by Mark Jensen
Hung Gar is a Chinese martial art that originated from the Southern Shaolin Temple located in the Fukien Province of South China. Ling Nam, or “South of the Ridges”, is the name given to the large geographical area south of the five great mountains of China and covers all the open meadowlands on the south side of China 's two dominant mountain ranges. Ling Nam Hung Gar then, is the name given to one school of Hung Gar Kung Fu that was located in the Ling Nam region. A more popular name for this distinct style is “Canton Hung Gar” because of its close association with the Canton area and with the stories of famous Cantonese Kung Fu masters such as Wong Fei Hong and Lam Tsai Wing.
Hung Gar is one of the best known of the Southern Chinese Kung Fu styles derived form the Southern Shaolin Temple and has a legitimate claim, along with other southern systems, as one of the foundations of Okinawan Karate. It is essentially characterized by hard, strong, powerful, explosive movements, minimal kicking, training with low hoarse stances, dynamic tension exercises, hard external conditioning methods and unique internal energy cultivation. The principles underlying Hung Gar Kung Fu have three sources: the Twelve Brides which are methods for bridging and transferring power to an opponent's body; the Five Animals, Panther, Tiger, Snake, Crane and Dragon; the Five Elements of metal, earth, fire, wood and water which have their foundations within traditional Chinese medicine.
Sifu Wing Lam was born in Canton , China in 1947 and, at the age of eight years old, his family moved to Hong Kong . In Hong Kong he studied Hung Gar Kung Fu from his Grandmaster Chiu Gao, his Master Chiu Wai (Chiu Gao's son) and his Master Lum Jo. In 1965 he immigrated to the United States , and in 1967, opened a school in San Francisco 's China Town . In 1973 he relocated forty miles south to Sunnyvale , CA. where, for the next thirty years, he has taught Canton Hung Gar. Sifu Lam as been a major force in establishing Chinese martial arts in the United States and has been featured in numerous martial arts publications and public television shows.
In his latest book, “Southern Shaolin Kung Fu Ling Nam Hung Gar”, Sifu Lam focuses on the distinguishing concepts of Hung Gar and not the teaching the forms. While there are differences in the teaching and practice of Hung Gar from teacher to teacher and from school to school, the true Hung Gar principles remain the same because they are based on the concepts of body mechanics, effective energy direction and common sense. “I have been teaching for 30 years now and during this time I have had many questions about Hung Gar from my students. Many students would read books, magazine articles or discussions on website forums that talk about Hung Gar. They would then come to me and ask if what they had read was true or to explain certain principles that they had not heard about before reading it in a book. I began to realize that all the written material on Hung Gar available to students seemed to generate more questions than answers. In this book I have attempted to answer these questions as well as explain the most important fundamental principles of the Hung Gar system” says Sifu Lam when asked what motivated him to write this book.
This book focuses on the physical mechanics of the human body. It makes no difference what style you practice or what lineages you come from, the mechanics of the human body are the same. Punching is punching, kicking is kicking. The book concentrates on the physics of how the human body can increase the power generated within technique. The correct body angle can maximize the power and strength of every application. These are basic principles that transcend all forms of martial arts. Because the human body is the same across the martial spectrum, these principles are also the same. Anyone who reads this book can gain and apply these principles regardless of the style that they are training in.
A unique and refreshing aspect of this book is that Sifu Lam added sections with stories of famous Hung Gar masters. “What I was trying to show the reader with these stories”, says Sifu Lam, “is not only the history of the style but also the way of life that the old masters led, how they dealt with people, when and how they used and did not use their martial skills. Ninety-nine percent of the time when we talk about martial arts, we talk about how it is used to hurt people. Almost never do we hear it discussed in how to avoid hurting people. Hopefully the reader will not only understand the techniques told about in the story but will also understand the conduct of Chinese Martial Artists within their society”.
The applications that are shown and describe in the book are relatively simple and easy to understand because Sifu Lam feels that the simpler the technique, the better. “In a real fight”, says Sifu Lam, “every technique is about speed. A complicated technique will take too long. No one has time or ability to think fast enough to apply complicated moves in a fight. This is why I show simple techniques.”
I asked Sifu Lam what was the most important thing that he wanted his readers to remember from this book. “Be open-minded,” he says. “There is an idea out there that you should only learn martial arts from one teacher. While this is true in the beginning, if you study martial arts for a long period you need to expand your sphere of reference, to discover things for yourself, to be your own teacher. You need to do your own research whether it be from talking with people from other styles, reading books, video tapes, learning some techniques from a different style or different teacher - whatever source you can get. Towards this spirit, I offer this book.”
