Hung Ga


Hung Ga, Hung Kuen, or Hung Ga Kuen is a southern Chinese martial art belonging to the southern shaolin styles. It is associated with the Cantonese folk hero Wong Fei Hung, a Hung Ga master.
The hallmarks of the Wong Fei-Hung lineage of Hung Ga are deep low stances, notably the "sei ping ma" horse stance, and strong hand techniques, notably the bridge hand and the versatile tiger claw. Traditionally, students spent anywhere from several months to three years in stance training, often sitting only in horse stance from half an hour to several hours at a time, before learning any forms. Each form could then take a year or so to learn, with weapons learned last. In current times, this mode of instruction is generally considered impractical for students, who have other concerns beyond practicing kung fu. However, some instructors still follow 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.

Historical origins

Hung Ga's earliest beginnings have been traced to the 17th century in southern China. More specifically, legend has it that a Shaolin monk, Jee Sin Sim See was at the heart of Hung Ga's emergence. Jee Sin Sim 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, allowing him to practice in semi-secrecy. When the Northern Shaolin 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 Jee Sin Sim See trained several people, including non-Buddhist monks, also called Shaolin Layman Disciples, in the art of Shaolin Kung Fu.
Of course, Jee Sin 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 Jee Sin Sim See. Eventually, Hung Hei-gun became Jee Sin Sim See's number one student.
That said, legend has it that Jee Sin 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.
Because the character "hung" 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".
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 Hung Ga curriculum of Wong Fei-Hung

The Hung Ga curriculum that Wong Fei-Hung learned from his father consisted of
Single Hard Fist, Double Hard Fist, Taming the Tiger Fist,
Mother & Son Butterfly Swords, Angry Tiger Fist, Fifth Brother Eight Trigram Pole,
Flying Hook, and Black Tiger Fist.
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
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 Sim See, 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 in 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
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
These routines serve as a bridge between the external force of Tiger Crane and the internal focus of Iron Wire. "Five Animals" 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, a senior student and teaching assistant of Wong Fei Hung, into the Five Animal Five Element 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
Iron Wire builds internal power and is attributed to the martial arts master Leung Kwan, better known as Tit Kiuh Saam. 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
a student of Tit Sin Saam. The Iron Wire form is essentially a combination of Hei Gung 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, 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, and the Yu Family Tiger Fork.
Both branches also train the broadsword, the butterfly swords, the spear, and even the fan, but use different routines to do so.
Mother & Son Butterfly Swords 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 Sim See 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 Sim See 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 is said to fit this description, though the implied link to the legendary Jee Sin Sim See 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 fits the description of Jee Sin Sim See's martial arts, but traces its ancestry to Ng Mui and Miu Hin who, like Jee Sin Sim See, 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, and from his daughter to his grandson Fong Sai-Yuk, both Chinese folk heroes like Jee Sin Sim See, 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", though these predate the Qing Dynasty. 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 Sim See 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, 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.
Not all share the opinion that several Hung Kuen styles exist, because Hung Ga has its origin in the famous Southern Shaolin temple. There, the most famous lineage with Hung Hei-gun, Luk Ah Choy, Wong Tai, Wong Kei-Ying, Wong Fei Hung and Dang Fong 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 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, 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 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 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 has taught well known masters such as Y.C. Wong and Bucksam Kong . Lam Cho's children, Anthony Lam Chun Fai, and Lam Chun Sing, now carry on his Hung Ga teaching in Hong Kong. Anthony Lam Chun Fai, his eldest son, has also done much to spread Hung Kuen in Europe, while Simon Lam Chun Chung, his third son, continues to teach his father's students and new students at Lam Cho's renowned studio in Mong Kok, Hong Kong.
Other students of Lam Cho include Kwong Tit Fu and Tang Kwok Wah. 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 , Yon Lee , and Sik Y. Hum. Calvin Chin of Newton Highlands, Massachusetts, 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 City, China, Yon Lee and his students formed the Harvard Shaolin Cultural Foundation. In 2010, the Harvard foundation and the Songshan Cultural Research Foundation of Dengfeng hosted a conference on Shaolin culture, focusing the link between kung fu and medicine.
Chiu Kau began learning Hung Kuen in Singapore. He later married Wong Siu Ying, 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 of Alameda, California, and Chiu Wai 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, and in 1998 another branch was established in Hong Kong under the teaching of Gam Bok Yin.
John Leong learned from Lam Sai-Wing's student, Wong Lee. The Chang Ke Chi branch of Hung Kuen is represented by Steven C. George of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and Daniel Král, Vladimír Šanda, David Kříženecký, Stanislav Fraibiš, Martin Veselý of Prague, Czech Republic.
劉湛家傳 Lau Jaam Hung Kuen family lineage Lau Kar Yung/Lau Ga-Yung is the grandson of Lau Cham. Kar yung is son of Lau Cham second daughter and is also Lau Kar Leung and Lau Kar Wing’s nephew. His birth last name is Ho, and He love kung fu since young. Since He was five year old, He was followed Lau Shiu Yee to learn Lau’s Family Hung Ga kung fu, Chinese herbal medicine at Lau cham’s martial arts school. He also joined the Lau Kar Ban/ Lau’s brothers and changed his name to actor name "Lau Kar Yung ". He is the Grandmaster of Lau’s Family and he continues spreading the lineage across the globe. Additional lau's family disciples was added for the 6th generation apprentice, representing Germany Master Jau Chi Hang and Mexico Master James Valentino Santi.
One of the more-famous teachers of Hung Kuen today is the famous Shaw Brothers movie director/actor, Lau Kar Leung , 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