When the Indian monk, Boddhidarma (Da Mo), came to China around 527 AD, he found that the monks were old and frail, and could barely keep up their religious duties. Da Mo is credited with many things to remedy this situation; writing the Yi Jin Jing and Xi Sui Jing (and creating health exercises based on them), and most importantly, teaching Zen Buddhism (Chan Zong). According to historical records, he meditated in a cave for nine years, simply facing a wall of stone, after which, he emerged and wrote the two classics; Yi Jin Jing (Sinew Metamorphosis Classic), and Xi Sui Jing (Marrow Cleansing Classic), which were the basis of Shaolin Chi Gung. The impact of this man's knowledge was tremendous. His method of meditation was simple, yet superior, and it eventually spread throughout China, Korea, and Japan. The importance of mediation lies in the fact that it helps you achieve the highest goal possible; some call it Buddhahood, Union with God, or Meeting Allah. This is why there is so much emphasis on it. His health exercises were also noteworthy, because they were the catalyst for the evolution of martial arts.

Martial arts, in one form or another, had always existed in China, (like many other countries), but before this evolution, they were simply just military drills and simple fighting techniques. Da Mo's teachings incorporated chi gung (energy work) into martial arts, which lead to fantastic health, and unbelievable power. The combination of chi gung, meditation, and implicit knowledge of the human body made Chinese martial arts superior to all others. Because of this foundation, martial arts were able to evolve faster than ever. Many brilliant monks and generals were able to contribute more than ever before because of their mind expansion, and excellent health, which in turn gave them more time to think and improve not only fighting techniques and military strategy, but spiritual and health practices as well. Hundreds of years of constant evolution is what made Chinese martial arts, or kung fu, so effective and unmatched in the world.

Events carried on at the Northern Temple on Songshan mountain, and the monks created many new styles and were involved in many famous exploits. The temple remained a national center for learning and cultivation, but now we divert our attention to the south. It was the south that was a hotbed of rebel activity during the Ching (Manchu) Dynasty (1644-1911). There was much unrest and dissent when the Ming Dynasty fell to the Ching's because they were foreigners that were now ruling all of China. So, many Ming supporters gathered at the temple to plan uprisings and rebellions, from 1644 till around 1800 when the temple was finally sacked and razed by the Ching Imperial Army.

Gee Sim Sin Si (Zen Master Gee Sin), was the last Abbot of the Fukien Temple. He was famous as a martial arts genius because he helped organize the 36 chambers of Shaolin, the 18 wooden Luohan dummies, and was the teacher of many monks and famous laymen such as Hung Hei Guen, Fong Sai Yuk, Luk Ah Choy, and the infamous Ma Ling Yee. While Hung Hei Guen was completing his training at Shaolin, the Ching army had found out about the rebel's secret base and planned a full scale attack on the temple. The Chings were very cunning, and knew about the high level of skill the monks carried, so they were hesitant in attacking, until they found their advantage in a traitor, named Ma Ling Yee. He was a disgruntled former monk who resented his difficult training at the temple, and decided to seek revenge by helping the Chings, and telling them of the temple's secret escape tunnels. Some sources claim that it was actually Bak Mei, (famous for the white eyebrow style), and not Ma Ling Yee, that was a treacherous monk. Other sources claims that they were actually the same person with one real name, and one nickname.

When the attack came, the monks were severely outnumbered by the heavily equipped soldiers, some of which even carried rifles. Once they realized that defeat was eminent, they retreated down the escape tunnel, only to be ambushed by more waiting troops. In the chaos the followed, monks escaped in all directions, only to be hunted down for years by the Chings. Hung Hei Guen, Luk Ah Choy, Gee Sim, and others managed to hide out on the "hung sheun" or red boats, which belonged to the Chinese Opera companies that travelled all over China. One by one the rebels were caught and killed, and the situation became dire.

