Hung Gar, a style of Chinese Kung Fu, was named after the great Chinese legend Hung-Hei Gun, a student of Jee Sin, a Chan master from Shaolin Temple. Hung Gar dates back to 17th century & originated in Fukien Province, Southern China. A major factor that led to development of the style was the rule of Qing Dynasty, also called the Manchurians, which lasted from mid 17th century to 1911. The Manchurians tried to enforce their culture on Chinese people which led to great revolts by the rulers of southern China, the Mings. The Qings cited the Shaolin Temple as a threat and attacked it with Imperial forces thereby destroying it and killing hundreds of monks. However, Hung Hei Gun, Jee Sin & some others managed to escape & settled in southern China. They started teaching the art of Hung Gar in Kwungtung.
The style consists of low stance moves, some special stances like horse stance, and techniques like bridge hand and tiger claw. Like most martial arts, Hung Gar requires great physical and mental commitments and efforts. Sometimes the trainees stay in one stance for several hours just to qualify to learn a form. The form then takes close to a year’s time to master. Weapons trainings usually come at the very end. Hung Gar is not only about physical strength and force but also mental focus which helps in directing energy to hands and legs.
Modern day Hung Gar deeply relies on the teaching and techniques of Wong Fei Hung, as he is generally considered one of the great masters of the art. He described some of the famous Hung Gar techniques such as Single Hard fist, double hard fist, taming the tiger fist, flying hook, angry tiger fist, and so on. He has also developed some of his father’s empty handed techniques into material bearing techniques based on teachings of different masters.
The art of Hung Gar spreads into different branches which differ on accounts of weapons, routines etc. The routines are not practiced by branches which did not descend from Wong Fei Hung. same goes for branches of Tit Kiu Saam who do not practice Iron Wire techniques. Even today new techniques and weapons continue to be added to the current practices. The only common thing all branches share are Hung Gar Foundation found by Wong Fei Hung. Jee Sin’s teachings included tiger and Luohan styles along with taming the Tiger routine. Exchange of routines, weapons & techniques led to the development of various new forms.
Starting as a weapon to revolt against Manchus in 17th century to being developed as a main art of southern Chinese martial arts, Hung Gar has come a long way and it finds itself among the top and most difficult forms of martial arts practiced today. It is still undergoing changes and developing into a more complex form of art for body, mind and soul.
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