From Shaolin to Taiji Quan

The term Kung Fu, which is probably most widely used in English today when referring to Chinese martial arts, is actually very recent, and became popular only in the 20th century.
There are so many styles of Kung Fu that the uninitiated often become confused. For example, could you tell the difference between, the Long Fist and the Monkey style, or the various types of Taijiquan? And do you know why Chaquan is called the Kung Fu of Muslims?
You will be able to answer these questions by the time you have read this chapter. You will also learn about the historical background to the various styles, their philosophies, important features, and typical forms.

Kung Fu and Quanshu
The term Kung Fu, which is probably most widely used in English today when referring to Chinese martial arts, is actually very recent, and became popular only in the 20 th century. It is interesting to note that even now it is seldom used in the Chinese language, except colloquially in the Cantonese dialect. The popular Chinese term, in both Mandarin and Cantonese, and in both the written and the spoken form, which comes closest to the concept of Kung Fu as it is commonly understood by Western users, is quanshu or quanfa. ( the ‘q’ being pronounced ‘ch’).
Quanshu means the art the fist, quanfa, the techniques of the fist. If you recall the history of Chinese martial arts as described in the previous chapter, you will remember that quanshu and quanfa particularly refer to that aspect of Chinese martial arts where unarmed combat in the form of hitting and kicking is emphasized, as opposed to jueli or zuojiao, for example, where wrestling and throwing respectively are prominent. The terms quanshu and quanfa also suggest some conceptual difference from the more holistic and inclusive term wuyi, which in earlier times included archery and horseriding.
In Chinese, Shaolin Kung Fu is referred to as Shaolinquan; Bagua Kung Fu as Baguaquan; Praying Mantis Kung Fu as Tanglangquan, and so on. Quan, which literally means ‘fist’, is the short form of quanshu or quanfa, and refers not just to the use of the fist, but to the whole system of Kung Fu, including the use of weapons and methods of force training.
All the various styles of Kung Fu came after Shaolin, and almost all- if not actually all- developed from Shaolin Kung Fu.

Shaolin Kung Fu
The famous SHaolin Monastery, was founded by the Indian Buddhist monk, Batuo, in 495 CE, under the imperial patronage of Emperor Xiao Wen Di of the Northern Wei Dynasty. In 527 CE Bodhidharma, and Indian prince who renounced his luxurious life to become a Buddhist monk, arrived there to teach Buddhism. As he found the monks too weak to practise meditation, the essential way to enlightenment, he taught them a series of external exercises known as the EIghtenn Lohan Hands, and a system of internal exercise known as the Classic of Sinew Metamorphosis.
Shaolin was no ordinary monastery. It was the practice of Chinese emperors throughout history to pray to heaven once a year for the peace and prosperity of the people, and they performed the rites at one of the five sacred mountains of China. The Song Mountain where Shaolin Monastery is situated was the Central Sacred Mountain. Hence Shaolin was often visited by emperors and great generals. Some of the generals retired to the monastery to seek spiritual enlightenment. They wre martial arts experts, and when they saw the monks practicing the Eighteen Lohan Hands, they evolved the physical exercises into Kung Fu movements, which were later known as Shaolin Lohan Kung Fu. They also evolved Sinew metamorphosis into Shaolin Chi, Kung. Chi Kung is the art of developing intrinsic energy.
There are now many different types of Shaolin Kung Fu, each with special features suitable for different people and different nedds, but the basic form is Lohan Kung Fu, which is a good style for strong, large exponents, because it uses the advantages of size and strength. Shaolin Chi Kung has also developed into many different types, but Sinew Metamorphosis still remains the fundamental approach to internal force training in Shaolin Kung Fu.
The conditions at Shaolin Monastery were ideal for Kung Fu training. The environment is among the most scenic in China, and the monks had no worldly problems to distract them. Kung Fu was not just practiced as a fighting system, but studied and researched as an art by intelligent,well- disciplined disciples who had a lot of time as well as some of the best masters in the empire to teach them. Their achievements were cumulative, with each generation of masters adding new techniques and skills to a growing repertoire. It is not surprising that soon the monastery became the premier centre for Kung Fu training.
Shaolin Kung Fu was initially taught only to the monks, but later secular disciples were also accepted. After graduation, these secular disciples and also some monks spread to various parts of the country to teach the art. Soon the saying, ‘Shaolin Kung Fu is the best in the world’ was widely accepted. It was later divided into Northern Shaolin and Southern Shaolin.