Bak Mei continued the pursuit for years, finding, fighting, and killing, Fong Sai Yuk, Gee Sin, and others. Years before this trouble had started, Hung Hei Guen had married a girl named Fong Wing Chun, and they had a son named Hung Man Ting. Hung was an expert in kung fu, along with his wife and son, but he only specialized in the powerful tiger techniques, while his wife specialized in the elegant crane techniques. Hung Hei Guen was very powerful, and reportedly had killed a man with one punch, but when he fought Bak Mei, no matter how many times he hit him, he could not do any damage. This was because of Bak Mei's skill in the Iron Shirt Chi Gung. Eventually, Bak Mei killed Hung Hei Guen in addition to the other fugitives from Shaolin, making his revenge complete. Now, Hung Man Ting realized that in order to avenge his father and kill Bak Mei, he would have to combine the techniques of his parents, and when the opportunity arose, kill Bak Mei. When the encounter finally occured, Hung Man Ting was able to seek retribution, getting around his Iron Shirt defense, and killing him with a crane's beak peck.

It was mainly Luk Ah Choy (student of Gee Sim and Hung Hei Guen), and Hung Man Ting that were able to carry on the teaching of the Southern Shaolin Kungfu. Because they were still fugitives and Shaolin was still associated with the rebels, they had to go underground, and disguise their kung fu, naming it Hung Kuen, or Hung's style. Nowadays, it is referred to as Hung Gar, (Hung family style), and goes alongside the other famous family styles of the south such as Lau Gar, Mok Gar, Choy Gar, Fut Gar, and Li Gar. So the tradition carried on from master to student from Luk Ah Choy, to Wong Tai, to Wong Kay Ying and his famous son, Wong Fei Hung.

Wong Kay Ying and Wong Fei Hung gained fame as belong to the illustrious "Ten Tigers of Guangdong", a group of the top ten martial arts masters in Guangdong province. Another master from the ten tigers was Tiet Kiu Sam, whose real name was Leung Kwan. He was also a Hung Gar master, whose master, Kwok Yan Sin Si, had also learned at the Southern Shaolin Temple under Gee Sim. Tiet Kiu Sam's top student, Lam Fook Shing also played an important role in Hung Gar history, because he taught young Wong Fei Hung the internal energy form, Tiet Sien Kuen (Iron Wire Form). Wong Fei Hung was a martial arts prodigy, and also learned traditional Chinese medicine from his father. Both had earned excellent reputations for their medicine and martial arts, which usually went hand in hand in old China. There were also many adventures that Wong Fei Hung was involved in, from training the military and being the leader of the Canton militia, to a famous fight on the docks of Hong Kong where he was attacked by the dockyard workers. The story goes that he fought over a hundred men some armed with sticks and metal hooks. He was armed with a long staff, and had to fight and run, fight and run, just to save his life. Wong Fei Hung also had many wives and children. Sadly the first 3 wives all died of illnesses, and his eldest son, Wong Hon Sum, was killed by gangsters in the streets of Hong Kong. After this tragedy, he refused to teach any of his children martial arts, for fear that evil-doers would try to get to him through his children.

Wong Fei Hung's forth wife was Mok Gwai Lan, incidentally, a master of Mok Gar Kung Fu. The story of their meeting is rather ironic, because Wong and his students were performing a lion dance and kung fu demontstration, when his shoe accidentally came off and struck Mok in the face. Despite Wong's attempts to apologize, she slapped him and scolded him like a little boy. Wong became infatuated with the girl, and was eventually introduced to her by her aunt. They later married and had children, and she taught all of the womens kung fu at Wong's school and clinic, Po Chi Lum.

