When people think about kung fu, a lot of people think about the old Shaw Brothers movies.  Some of their movies have become iconic, like the Master Killer (or The 36 Chambers of Shaolin) and the Five Deadly Venoms.  In a lot of these, especially when “Shaolin kung fu” was being used, a lot of actors were actually doing a style called Hung Gar.  Most famous of these is Gordon Liu, who was in Master Killer and was recently in Kill Bill vol1 and 2.  So what is this “Hung Gar”?

Hung Gar kung fu means the “Hung family style” of kung fu.  It’s probably one of the most widely practiced kung fu styles in the world, and is famous as an exemplar of traditional Shaolin kung fu.  There are a number of different variants to Hung Gar, and a variety of myths, legends, and stories about the art.  Below is my personal understanding of the art.  I’ve practiced it since 1997 and it’s what I’d call one of my “majors” in kung fu.  The description below is based on a number of different stories, so I’ve tried to find the commonalities among them, with the assumption that what overlaps should be closer to the truth.

A little history…

Starting in the 1620’s, the semi-nomadic tribes of Manchuria, under the leadership of Nurhachi, invaded China during the time of the Ming Dynasty.  In 1644, the Manchurians eventually won possession of Beijing and took control over the empire establishing the Qing Dynasty. This caused resentment and distrust towards the new regime from the native Han Chinese who resented being ruled by the “barbarian outsiders.”  Rebellion fomented and secret societies arose to fight the Manchurian rule.  Legend has it that many of these rebel factions used the southern Shaolin temple for refuge and as a base of operations.  Using the guise of monks, the rebels would train and plan strategy all under the safety afforded by the temple.  By the early 1700’s the Manchurians discovered this, attacked the temple and had it raised to the ground.  Again, legend has it that all but a small handful of the Shaolin monks perished.  One of these was a monk who was proficient in the Tiger style and his Name was Gee Sum Sim See (and many a stories and movies would be made about him…).  Gee Sum Sim See fled the temple’s destruction and hid out in southern China amongst its crowded cities and riverine cultures, teaching kung fu to fellow rebels.

Geographically, southern China is famous for its coastline and its rivers, with their crowded cities and ports.  Maritime trade and riverine shipping was and in some ways still is a major way of life.  Back in the day, Chinese opera was a popular performance art and even this form of entertainment was spread and performed on boats.  Many acrobats and those trained in kung fu performed on these floating opera houses called Hung Suan, or red boats – red to distinguish them as entertainment venues for the public to find.  This is where Gee Sum Sim See hid and he took the raw talent of these gifted athletes and performing artists and turned them into rebel fighting machines.   He is said to have helped originate many systems of kung fu in this way, and Hung Gar was one of the most successful and famous of these.

Amongst the various people he taught in the cadre of the red boats, one of his top students was a fellow named Hung Hei Guan. Who he really was is murky.  There’re no historical records to corroborate any of the stories, just oral tradition.  One of the most popular of these traditions say that Hung was a tea merchant by trade and his real name was Ju Gu Cha.  This is important for many Hung Gar legends because Ju (or Chu or Chew) was the family name of the old Imperial line of the previous Ming Dynasty, making him an Aragorn or Luke Skywalker-like figure in the stories.  In any case, Hung learned all that he could from master Gee and became an adept in his Tiger style.  Seeking more knowledge, he was advised by Master Gee to seek out a style that could complement his rather harsh and robust Tiger style with something more fluid and soft, and for this Hung sought out the White Crane style.  He found this in the form of Fong Wing Chun, not to be confused with Yim Wing Chun who was said to be the founder of the Wing Chun system.  Story goes that Fong Wing Chun was the niece of a famous Crane stylist, and having met this beautiful, smart, and equally skilled fellow martial artist, he eventually married her.

But he still wasn’t satisfied with his skills.  He still wanted to learn more, to further perfect this art.  Hung’s quest for more and better kung fu turned him to learn techniques from the Dragon, Snake and Leopard system and the 5 elemental fist styles from a number of peers and contemporaries.  Hung then combined all that he had learned and created his own unique style. Rooted in the Tiger style, tempered by the Crane style, and influenced by the Snake, Leopard, Dragon, and 5 elements, Hung Hei Guan’s system was very powerful and deadly, and he became very famous for his kung fu skills.