The volume of the Shaolin arts expanded so much that no one could learn them all in his lifetime and specialization began. The various skills are traditionally known as the Shaolin 72 Arts. These arts are extensive and comprehensive, aiming not only for effective fighting, but also for health, personal growth and enlightenment, and are vaired to suit the widely differing needs of the young, the middle aged and the old. Since more arts have been added over the years, the number is actually more than 72. to maintain the tradition there have been minor changes at different periods to the arts that constitute the 72, but the major arts have remained the same. Some examples of these are Iron Palm, Plum Flower Foundation, the Art of Lightness, the Heart Purifying Method and various techniques to enhance different sense organs. The Shaolin 72 Arts are therefore more than just a fighting system..

Changquan or Long Fists
Many styles branched out from the ‘parent’ Shaolin Kung Fu. The earliest was probably the Taijiu style, known in Chinese as taiju changquan (meaning the Long Fist style ) of the first Song Emperor. The term ‘long’ alludes to the continuous movements of the patterns in their sets, which resemble the continuous flow of the Long River, the name the Chinese give the Yangtze Kiang. Thus, in a performance of Northern Shaolin Kung Fu, individual patterns are not performed in a staccato manner, but in a flowing continuous wave, followed by another wave of another 10-20 patterns. A set of 60 patterns, for example, is performed with only four or five short pauses, as if it contains only four or five long, continuous patterns. This Taijiu style was invented in the 10th century by Zhao Kuang Yin, the founding emperor of the Song Dynasty, who owed much of his empire building to Shaolin Kung Fu.
Later the term Changquan, or Long Fist, began to be used for other styles of Kung Fu where there are fast, forceful, stretching movements and beautiful jumping and kicking techniques, all executed like continuous waves. All Changquan styles are either derived directly from Northern Shaolin or greatly influenced by it. The major styles of Changquan today are Chaquan, Huaquan(Flower Kung Fu), Huaquan (Kung Fu of Essence), Hongquan and Baoquan.
Chaquan, or Cha Kung Fu, was developed by Jamil, a Chinese Muslim living in the later Ming Dynasty. The term is derived from his name: in Chinese, Jamil is pronounced’ Cha-mi-li’. Chaquan is sometimes known as the Kung Fu of Muslims, as it is very popular among the Muslim populations of north-western China.
Chaquan is beautiful to watch and effective for fighting. There are ten parts:
1. mother and son
2. hand movements
3. flying kicks
4. prosperity and peace
5. east of the gate
6. ambush
7. plum flower
8. continuous attach
9. tail wagging
10. linked together
Hongquan (pronounced as ;Hung Ch’uan), or Hong Kung Fu, is popular in the provinces of SHanxi and Sichuan. It was founded by the famous Shaolin monk Jue Yuan of the Yuan Dynasty, and was named afer its two basic sets, Little Hong and Big Hong. It is a popular style of Northern Shaolin Kung Fu.
In Chinese, the word hong, meaning ‘red’, is pronounced in the same way as another word meaning ‘great’, which is a fairly common surname. One of the great Southern Shaolin masters was Hong Xi Guan who lived in the Qing Dynasty, and there is a famous style of Southern Shaolin Kung Fu named after him, which is also named called Hongquan. Although the two words are written differently in Chinese characters, they are exactly the same when written in Roman script, so we need to be sure which style of Hongquan is referred to. Soughern Hongquan will be discussed in the next chapter.
Baoquan, or Cannon Kung Fu, is a very old style. Documents show that the famous SHaolin monk, Yuan Zhong, gave a demonstration of baoquan in front of the first Tang emperor during his inauguration as a general. It is called Baoquan because it is noted for its speed and power. There are 12 basic techniques in this style, known as the 12 Cannons.
Huaquan, or Flower Kung Fu, was invented by a SHaolin master, Gan Feng Chi, in the Qing Dynasty. General Discussion on Flower Kung Fu, the prototype of this style written by the master himself is still available, and has been reprinted. This style of Kung Fu emphasizes fast, short techniques, counter-attacking the opponent with distracting movements it is useful for small exponents faced with bigger opponents. It stresses short combat sequences for practical fighting rather than long, complete sets for demonstration.
The Romanized spelling hua, meaning ‘flower’, is pronounced in the first tone. There is another style of Kung Fu, which is also spelt as Huaquan, but with the hua, meaning ‘beauty’ or ‘essence’, pronounced in the second tone. There is no confusion between these two styles in Chinese because both their written forms and their pronunciations are different; but problems arise when they are written in the Romanized spelling as there is no difference.
Huaquan meaning Kung Fu of Essence combines the essentials of jing, chi (qi) and shen, the three fundamental features of Kung Fu, in one unity. Jing refers to internal force, chi to intrinsic energy, and shen to mind power. The basic philosophy of Huaquan rests on the principles of four attacks, eight methods and twelve forms.