Wong had thousands of students learning martial arts from him. Two of the most famous masters were Lam Sai Wing and Tang Fung. Lam was a pork butcher by trade, from Canton. He was trained in many styles of martial arts, (many people believe he was trained in Lau Gar and Choy Li Fut), and decided to challenge Wong Fei Hung in a fight. Even though Lam Sai Wing was a powerful man and a good fighter, he was defeated by Wong's "Mo Ying Guek" (no shadow kick). After seeing Wong Fei Hung's high level of skill, he asked Wong Fei Hung to teach him his style of kung fu. Lam Sai Wing achieved a very high level of skill in Hung Gar and had many famous and high level students including Chan Hon Chung, Wong Lee, Jee Yu Jai, his nephew, Lum Jo, and others. Many of his top students were ordinary working people like fishermen, herbalists, dit da doctors, businessmen, etc. Most of these people aren't in the public eye or teaching martial arts, they simply practice kung fu for themselves and carry on with their regular daily duties. Lam Sai Wing was also trained in medicine and passed his art down to Chan Hon Chung and possibly other students. Another mark of his was adding in the Lau Gar forms, and numerous weapons to the Hung Style.

Tang Fung was another high level student of Wong Fei Hung. Together with Lam Sai Wing and a few other kung fu people, he had taken a job as a security force for a Chinese Opera company in Canton that was continually being robbed by gangsters. When the gangsters arrived, there was a huge fight. The kung fu masters were locked inside the theatre with a few of the gangsters, while the other criminals got reinforcements and set the building on fire. Wong's students managed to break out of the building, but were severely outnumberred and almost unarmed. Lam Sai Wing reportedly uprooted a small tree to use as a staff for fighting off their attackers. After they escaped, they decided to keep a low profile, with Tang moving to Singapore, and Lam moving to Hong Kong.

Chan Hon Chung was born in poverty in 1909 in the village of Hing Ling, Guangdong. He started learning martial arts and dit da medicine from Lam Sai Wing while he was a young street vendor, and eventually became one of Lam Sai Wing's top students, teaching at Lam's school in later years. After years of training he opened up his own school, Chan Hon Chung's Gymnasium, and his own dit da clinic. He was a hard worker and earned a great reputation as a doctor and kung fu master. To help pay for his training facilities in expensive Hong Kong, he had many different businesses in his building, including some rented out by Lau Fat Man (eagle claw master), and Wong Hon Fun (seven star praying mantis master). Because of his high status in the kung fu community, he was able to act as a martial arts advisor in the Hong Kong movie scene. Many of his friends included Jackie Chan (Sing Lung), Sammo Hung (Hung Gum Bo), Shek Kin, and the Lau family. One of his big accomplishments was organizing the Hong Kong Chinese Martial Arts Association. Chan Hon Chung passed away in 1991 at the age of 86.

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There were many famous masters in the Hung Gar style. Hundreds of movies, books, and television shows have been made about their adventures. Some of them are true accounts, but many of them are fictional. To find out more about some of these kung fu movies, keep watching for my Chinese movies page. Some of these legendary figures include:

Hung Hei Guen
Luk Ah Choy
Tit Kiu Sam
Fong Sai Yuk
Hung Man Ting
Lam Fook Shing
Wong Kay Ying
Wong Fei Hung
Lam Sai Wing
Tang Fung

The style is famous for many reasons:

-the 1000 pound horse stance. After years of training, practitioners could combine their muscular strength, gained through horse stance practice, with the ability to "ground" their chi, making them unmovable, or what would seem to weigh 1000 pounds.

-Sam Sing, or three star blocking. This is a technique that makes a Hung Gar practitioner's forearms extremely impact resistant by conditioning the bones, nerves, blood vessels, muscles, and tendons. If the training is done properly, there are no side effects. This enables people to block without getting injured.

-Mo Ying Guek, or no shadow kick. This kick was made very famous by the late master, Wong Fei Hung. The reason for the name is because supposedly the kick was so fast and undetectable that it did not even cast a shadow.

-Kui Sau, the bridge hands. A certain exercise that gives the arms unbelievable strength and stability. One of the greatest masters of this technique, Tit Kiu Sam, could reportedly hold up three people on each outstretched arm.

-Wong Fei Hung. This man is legendary and has achived the status of a folk hero. Stories have made him out to be the equivalent of a kung fu superman. Numerous movies have also popularized him to the Chinese community.

Today, Hung Gar can be found in almost all corners of the world. It is practiced by Chinese and non-Chinese alike.