Shaolin style of wushu 武术, as well as Chinese medicine and other Shaolin techniques.
According to legend, the monk Jee Sin Sim See is said to have been one of the legendary Five Elders - along with Ng Mui, Fung Doe-duk, Miu Hin and Bak Mei - who survived the destruction of the Shaolin Temple sometime during the late Qing Dynasty.
The founders of the five major family styles of Southern Chinese martial arts; Hung Gar, Choy Gar, Mok Gar, Li Gar and Lau Gar, were respectively, Hung Hei-gun, Choy Gau-yee, Mok Da-si, Li Yau-san, and Lau Sam-ngan ; and all are said to have been students of Jee Sin Sim See. Choy Fook had learned his martial arts from Choy Gau-yee, the founder of Choy Gar.
Choy Fook had trained under five teachers, over a period of many years. His teachers were Jue Yuan Monk, Yi Guan Monk, Li Sou, Bai Yu-feng, and Cai Jiu-yi. At the time Chan Heung sought him out, he had lived as a recluse on Lau Fu mountain and no longer wished to teach martial arts. Chan Heung set out to Lau Fu mountain to find him. When Choy Fook was at the Shaolin temple, he had been seriously burned, and his head had healed with scars. This gave him the nickname "Monk with the Wounded Head". Using that description, Chan Heung eventually located the monk and handed him a letter of recommendation from Li Yau-san. However, Chan Heung was disappointed when Choy Fook turned him down. After much begging, Choy Fook agreed to take the young man as a student, but only to study Buddhism.
One morning, when Chan Heung was practicing his martial arts, Choy Fook pointed to a heavy rock and told him to kick it into the air. Chan Heung exerted all of his strength as his foot crashed against the rock, sending it away. Instead of being complimented, he watched as Choy Fook placed his own foot under the heavy rock and effortlessly propelled it through the air. Chan Heung was awestruck by this demonstration. Again he begged Choy Fook to teach him his martial arts. This time the monk agreed, and for nine years, Choy Fook taught Chan Heung both the way of Buddhism and the way of martial arts.
When he was twenty-eight, Chan Heung left Choy Fook and returned to King Mui village in 1834, where he revised and refined all that he had learned. In 1836, Choy Fook gave Chan Heung advice in the form of a special poem known as a double couplet, as follows:
In 1836, Chan Heung formally established the Choy Li Fut system, named to honor his 3 teachers: that Buddhist monk, Choy Fook, who taught him Choy Gar, and Li Yau-san who taught him Li Gar, plus his uncle Chan Yuen-woo 陳遠護, who taught him Fut Gar, and developed to honor the Buddha and the Shaolin Kung Fu roots of the system.
Characteristics
Chan Heung 陳享 revised and refined all that he had learned from his teachers and with his disciples, established standardized hand and leg techniques.Choy Li Fut's hand techniques contain 10 elements 十訣: Kam 擒 slapping or pressing palm deflection, Na 拿 shooting arm bridge, Gwa 掛 back fist, Sou 掃 sweeping, Caap 插 yin/yang knuckle strike, Paau 拋 upward power shot, Jong 撞 small upward power shot, Jaau 爪 claw, Bin 鞭 swinging power shot, Pek 劈 chopping, and Leui Yam 擂陰 yin/yang fist. Choy Li Fut's leg techniques contain 6 elements: Chaang 撐 bracing, Ding 釘 nailing, Liu Tek 撩踢 kicking, Sou 掃 sweeping, Jit 截 blocking, Au 勾 hooking, and Daan 彈 springing. There are 8 techniques of how the hand and leg techniques are applied. They are: Yam 陰 negative, Yeung 陽 positive, Gong 剛 hard, Yau 柔 soft, Heui 虛 false, Sat 實 real, Tau 偷 stealing, and Lau 溜 sneaking.