There are several theories on how the actual name “Hung Gar Kuen” or “the Hung clan boxing” came about. One story says that since Gee Sum Sim See was from the Shaolin temple, Hung Hei Guan used his surname “Hung” (which, if you know Chinese, can have a lot of different characters used to represent the sound and one of them can be translated as “to stand tall with integrity”).  He did this to keep the Manchurian authority from suspecting he who he really was and where he had learned his kung fu.  Another story states that the system takes after his surname, his pseudonym Hung (remember the bit about the tea merchant Ju Gu Cha) – and he had changed his name to this because it can be translated as “red” or “blood color”, which signifies the “Red or Bloody Fist Clan”.  A good propaganda/rallying cry for rebels.  And finally, another legend says that the name actually comes from Gee Sum Sim See himself and he used the term Hung Gar because of the Hung Suan or red boats, were he first started teaching the lay people.

Eventually, Hung Hei Guan’s style became so popular, it became one of the 5 main “family” systems practiced in southern China.  The 5 main family styles are: Hung Gar, Lau Gar, Mok Gar, Li Gar and Choy Gar.  Many rebel factions learned this style to combat the Manchurian army and although none of Hung’s descendents could defeats the Manchurians, the system continued to grow in popularity, nevertheless.  In fact, to many Hung Gar eventually became synonymous with Shaolin kung fu and southern style kung fu, producing numerous famous teachers and fighters.  One of the most famous Hung Gar practitioners in history was Wong Fei Hung, who lived in the late 1800’s.  It’s said that he embodied the essence of what a kung fu practitioners should be – morally upright, kindhearted and generous, stern but flexible, and a serious bad ass to boot.  He was a doctor and the instructor to the local militia and it was he and his students that really helped popularize Hung Gar and bring it into the modern world.  More movies and TV serials have been made about him than anyone else.  Jet Li’s “Once Upon a Time in China” series is about him as well as about a third of the Shaw Brother movies.  In fact, as I mentioned in the opening paragraph above, a vast number of the kung fu practitioners that showed up on the Hong Kong cinema were Hung Gar fighters, which is why it’s so easy to see the style’s mark in Chinese martial arts movies.  Currently, it’s probably one of the most popular and widely practiced kung fu styles around the world.

Principles/Characteristics

The Hung Gar style can be recognized by low stances, brutal blocks-that-attack and powerful fist and vicious claw attacks – owing much to the tiger part of its ancestry.  It became famous as a quintessential southern Shaolin style, and for its various animal techniques.  Movements of the Dragon embodied internal and external energies, moving in circular and spiraling patterns, cultivating the chi and spirit.  Movements of the Tiger were fierce pouncing and clawing attacks, powerful strikes and debilitating takedowns, emphasizing muscle and bone development.  Movements of the Leopard were based on speed and dexterity, utilizing sudden explosive movements and the use of ligaments and fast twitch muscles to channel the chi into rapid fire attacks.  Techniques of the Crane were graceful, fluid, swift and agile, stressing balance and flow, emphasizing moving with the attack to counterattack, exploiting angles and redirections.  Movements from the Snake developed chi (internal energy), fluidity, and relaxation, touch sensitivity and sticking to and following the opponent’s energy and looking for openings through which pin-point attacks would be launched.

One of the key ideas taught in Hung Gar is the idea of “soft as thread, hard as iron”.  That is, your movements should be as soft and fluid as thread, until impact in which case you turn iron hard.  So that means that all movements have some soft and hard in them in varying proportions, and this combination and the interplay of this (the old famous yin-yang) gives the system its power.

Hung Gar also spends a great deal of time training stances and leg strength.  Since all power is derived from an action/reaction force from the ground, this connection to the earth is strongly emphasized – which leads to some mighty strong thighs a good sense of balance.  Hung Gar is not a very acrobatic style, not a lot of jumping around or running around, and a lot of stress is placed in developing what’s called “root”, that is a sense of balance and body weight such that you only move (or get moved by an opponent) only when you want to – otherwise you should be like a rock.  Imagine a tank – it a big bad mother, and nothing’s moving it until it wants to, but when it does it can crush anything in its way.  That’s Hung Gar.

Future posts will go a little further into Hung Gar training, Hung Gar strategies, methods, etc.  Stay tuned.
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