The four attacks are hitting, kicking, falling and gripping. The eight methods are hands, eyes, body, footwork, strength, internal force, intrinsic energy and mind power. The 12 forms are moving like waves, being still like mountains, rising like monkeys, lowering like sparrows, standing like cockerels, being stable like pine trees, turning like wheels, stretching like bows, being light like leaves, being heavy like iron, being sharp like eagles, and being fast like wind.

Yan Qing, Deceptive Movements and the Monkey Style
Yanqingquan, or Yan Qing Kung Fu, was invented by Yan Qing, a Kung Fu master of the Song Dynasty. One day while passing through Shanxi, he met an old priest named Midnight Saint with a well-trained monkey, who addressed Yan Qing as monkey, and his monkey as Yan Qing. The insult led to a quarrel.. midnight Saint told Yan Qing that he should first defeat his monkey before fighting him. But Yan Qing could not even beat the monkey, so he begged Midnight Saint to accept him as a disciple. Thus, Yan Qing Kung Fu is full of deceptive techniques which resemble a monkey’s movements.
On another occasion, Yan Qing was being trailed by the police. His footprints in the snow were so deceptive that the police soon lost the trail. Hence Yan Qing Kung Fu is also called Mi-Zhong-Yi, or the Art of Deceptive Movements. It is popular in the Chinese provinces of Shantung and Shanxi. The great Kung Fu master of the late Qing Dynasty, Huo Yuan Jia, whose Jing Wu (Ching Woo)

Hence Yan Qing Kung Fu is also called Mi-Zhong-Yi, or the Art of Deceptive Movements. It is popular in the Chinese provinces of Shantung and Shanxi. The great Kung Fu master of the late Qing Dynasty, Huo Yuan Jia, whose Jing Wu (Ching Woo) Athletic Association, helped to spread Kung Fu to,many parts of the world, was famous for his Mi- Zhong-Yi.
The Monkey style, or Houquan, was a very old form of Kung Fu. Archaeological findings show thatit was already in existence during the Han Dynasty. In his classic New Book of Disdpline the Ming general ChiJi Guang mentions it in his discussion of famous contemporary Kung Fu.
The Monkey style is noted for agility, fast attacks and deceptive movements. Iris excellent for small exponents; indeed, having a large body is a disadvantage. It exists as a separate school in itself and also as a compo- nent of many other schools. Mymaster, Sifu HoFatt Nam, is an expert in the Monkey style. An example of the Monkey style Kung Fu pattern is shown in Figure 3.7. The Various Styles of Taijiquan : A very important development took place towards the end of' the Song Dynasty. A Taoist master, Zhang San Feng, also spelt as Chang San Foong, retreated to the Wudang Mountain to continue his search for immortality after he had completed his Kung Fu training at Shaolin Monastery. Although the monastery wag Buddhist; Shaolin disciples could be of any religion – indeed there were many Taoists, Con.clans and people of other religions studying there.
One day Zhang San Feng witnessed a fight between a crane and a snake; This gave him an inspiration that was to have a tremendous effect in the history of Kung Fu. He modified his Shaolin Kung Fu into softer forms, and emphasized chi training and meditation. This new type of
Kung Fu was known as Wudang 32 Patterns Long Fist. Zhang San Feng is generally credited as the founder of the internal school ofKung Fu. This Wudang Kung Fu, which is now frequently referred to as Wudang Taijiquan, was passed on to Wang ZhongYue, and then to Zhang Song Xl. It was then transmitted to Chen Wang Ting, a schnlar-general of the late Ming Dynasty, who transformed it into the Taijiquan of Chen Jla Gou village in 18th century, thus, founding Chen style Taijiquan. At the Chen Jla Gou village, Taijiquan was taught only to members of the Chen family until the time of Chen Chang Xing in the 19th century Then a young martial arts enthusiast named Yang Lu Chart, who had practised many types of Kung Fu before, was so keen to learn Taijiquan that he gave away his family fortune and worked as a servant for the Chen family. Without anyone knowing, he observed how the members of the family trained, and secretly practised at night, doing this for many years. One day, the story goes, another master came to the Chen family to challenge, Chen Chang Xing. As he was too old to fight, his eldest son took the challenge, but was badly beaten. The challenger asked for the master, but his disciples tried to prevent Chen Chang Xing's disgrace by telling him that the master was away. The challenger decided to wait, however, and returned every three days to ask for the master. The Chen family had a problem until finally Yang Lu Chan took the challenge and, to everyone's surprise, defeated the challenger, restoring the glory of Taijiquan and the Chen family.
