Woo Ching- Chapter two- Learning Village Kung Fu

When Sifu was young he was a weaker child and so his parents wanted him to learn Kung Fu to become healthier.
In the village he learned all types of Kung Fu at a basic level.
Alot of the forms, excrecises and fighting forms with sticks were what children practised instead of patty cake, hopscotch, football, or basketball.
In the past, adults practiced much the same way and though this way of training was limited, one could still become very strong and develop fighting skills.
Many of the farmers did simple fighting excercises with heavy weapons, left over from ancestors who had used them when they became officials (Moh Jong yuen) and became very strong, even though they did not necessarily learn clearly from a Master.

One of the most popular systems in the South was Hung Gar
Ma but dong Tow but dong Da yut cuen, yiew but dong.
Stance unmiving, head unmoving, hit a punch, waist unmoving.
Hung Gar is hard over coming soft, or harder over coming hard.
It matches with young people who want to fight quick. The techniques tend to be shorter, and the strategy tends to be to go straight in, hard and fast.



Choi ley fut, which is a mixed sytem in itself the name listing the three systems
tends toward being extended arms and wide stances, (Cheurng kew dai ma) employing haymaker and backfisted like swing motions to beat down a target, followed by a spear like punch, the are famous for the Sau kwa chap combination. They turn their stance when the punchbut not really the waist.

Wing Chun is very close fighting, they side step and then rush in close, sticking to the hands of their oppponent wearing them down and the attacking most easily after the opponent has wasted their energy or begin swinging wildly.
Bak Hok

Bak Mei Pai was brought into the Taishan area by Cheung Lai Chuen, who came up from Hong Kong saying he specialized in defeating anyone who practiced Hung Gar. 90% of the people practiced Hung Gar and so he had no shortage of challengers, all of whom he defeated which gained him many students. People admitted that his Kung Fu was good. At the same time however, a lot of people didn't like him.
Bak Mei Pai is n=known as the Black Star of Shaolin Kung Fu since the founder seemed to have develop techniques to specifically counter the Kung Fu he learned at Shaolin.
They are famous for pulling and then following in the attack with a stronger second attack. While doing this their breathing at first appears to be reversed. Bak Mei was famous for his Gung Lik or power and this is really a requirement to be good with these techniques, thus this system takes a little longer to develop. It is Softer then Hung Gar, but harder then the softest Kung Fu.

Tibetan White Crane
was brought into the area by Chan Hak Fu.
This master had taught the infantry in World War II.
Eventually after the war he wanted to return from Hong Kong to visit his hometown in Taishan.
After getting off of the boat he told the coolies that he would carry his own light suitcase. However before walking out of their area, they had followed him and still demanded payment. He refused to pay because he had not used their service. At this point a brawl started and all the coolies jumped in. it quick became obvious that though they were great in number, they were no match ofr him hand to hand. So they began trying to beat him with their tools or carrying heavy loads. This was a bamboo stick with a metal hook like devise on the end that was somewhat sharp.
However, Chan Hak Fu was quick and they were still no match for him.
They stepped back further and began throwing thse hook sticks at him. With swing arms he was able to catch them and throw them back back handedly and front handedly quickly and using all different directional techniques both to defend and attack.
At this point his wife along with authorities broke up the fight and she explained the incident away apologizing for her husband who had perhaps drank to mcuh and had a belligerent personality. (This was probably said just to smooth things over.)

When Chan Hak Fu arrived at his hometown, fellow hometown people who had taken the same boat recognized hi from the incident and had already started talking about it to everyone. They had been impressed and were overjoyed that he was a member of the same hometown and wanted to treat him to dinner.
He tried hands with many people defeating them easily and showed them the basic Chuen pau cup combinations. These three moves became famous in Taishan for beating the hell out of anything else, catching the opponent by surprise and beating them to where it knowed their lid flying off. (A koui fei sai kang)

They wanted him to stay and teach more but he introduced a classmate to go back instead. He proved his worth buy using a cup punch to preak the bottom of an opium pipe.
One Student of Chan Hak Fu's, Yai Wo, would follow Chan Hak Fu to meet Ng Siu Jong in Hong Kong. He would then come back to openly declare himslef the best in six surrounding cities, and beat many opponents. (More about him later)

Very Shortly after this Communism took over and the country was sealed off and
essentially locked down, changing the nature of what it was to live everyday life.

Most villages learned and tauight more than one Kung Fu combining these things together.
A mixed system in Sifu's village, Nam On was also called Hung Bak choi (Hung kuen Bak Hok Bak Mei Choi lei fut)

Another village, Mee Nam, taught the Bak mei and Bak Hok (The Tibetan White Crane)
They were famous for the philophy of through cups in a very hard style determine either to break the opponents head, kill them or break their own hand. Thus their basic form of White Crane was very hard and aggressive, thinking only of moving forward.

The village next to them hired a Northern Shaolin Master.

All of these styles mixed and floated around this small area of villages battling villages over family feuds.
Doushan, was often called "Kung fu Dao" because of the popularity of KUng Fu there.
There were many Stick fighting systems blended into village life as well that had been passed down form Centuries before. These have stories behind them as well.
The Guests Family Stick

Hakka Stick

These arts were all basically illegal as even three or more peoples gathering was seen as an act of rebellion or counter revolutionary crime against Mao. Old traditions and particularly Kung Fu was seen as a threat.




At this point he began to travel around both to escape his family background (Scholarly families were in a sense blacklisted at this point in Chinese Communism)
So that he could find work or perhaps escape to Hong Kong. He also wished to learn higher level Kung Fu.


He went through many different types of occupations
including

hunting

Carpentry


(others)


At one point in young adulthood
he hid out in Guangzhou.
There he hung out with a man whom he sought out as a teacher of Violin.
It turns out this man also practiced Tibetan White Crane and was originally
from Hong Kong. Both of them talked many long nights trying to find a way to
escape back out to Hong Kong.

He learned Violin as well as some chi Gung and fighting methods of Tibetan White Crane from this Master. (Name)


He also traveled to a temple where he hoped to improve his luck. He had Tried to escape and was caught at least three times and punished for it.

At this point he went to the temple to pray. Ths must have been a very isolated area
where nobody bothered to trash this tenmple yet.

There was a monk there that was a master of Shaolin White Crane from the founder Woo Duk Dai.He hadn't shown this to any of the other monks there and had a strange personality. If he felt that someone was not speaking to him from the heart he would simply ignore that person, not caring about societal norms and politeness., He was also a Chinese Teet da doctor and helped many patients who gave him gifts in payment which he told them to throw in the corner. He never even looked at the pile that was there.
This monk Taught sifu the advanced high level Shaolin Kung Fu including Mein Lay jum, which was a new progression by Wu Dak Dai.
This Master Monk was at the level where he was able to levitate.
He didn't force Sifu to practice but showed him things and Sifu worked on them when the Master wasn't necessarily there watching over him.

One excercise mentioned was with a Bucket of water at the river.
In a stance, circulating the air/oxygen in your body, you would push the empty bucket into the water, the air resisting, until finally it was under and filled with water.
Then slowly you would lift it into your body. and then turn it over to empty it.
Sifu told this story and Dai Si asked if you turned it over using arm strength.
Sifu said you might think you can do that but the bucket is so heavy that the result is that you will only think about it and be unable to do it.
You would have to use your whole body to flip the bucket over, the power coming from twisting the waste and then emptying the water.
That whole process would be considered one rotation of the excercise. From there you would start all over again.
This was one basic excercise for strenth training.