Hung Gar (洪家 or in Mandarin/hanyu pinyin, hong jia, lit. of the Hung family), which can also be transliterated as 'hung ga', is a Southern Chinese martial art tradition. Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ...

It is typically mislabeled as solely an external martial art, relying on brute physical force rather than the cultivation of qi or ch'i, although traditionally, the student progresses steadily to an internal focus. In Cantonese, Hung is pronounced "hoong", and gar is "gah". This particular character 'hung' (洪) should not to be confused with the characters for 'red' or 'hero', which are homonyms. There are two common uses for this character. The first and most common is an adjective used to describe things that are vast or overwhelming, but commonly used to describe -- as the water radical on its left-half indicates -- a flood. The second use is as a surname. QI, standing for Quite Interesting, is a comedy panel game shown on BBC Two and BBC Four and hosted by Stephen Fry. ... Cantonese (粵語/粤语, lit. ...

In fact, the style is commonly attributed to Hung Hei Gwun (洪熙官), a Fujian tea merchant who learned his art from a monk named Ji Sin Sim Si (至善禅師) (pron. Gee Seen Sim See), allegedly one of the survivors of the destruction of the Fujian Shaolin Temple. Hung then traveled to Guangdong, bringing the art with him. As always, in a historical tradition such as that of Chinese martial arts, where one's legacy is transmitted by oral and physical traditions, much as in dance, and because much was destroyed over the chaos that befell China over the last 200 years, and most of all, since most practitioners in the non-Chinese world do not read Chinese, written documentation is hard to come by that would verify the exact origin of this tradition. Fujian (Chinese: 福建; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal System Pinyin: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China. ... Guangdong (Simplified Chinese: 广东; Traditional Chinese: 廣東; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kuang-tung; Postal System Pinyin: Kwangtung or Canton Province, Jyutping: gwong2 dung1), is a province on the south coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ...

The hallmarks of the hung gar style are deep, low stances, particularly the horse stance (sei ping ma 四平馬), and strong hand techniques, in particular, the bridge hand (kiu sau 橋手), and the versatile tiger claw (fu jaau 虎爪). 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.

Traditionally, there are at least three unarmed forms that constitute the core of hung ga instruction. The first, gung ji fuk fu kuen (工字伏虎拳) (lit., the i-pattern crouching tiger form, sometimes called in English taming the tiger) is a long form that trains the student in the basic techniques of the tradition while building endurance. Gung ji is often attributed to Ji Sin Sim Si. The second, fu hok seung ying kuen (虎鶴雙形拳) (literally, the double form of tiger and crane) builds on the experience of the first form and adds more 'vocabulary' to the hung ga practitioner's repetoire. The tiger-crane form is attributed to Wong Fei Hung (黃飛鴻). The last form, tit sin kuen (鐵線拳) (iron wire form, pron. teet seen kn), builds the internal power of the student. This form is attributed to a man nicknamed Tit Kiu Saam (鐵橋三) (lit., Iron Bridge Three). Wong Fei Hung (黃飛鴻 huang2 fei1 hong2) (1847 - 1924) was a healer, martial artist and revolutionary who became a Chinese folk hero. ...

Some lineages (see below) also teach an intermediary form between the tiger-crane form and the iron wire set called ng ying kuen (五形拳), also called ng ying ng hong kuen (五形五行拳), also sometimes called sap ying kuen (十形拳) (sup ying kn, or ten forms). Ng ying means five forms, referring to the five Shaolin Quan animals (tiger, panther, crane, dragon, snake) -- and ng hong refers to the Five Elements (metal, earth, water, wood, and fire). This form serves as a bridge between the external force of tiger crane and the internal focus of iron wire. Due to the different lineages in hung gar, some schools may teach only the first two forms, some may teach only the core three, and still others the four (which they call the 'four pillars of hung gar'), and indeed, others may teach several dozen, even. Shaolin Quan, Shaolinquan or Shaolin Chüan (Chinese: 少林拳; pinyin: ) is the term typically used to describe the Chinese martial arts that originate from the famous Shaolin Buddhist temple and monastery at Songshan in Henan, founded circa 7th century CE. There are a few theories as to its origins, some based... In traditional Chinese philosophy, natural phenomena can be classified into the Five Elements (Chinese: 五行; pinyin: ): wood, fire, earth, metal, and water (木, 火, 土, 金, æ°´; mù, huÇ’, tÇ”, jÄ«n, shÇ”i). ...