Personally, I find this story unlikely, for two reasons. First a Kung Fu master, especially one who emphasized internal training, would not deteriorate to the point where he could not fight. And secondly, it was not proper for a master, especially the head of a Kung Fu school, to hide behind the pretence that he was not at home when faced with a challenger. The challenger was friendly not malicious and it would not be a disgrace to acknowledge the superiority of his Kung Fu.
At that time, to learn Kung Fu secretly behind a master's back was a very grave offence, punishable by death. But, as was to be expected under the circumstances, Chen Chang Xing pardoned Yang Lu Chan, and accepted him as his special disciple.
Yang Lu Chan travelled all over China to meet Kung Fu masters in friendly challenges. Using the Taijiquan that he had learnt from Chen Chang Xing, he always Won. Soon he was known as the InvincibleYang.
Later he settled down in Beijing to teach Taijiquan, and he is regarded as the founder of Yang style Taijiquan, although the modification from the Chen to theYang style was actually done by his grandsonYang Deng Fu. Figure 3.10 illustrates a pattern fromYang style Taijiquan. After learning fromYang Lu Chart, and then from another Chen master, Chen Jing Ping, Wu Yu Xiang started his own style of Taijiquan, known asWu style Taijiquan. There is anotherWu style Taijiquan, initiated byWu
ChuanYou, who was a disciple of Yang Lu Chan's son, Yang Ban Hou, who in turn also had learned fromWuYu Xiang. But in Chinese tile two 'Wu' are written and pronounced differently.
At the beginning of the 20th century, when he was already 50 years old, Sun Lu Tang, a Kung Fu master who was already accomplished in Bagua and Xingyi Kung Fu, learned Taijiquan from Hao Wei Zhen, the third generation successor of Wu Yu X. iang. Sun Lu Tang combined the arts of Taijiquan, Bagua and Xingyi to found Sun style Taijiquan.
There are therefore numerous styles of Taijiquan. Apart from the tra- ditional Wudang Taijiquan of Zhang San Feng, which is rarely seen now, the oldest style today is Chen styleTaijiquan. The most popular, especial- ly outside China, however, is theYang style. Chen style Taijiquan is com- paratively hard and fast, and in many ways resembles Shaolin Kung Fu. Yang style Taijiquan is comparatively slow and soft, and resembles a grace- ful dance.
Taiji, meaning 'the grand ultimate', refers to the Cosmos. Of all the major styles of Kung Fu, Taijiquan is the most closely related to Taoist philosophy. Its fundamental principle is the concept of yin-yang (see page 34), and it is commonly referred to as the soft or internal school. The term 'soft' can be misleading: despite its genfie, graceful appearance, Taijiquan can be very forceful. As the term 'internal' suggests, Taijiquan force is developed mainly by means of the internal training of intrinsic energy and meditation. Soft and Hard, Internal and External As we have seen, the various styles of Kung Fu are sometimes classified into the hard or external schools and soft or internal schools. Shaolin Kung Fu and all its derivatives belong to the hard or external schools, whereas Taijiquan, Baguaquan and Xingyiquan belong to the soft or internal schools.
But hard and soft, or external and internal, are arbitary terms. Much of Shaolin Kung Fu, for example, is very soft and internal. In fact there are considerably more soft or internal arts in Shaolin than in Taijiquan. Yet Shaolin is regarded as hard or external, because in a performance it is usually the fast, external movements of the techniques or the hard force, such as in breaking bricks, that impress spectators most. In contrast, a performance of Taijiquan often gives spectators an impression of gentle, graceful movements.
Moreover, in learning Shaolin Kung Fu, one often does a lot of stretching exercises and stance training, which are associated with the hard and external aspects ofKung Fu. On the other hand, a Taijiquan student often starts with flowing movements, which are less vigorous and demanding and are generally associated with the soft aspects. And some- one who is lucky enough to have a good Taijiquan master may learn breathing co-ordination and other chi training, which are associated with the internal aspects.
Shaolin starts with the hard and external and proceeds to the soft and internal in the advanced stages. Not many people have the patience or the opportunity to reach these advanced stages, so even many Shaolin stu- dents mistakenly think that Shaolin Kung Fu is not soft and internal. Some of these soft arts will be described in this book.
Taijiquan starts with the soft and internal, and proceeds to the hard and external in the advanced stages. AdvancedTaijiquan students, for example, may hit their bodies forcefully with granules so as to condition themselves to take punches and kicks without sustaining any injury. Such practice is hard. At advanced levels, Taijiquan students engage in fast sparring as training for real fighting. This is external. As only few students reach these advanced levels, many Taijiquan students, especially those who primarily concern themselves only with form practice, mistakenly think that Taijiquan is only soft.