The stances of Choy Li Fut are similar in height to other martial arts styles, such as Hung Gar, but not as high as those of Wing Chun. This allows the practitioner to move quickly during combat without sacrificing stability and power generation. What is unique to the Choy Li Fut style is sometimes termed "whipping", where the practitioner's upper torso twists to generate more power in executing hand and arm techniques. In other martial art styles, the upper body is less dynamic, placing more emphasis in stability and generation of static power. Other differences include how the practitioner's stance should be while facing their opponent. In the Hung Gar and Wing Chun styles, practitioners hold their torso perpendicular to an opponent, to allow the full use of both arms. In contrast, Choy Li Fut holds the torso at an angle to the opponent to reduce the target area exposed to him, and to allow the practitioner more reach. Front stances in Choy Li Fut have the front bent leg angled in to protect the groin, while other martial arts systems have the front bent leg facing forward.
During revolutionary battles between anti-Qing and government forces, whoever belonged to the Choy Li Fut system would identify themselves by crying out "yak" when striking with the palm, "wak" when thrusting with a tiger claw hand, "ha" when striking with the fist, "hok" when using a crane beak strike, and "dik" when kicking. These sounds are unique to the Choy Li Fut system.
Chan Heung 陳享 recorded his discoveries and knowledge onto paper for his future students to follow and eventually recorded over 250 forms and techniques.
Forms
The Choy Li Fut system has over 150 various single person, multiple person, weapon, and training apparatus forms, e.g. the Ching jong, the Sui Sau Jong, and the Ma Jong. Since Chan Heung was a student of three highly skilled Shaolin masters, each teacher had many traditional forms. Chan Heung also developed many training and fighting forms from his own experience and years of training. There are even specialized forms for various students who had different physical shapes and abilities. These forms have been recorded into scripts which have been handed down to his closed-door students.Initially, Ng Lun Ma 五輪馬 and Ng Lun Chui 五輪搥 were created as the basic training forms that beginners must master to learn the basic foundation of stances, movement, and hand techniques. Present day schools and branches may use different teaching and training forms as well as their own curriculum and methodologies to teach Choy Li Fut. Because of the massive number of forms in the Choy Li Fut system as a whole, it is not required to learn every form to complete training in Choy Li Fut. As the Choy Li Fut system spread, different schools and branches added other martial arts masters to their curriculum, adding new forms or modifying some form techniques. This dissemination and evolution of Choy Li Fut resulted in the variations of forms and practices we see between schools and branches.
The Cheung Hung Sing branch of Choy Lee Fut does not practice the same forms as passed down within the lineages of Chan Heung. The major form taught by Cheung Hung-sing was the In and Out Bagua Kuen which contained 1080 moves in it. This form was passed down to Cheung Hung-sing by Monk Ching Cho, and later was broken up into three forms by Chan Ngau-sing. Those forms are Cheung Kuen, Ping Kuen, and Lin Waan Kau Da Kuen as passed down by Chan Ngau-sing. Fut Ga's Sup Ji Kuen was also taught to Cheung Hung-sing alongside Fut Ga's Bagua Kuen. Other older Forms of the Fut San Great Victory include Ga Ji Kuen, Che Kuen, Lin Waan Kuen, Drunken Fist, 10000 Elephants and more. One Lineage, for example, has developed around 50 Forms throughout its history. However, Cheung Hung Sing's branch was known as the fighting branch as Cheung Hung Sing was steadily training revolutionary fighters.
Weapons
Having both Northern and Southern Chinese influences gives Choy Li Fut a wide variety of weapons in its arsenal. Originally, there were 40 weapons in the system of Choy Li Fut. After many years of teaching, some past masters added different forms and other weapons into the system.One weapon that is exclusive to Choy Li Fut is the Nine-Dragon Trident created by the founder, Chan Heung. This weapon was designed to shred any part of the opponent with which it might come into contact. The many hooks and blades can seize an opponent's weapon and, with one twist, rip it from his hands. The Nine-Dragon Trident is known as the "King" of all weapons.