01-02-2015, 12:00 AM
I LOVE Kung Fu and wish I knew more...here are some Kung Fu videos and a commentary on them...
Kung fu simply means acquired skill through practice. Anything with skill CAN be kung fu. You practice kung fu while flipping burgers, swinging a hammer, or even typing.
Chinese Kung Fu is among the most developed and oldest of martial arts in the world, with hundreds if not thousands of different styles developed through thousands of years of warfare, life in large developed cities, and bandit infested country sides.
In China there are two kinds of Kung Fu - there is the internal or soft styles, and the external or hard styles, while some use a combination of BOTH. The taoists were known for internal styles like Tai Chi Chuan, and the Shaolin Monks were known for their harder styles, but they also combined hard and soft techniques. The true shaolin were routed in the 1800's so their techniques and lineages became scattered with many techniques lost forever (the Shaolin monastaries in China today, while impressive, are NOT the same), and developed into other Kung Fu styles, such as Hung Gar, Wing Chun, Choy-Li-Fut, and others.
Most Kung Fu really has evolved based on the environment where it is practiced. For example, the northern and western parts of china (an also korea) are mountainous - so the practitioners used more leg and kicking techniques suited for hilly terrain and open spaces (some jump kicks are actually meant to take out men on horseback). While in the south was cities, farmland, and fishing communities, where a lot of high and elaborate kicking is not very useful, especially if you are on a boat or dock with water nearby - so in the south sophisticated stances and more hand techniques were used. You can also see this parallel in Okinawa with karate - fishing abd beaches, and more kicking types of martial arts from Korea (stuff this is like Tae Kwan Do).
And now onto the videos...
Kung fu simply means acquired skill through practice. Anything with skill CAN be kung fu. You practice kung fu while flipping burgers, swinging a hammer, or even typing.
Chinese Kung Fu is among the most developed and oldest of martial arts in the world, with hundreds if not thousands of different styles developed through thousands of years of warfare, life in large developed cities, and bandit infested country sides.
In China there are two kinds of Kung Fu - there is the internal or soft styles, and the external or hard styles, while some use a combination of BOTH. The taoists were known for internal styles like Tai Chi Chuan, and the Shaolin Monks were known for their harder styles, but they also combined hard and soft techniques. The true shaolin were routed in the 1800's so their techniques and lineages became scattered with many techniques lost forever (the Shaolin monastaries in China today, while impressive, are NOT the same), and developed into other Kung Fu styles, such as Hung Gar, Wing Chun, Choy-Li-Fut, and others.
Most Kung Fu really has evolved based on the environment where it is practiced. For example, the northern and western parts of china (an also korea) are mountainous - so the practitioners used more leg and kicking techniques suited for hilly terrain and open spaces (some jump kicks are actually meant to take out men on horseback). While in the south was cities, farmland, and fishing communities, where a lot of high and elaborate kicking is not very useful, especially if you are on a boat or dock with water nearby - so in the south sophisticated stances and more hand techniques were used. You can also see this parallel in Okinawa with karate - fishing abd beaches, and more kicking types of martial arts from Korea (stuff this is like Tae Kwan Do).
And now onto the videos...