The Southern stylist traditionally learns at least two basic weapons as well: staff (gwan, pron. gwunn 棍) and single broadsword (daan dou 單刀). These weapons are the favorites of the South. Some may also learn their close cousins, the spear (cheung 槍) and straight sword (gim 劍). Other weapons include the butterfly swords (wu dip dou 蝴蝶刀), the chain whip (biin 鞭) and the halberd (guaan dou 關刀, named after Kwan Yu (關羽), a hero of the classic Romance of Three Kingdoms). However, over the years, and according to different lineages, more weapons and sets, including two-man sparring sets, have been created, borrowed and/or added to the core by different people to meet different demands, and so, instruction will likely vary by the school and lineage. Chinese Saber Dao 刀 (Py dāo, Wade-Giles tao1) is a category of single-edge Chinese swords primarily used for slashing and chopping (sabers), often called broadswords in English because some varieties have wide blades. ... Jian (劍 Pinyin jiàn, Wade-Giles chien4, Cantonese gim, Korean geom, Japanese ken) is a double-edged straight sword used during the last 2,500 years in China. ... Japanese woodblock of Guan Yu by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861). ... Romance of the Three Kingdoms (Simplified Chinese: 三国演义; Traditional Chinese: 三國演義, Pinyin: sān guó yÇŽn yì), written by Luo Guanzhong in the 14th century, is a Chinese historical novel about the turbulent period often referred to as the Three Kingdoms (220-280). ...

This martial art is widely practiced in Southern China, Taiwan, and increasingly the Americas and Europe. Part of the reason why hung gar is so popular and has so many lineages may have to do with the political history of Southern China. Southern China (Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi) has historically been a backwater where refugees, criminals, and other colorful characters have fled, including rebels and the politically radical. The destruction of the Fujian Shaolin Temple, which one source describes as a hotbed of anti-Qing activism, could only have inflammed existing Han Chinese sentiments against their Manchurian rulers. This coincided with a period of tremendous rural economic displacement in Southern China. As secret societies capitalized upon popular rural discontent and devestating poverty, their ranks swelled, increasing the need to train their adherents in martial arts for numerous armed insurrections against the Qing, culminating in the calamitous Taiping Rebellion of the mid-19th century. This may account for both the popularity of Southern Chinese martial arts as well as the tremendous variance in lineages. Another reason is that the provinces that have been home to hung gar, Guangdong and Fujian, have been home to travelling, trading peoples who propagated their art abroad. Hawaiian State Grappling Championships. ... Fujian (Chinese: 福建; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal System Pinyin: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kiàn) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of China. ... Guangdong (Simplified Chinese: 广东; Traditional Chinese: 廣東; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kuang-tung; Postal System Pinyin: Kwangtung or Canton Province, Jyutping: gwong2 dung1), is a province on the south coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ... Guangxi (Simplified Chinese: 广西; Traditional Chinese: 廣西; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Kuang-hsi; Postal System Pinyin: Kwangsi; Zhuang: Gvangjsih Bouxcuengh Swcigi or (old orthography) ) is an autonomous region of the Peoples Republic of China. ... The Qing Dynasty (Manchu: daicing gurun; Chinese: 清朝; pinyin: qīng cháo; Wade-Giles: ching chao), sometimes known as the Manchu Dynasty, was founded by the Manchu clan Aisin Gioro, in what is today northeast China expanded into China proper and the surrounding territories of Inner Asia, establishing the... The Taiping Rebellion (1851–1864) was one of the bloodiest conflicts in history, a clash between the forces of Imperial China and those inspired by a Hakka self-proclaimed mystic named Hong Xiuquan (洪秀全), who was also a Christian convert. ...

Fleeing the poverty and war-stricken South, migrants from Guangdong Province constituted the majority of Chinese overseas for the last 150 years. As they traveled, they brought this martial tradition, and many others, with them abroad. Hung gar has several lineages, the most famous of which is probably the Lam family of Hong Kong, which descends from the legendary hung gar stylist and traditional healer, Wong Fei Hung, and his most famous student, Lam Sai Wing (林世榮), a former pork butcher. But in the US, among the most foremost teachers are Bucksam Kong (江北山 Gong Bak Saan) of Hawaii and Los Angeles,Calvin Chin of Newton, MA, through Kwong Tit Fu; and John Leong (梁崇) of Seattle. Frank Yee (余志偉 Yii Jii Waih) of New York City, who descends from the Deng Fong lineage; Y. C. Wong (黄耀桢) of San Francisco.(林祖) Kwong Wing Lam (Lam Gwong Wing) of Sunnyvale, CA. Also, of course, Chiu Chi Ling (趙志淩) of Alameda, CA, who was taught by his parents Chiu Kau and Siu Ying, who learned from Lam Sai Wing. Chiu Chi Ling (趙志淩) is a Hung Gar kung fu teacher and movie star living in Alameda, CA. Of note, he appeared in Kung Fu Hustle, which opened in the US in 2005. ...

Hung Gar Forms

• 工字伏虎拳 Gung Ji Fuk Fu Kuen
• 虎鶴雙形拳 Fu Hok Seung Ying Kuen
• 十形拳 Sup Ying Kuen (五形五行拳 Ng Ying Ng Hong Kuen)
• 鉄綫拳 Tit Sin Kuen

See also

• Kung fu
• Wushu
• Chinese martial arts