Fujian White Crane

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白鶴拳
Fujian White Crane
Mandarin: / Bái Hè Quán
AmoyMin Nan: / Pe̍h-ho̍h-kûn
Literally / "white crane fist"

This article is about the Fujian style of White Crane. For the Tibetan style, see Lama (martial art).

White Crane Boxing (Chinese: 白鶴拳) is a Southern Chinese martial art which originated in Fujian (福建) province and is now practiced throughout the world. According to oral traditions, the creation of this style is attributed to Fāng Qīniáng (方七娘; AmoyMin Nan: Hng Chhit-niâ), a female martial artist. The characteristics of this style are deep rooted stances, intricate hand techniques and fighting mostly at close range [1] as if to imitate a pecking bird. The flying crane style however has a greater amount of long range techniques although it too does prefer close quarters hand oriented combat, which simulates the flapping of the wings. Some white crane styles also use a great variety of traditional weapons whereas others have discontinued practice with ancient weaponry.[2]

Fujian White Crane is an imitative-style of Shaolin Boxing based on the characteristics of the Taiwanese Crane. An entire system of fighting was developed based on the observations of their movement, fighting abilities and spirit. There are only five other animals of Shaolin Boxing: the Tiger, Monkey, Leopard, Snake and Dragon.

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Contents
  • 1 The legend of the White Crane
  • 1.1 Source
  • 2 Branches
  • 3 History
  • 4 Feeding Crane in Taiwan
  • 5 Influence
  • 6 See also
  • 7 References
  • 8 External links

The legend of the White Crane

The Fāng family lived in Fujian province, China, in a place where there were many cranes.

Qīniáng's father knew the Southern Chinese martial arts and taught them to his daughter.

One day, while Qīniáng was doing her chores, a crane alighted nearby.

Qīniáng tried to scare the bird off using a stick and the skills she learned from her father but whatever she did, the crane would counter.

Qīniáng tried to hit the crane on the head, but the bird moved its head out of the way and blocked the stick with its wings.

Qīniáng tried to hit the crane's wings, but the crane stepped to the side and this time blocked with the claws of its feet. Qīniáng tried to poke the crane's body, but the crane dodged backwards and struck the stick with its beak.

From then on, Qīniáng carefully studied the movements of cranes and combined these movements with the martial arts she learned from her father, creating the White Crane style of Fujian province.

There are many versions of this legend, some in which the crane does not block the stick Qīniáng used; but it evaded, and countered. The point of the style is to make less use of physical strength, stressing evasion and attacks to vulnerable areas instead. White crane fighting elements are popular, especially in women's self defense, because they don't depend on strength and women are better able to imitate the pecking motion so common in the crane style of fighting.[citation needed] Popular karatebunkai (breakdown) of white crane katas like hakutsuru, stress vital point striking or kyusho.

Source

  • Bubishi George Alexander ISBN 0-9631775-1-6 and Secrets of the Bubishi DVD ASIN: B00015400K
  • Bubishi Patrick Mccarthy ISBN 0-8048-2015-5

Branches

Over time White Crane branched off into 5 styles:

Chinese / Pinyin / Minnan
Sleeping Crane Fist / 宿鶴拳 / sù hè quán / siok4 hoh8 kun5 / also known as Jumping, or Ancestral Crane
Crying Crane Fist / 鳴鶴拳 / míng hè quán / beng5 hoh8 kun5 / also known as Calling, Whooping, or Shouting Crane
Feeding Crane Fist / 食鶴拳 / shí hè quán / chiah8 hoh8 kun5 / also known as Morning Crane
Flying Crane Fist / 飛鶴拳 / fēi hè quán / hui1 hoh8 kun5 / aka fei hok kuen
Shaking Crane Fist / 縱鶴拳 / zong hè quán / hui1 hoh8 kun5 / aka jun hok kuen

History

The Ancestral Crane master Dr. Yang (Jwing-Ming Yang), dates the creation of Fujian White Crane to c. 1700.

According to the traditions of the Lee family branch of Flying Crane, Fāng Qīniáng was born in the mid-18th century.

According to its traditions, the lineage of the Ong Gong Shr Wushuguan in the town of Yǒngchūn (永春; Minnan: eng2 chhun1) in the prefecture of Quanzhou in Fujian Province was established when Fāng Qīniáng taught its founders during the reign of the Ming emperor Jiāzhèng (嘉政). However, there was no Ming emperor Jiāzhèng (嘉政); there was a Ming emperor Jiājìng (嘉靖), who ruled from 1521 to 1566.

Lǐ Wénmào (李文茂), a historically verifiable opera performer and leader in the 1854–1855 Red Turban Rebellion in Foshan, is said to have practiced the Yǒngchūn style of White Crane.

