A Short Glimpse At Wah Chuan
Dean Lolos - Tai Chi Chuan Instructor

Chinese Martial Arts as extensive and diverse as China itself. At the broadest level, the region of China (Northern or Southern in which the style is practiced and the internal or external emphasis of style are used to group the myriad of style. Of the Northern styles there are over 100 known styles. The styles recognized as the five most famous are:1) -Wah Chuan 2) -Chi Chuan 3) -Fa Chuan 4) -Pao Chuan and 5)-Hung Chuan.

Wah Chuan
Wah Chuan combines three major elements these are:
Spirit (Boldness)
Chi (Energy)
Sperm (Regenerative Action, Action which from the Destructive Creative)
Wah Chuan can be traced as far back as 1877 to Chi Gua Chin who then lived in the City of Gi Lin in the Province of Shandong. It is believed that Wah Chuan was created in the time of the Sung Dynasty at Wah Shan (Wah Mountain) in Wah Si province.

Chi Gua Chin studied Wa style at a young age. He received this knowledge from his grandfather on his father's side. When he was mature Chi Gua Chin studied a different version of the same Wah style he already knew from Ding Yu San. This clearly demonstrates that the Wa style was already well established in the region where Chi Gua Chin lived. Chi Gua Chin combined both these systems together and the style that resulted from this was far more complete. This action made him stand out and identified him as representing the Wah Chuan system. Chi Gua Chin then taught and actively promoted the Wah Chuan style and was responsible for making the Wah Chuan style famous.

Wah Chuan-Set
Sifu Wing Lam recalls reading in another book that Wah Chuan was 48 hands sets. The wording was in the form of a poem the jist of which is " Knowing the 48 hands sets of Wah Chuan One can travel anywhere under the Heavens." Currently only 12 hand sets are known in the Wah Chuan system. These 12 hand sets are the core(heart of Wah Chuan). They can be practiced as a solo set by an individual or practiced together with a partner as a sparing set. This ability to be performed as a sparing set demonstrates that Wah Chuan is a balanced system. These hand sets include:
1) Kicking, Hand Strikes, Take Down (Throws) and Grabbing techniques
2) Offensive & Defensive and Advancing & Retreating techniques
3) Movements are calm and incorporate Quickness (for short distances) and Speed (for the longer distances) as well as development of hard & Soft and Solid & Empty.
A person who practices this style can increase the bodies flexibility and muscular strength as well as improve the brain's reaction function. Besides hand sets Wah Chuan includes Broad Sword, Spear, Straight Sword, Staff, various weapons and sparing sets.

Wah Chuan- General Knowledge
Chi Long Yung is a famous sifu of Wah Chuan who has written four books on Wah Chuan style: Number 1 Wah Chuan, Number 2 Wah Chuan, Number 3 Wah Chuan, Number 4 Wah Chuan. Wah Chuan currently is most popular in Shandong, Henan, Hebei, Kiangsu, Ge Gong and Shanghai.