LEGENDS OF KUNG-FU #16 The Faces of Kung-Fu The Chinese martial arts are reputed to be among the oldest in East Asia, and they've left an indelible mark on the development of other combat traditions throughout that part of the world. Historically, many of the other countries throughout Asia were forced into tributary relationships with the Chinese Empire. So while Chinese government officials, soldiers, traders, and clergymen made their way throughout East Asia, they brought with them the many facets of their native culture, including their fighting arts. While "kung-fu" has always been associated with Chinese martial arts, it's seldom that people are aware of the different Chinese martial art cognates that are still in existence throughout Asia to this day. While I could have a field day with speculation about the influence of Chinese martial arts on fighting styles throughout Asia, we'll focus on the martial arts systems that exist in modern times and hold noticeable or verifiable links to Chinese martial arts. To the northeast, China's most famous martial arts neighbors reside. Immediately to the northeast, the Korean peninsula acted as a springboard from the Chinese mainland into the Japanese archipelago. As a result, the northern Chinese influence on Korea was more noticeable. Extensive leg maneuvers and incredible high kicks, which are the trademarks of northern Chinese fighting systems, are also evident in the Korean arts. Shippalgi, which means "18 techniques" in Korean, is a system of martial arts that lays claim to being the Korean version of kung-fu. There's a little confusion as to where the name exactly came from. In Chinese martial arts, there are 18 traditional weapons, but some say that northern style Shaolin kung-fu has 18 technical categories. Either way, Korean Shippalgi is still doing well in Korea, and has grown to encompass northern Shaolin, baguazhang from Lu Shui-Tien (Korean: No Su-chon, an expatriate Chinese who relocated to Inchon), and praying mantis kung-fu. In Japan and Okinawa, there are many martial systems that lay claim to Chinese origin. Yet Shorin-ryu karate and Shorinji Kenpo are the two main systems that still bear their Chinese names. Shorin-ryu literally means "Shaolin style", while Shorinji Kenpo literally means "fist method of the Shaolin Temple". While the techniques practiced by these two groups bear little resemblance to Chinese martial arts aside from the rudimentary techniques of either northern or southern Shaolin kung-fu, their names still bear testament to their Chinese heritage. To the south, China's neighbors include the Vietnamese peninsula and the Indonesian archipelago. While it is well known that a large number of Chinese fled into Vietnam (and the rest of Southeast Asia) during the 20th century, the martial arts that some of these Chinese left behind and their legacies are sometimes not so well known. The southern Chinese martial arts have a particular flavor that is noticeably different from that of the northern styles, with the emphasis generally being more on hand techniques and lower kicks, and less on aerial techniques and grappling. Vietnamese martial arts include a system called "Vo". Vo, in turn, influenced another system called Vovinam, which is still practiced today. According to some martial scholars, and some Vietnamese martial arts practitioners, Vo is a descendant of the Chinese martial arts systems left over by Chinese soldiers during the period when China exerted its strongest influence over Vietnam. In more modern times, Vinh Xuan Quyen is slowly growing as the Vietnamese version of the well-known Wing Chun Kuen style of kung-fu. As a Chinese exponent of the Wing Chun style fled to Vietnam, he accepted native Vietnamese pupils who propagated his teachings. A similar sort of situation played out in the Malaysian/Indonesian side as well. During the time when Chinese merchants were sailing the South China Seas looking for spices and trading throughout the islands, some of them settled into the native populations, forming local Chinese enclaves. Some martial artists were among the settlers, and they kept up their practice of kuen tow, which means "fist sets" or "forms" in Cantonese. This eventually became the kuntao that is widely practiced by Indonesian martial arts enthusiasts throughout the world. Let me make one thing very clear. I'm not writing on this topic
to throw fuel on the "which came first" argument. I'm
writing this to tell you that the development of many of the martial
arts around the world parallel the historical developments of
the time, so you should be able to see a direct link between what's
fact versus fiction in the legends of kung-fu. |