The Xu-Xi Dao style of White Crane as taught by Chen Zuo Zhen (Chen Zhuo Zhen) is described with pics on > White Crane Style. The Xu-Xi Dao style derives from Zhong-Ho 'Springing Crane' and was developed in Taiwan by Huang Lao-Yang in the 1950s.

Feeding Crane in Taiwan

The lineage of Feeding Crane in Taiwan:

  1. 方七娘 - Fāng Qī Niang
  2. 曾四叔 - Céng Sì Chū
  3. 鄭禮叔 - Zhèng Lǐ Shū
  4. 蔡忠叔 - Cài Zhōng Shū
  5. 蔡公頸 - Cài Gōng Jǐng
  6. 林德順 - Lín Dé Shùn
  7. 劉故 - Liú Gù
  8. 劉銀山 - Liú Yín Shān
  9. 劉長益 - Liú Zhǎng Yì (Liu Chang I)

Influence

Fujian White Crane is one of the constituent styles of Five Ancestors.[3]

Five Ancestors as well as various styles of Karate, notably Goju-ryu, Chitō-ryū and Uechi-ryu, obtained the routine San Chian / San Zhan (Mandarin) from Fujian White Crane. San Chian is best known by the Japanese pronunciation of its name: Sanchin. [4]

Tibetan White Crane

/ This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

The name "Tibetan White Crane" is associated with the lineage passed down from Wong Lam-Hoi through Ng Siu-Chung, whose training with Wong Lam-Hoi was later supplemented by training with Chu Chi-Yiu, another of Sing Lung's students. Nhg Siu-Chung sought to make the system more accessible to the general public. The White Crane style attempted to standardize the practice of basics and both modified and created hand sets to make them logical and systematic.

However, soon after Nhg Siu-Chung's death the style split into several branches and no longer remains unified. The Hong Kong White Crane Athletic Association attempted to standardize the teaching of White Crane but each disciple had already begun developing their own methods. Some disciples were content to remain within the Hong Kong White Crane Athletic Association while others, most notably Chan Hak-Fu, were not. Chan Hak- Fu decided to establish his own organization, the International White Crane Federation, in Australia in 1972. Chan Hak-Fu's White Crane is considered significantly different from the White Crane of his classmates.

Things were further complicated in 1977 when Ngai Yuk Tong and several members of the Hong Kong White Crane Athletic Association decided to change the hand sets, making them "more economical" and removing repeated movements.

The origin of Lion's Roar martial art (the beginnings of Tibetan White Crane)

The original Lion's Roar system is attributed to a monk named Ah Dat-Ta (阿達陀), also sometimes known as the "Dai Dat Lama". Ah Dat-Ta was born in 1426 and was a member of a nomadic tribe that traveled throughout Tibet and Qinghai. He was an active young man who practiced horsemanship, wrestling (Shuai-Jiao) and a special type of joint-locking (seizing and controlling skill). After being ordained as a monk in Tibet, he also learned a martial art that was apparently Indian in origin.[2][3]

For several years Ah Dat-Ta retreated to the mountains to live in seclusion, studying Buddhist texts and practicing meditation. He also hoped to improve his martial art skill. One day Ah Dat-Ta's meditation was disturbed by a loud sound. He left the cave he had been meditating in to investigate and found an ape trying to capture a crane. He was astonished. Despite the ape's great size and strength, the crane eluded the great swings and pecked at soft, vital points. Ah Dat-Ta was inspired to create a new martial art.

Ah Dat-Ta created a system that mimicked the deft evasion and vital point striking of the white crane and the ape's powerful swings and grabbing techniques. It was based upon the number eight, an important number in Chinese cosmology and numerology. The fundamental fighting theory was known as the "eight character true essence". The "eight character true essence" can be roughly translated as "strike the place that has a pulse, never a place that has no pulse, and stretch the arms out while keeping the body away."[4][5][3]

The system consisted of 8 fist strikes, 8 palm strikes, 8 elbow strikes, 8 finger strikes, 8 kicking techniques, 8 seizing (clawing) techniques, 8 stances and 8 stepping patterns.[3]

Based on a line found in the sutra known as "The Lantern Passing Record", this new system was called Lion's Roar (獅子吼). According to this sutra, upon the birth of the Buddha, he stood up, pointed the finger of one hand to the sky, the finger of the other hand to the earth and roared like a lion to announce he had arrived. Lion's Roar was considered the Tibetan Lamas' special gift, directly from Buddha."[4][5][2]

Oral history maintains that, in the late Ming Dynasty (1368–1644), Lion's Roar spread to Northern China and incorporated the techniques of the martial arts there, explaining its Northern Chinese characteristics.