The History of Kung Fu

Tracing the development of kung fu is a tricky under­taking. Count­less legends, texts of doubtful authenticity, and a veil of secrecy the kung fu masters themselves have drawn over the art obscure the true history of the art. The reason behind this secrecy goes back to the time when open competition between masters was commonplace. This allowed unscrupulous mas­ters to study surreptitiously the tactics of others in order to devise a defense for an actual battle' As many of these challenges were fought to the death, this type of martial-art espionage led to the withdrawal of indi­vidual kung fu styles from the public eye' and the eventual withdrawal of kung fu itself. Consequently, kung fu suffered a decline in prestige and popular support. It is only since the latter part of the twentieth century that different schools are emerging into the open. A direct result of this isolation is that each school has a different legend about the beginnings of kung fu. Yet, from the many tales available, there are a number of reasonably solid facts that most schools agree upon.

It is known that the first reported forms of kung fu are almost five thousand years old. Reputedly, the great Yellow Emperor, Huang Ti, used an early form .of the art with startling success in an important battle in roughly 2674 B.C. Records indicate that this. Rudimentary kung fu, then called chiou ti, was both a military tactic as well as a form of individual combat. The general consensus is that this style of kung fu may have been restricted to weapon techniques.

In approximately 2600 B.C. a form of wrestling and hand-to-hand combat developed that many experts believe was the most original form of kung fu. Called  go-ti, this bloody "sport" was supposedly invented by an evil warlord named Chi-yu who was finally de­feated by Hsien-yuan Wangti in the battle of Tuluk. But before his demise Chi-yu invented a sadistic game in which his soldiers were forced to fight each other with helmets that sported two long sharp horns. The object of the game was to gore the opponent; hence the name go-ti, which means horn gore. To escape being gored called for some pretty fancy footwork, which in turn resulted in the beginnings of unarmed self-defense. In time, the sport was modified and the horns removed. Civilians began to practice go-ti and the tradition was handed down from generation to gener­ation. While go-ti as originally formulated is no longer practiced today, during festivals the natives of Honan, Manchuria, and Shanshi still entertain them­selves with an ancient go-ti dance that simulates the original form of combat

Meanwhile another equally interesting development was taking place. Scholar-monks in the fifth century A.D. have described an ancient series of medieval gymnastics called coi1g fu. Reputedly practiced prior to 2600 B.C., these exercises combined specific physical movements and postures with breathing techniques to keep the body healthy, the mind alert, and the spirit tranqui1. The existence of these exercises had been further corroborated by certain legends in Chinese medical history. During the same era, Huang 1'1, the Yellow Emperor, nationalized the art of medicine by appointing medical agents and sending them throughout the empire to prescribe the proper treatments for common illnesses, including medical gymnastics to maintain health. No doubt these exercises marked the beginning of what the fifth century scholar-monks called cong fu and is most likely the first recorded account of the use of kung fu for medicinal purposes.

Meanwhile, the martial side of kung fu continued to develop and gain considerable importance in every­day life. During the turbulent seventh and eighth cen­turies B.C. it was recorded in the Book of Songs (Shih Ching) that: "Without boxing techniques, a man is relegated to the lower ranks of the army." This was particularly significant to the average man who was expected to serve for two years in the military service between the ages of twenty-three and fifty-six. But it was in the sixth century B.C. that was to totally change the direction of kung fu and elevate it from the realm of mere self-defense.

The first event of importance early in the sixth cen­tury was the pronouncement of Confucius on the necessity of cultivating the martial arts. Best known as the sage whose philosophy molded Chinese culture for thousands of years, Confucius was undoubtedly familiar with early forms of Kung fu. Many authorities believe that his students were also required to learn secret unarmed combat techniques. In his writing he said: 1/ as there are literary arts, there should be military arts." Thus he included archery and charioteering In the six arts that he taught his disciples. The other four writing, mathematics, music, and propriety -reflect the many abilities the kung fu hero of a later era was expected to possess.

Even more significant were the teachings of the great sage Lao Tzu. Living at the same time as Con­fucius, Lao Tzu wrote the Tao-te Ching (The Power and the Way), which sets forth the wisdom of Taoism in beautiful poetic passages. Essentially a philosophic system rather than a religious one: Taoism is a way of achieving higher states of consciousness, not unlike yoga and similar disciplines. Lao Tzu's wisdom was rapidly incorporated into the developing schools of kung fu and from this point on the two disciplines grew side-by-side, and at times meshed completely. Both schools developed into systems, which encompassed breath control, meditation techniques, physical exercises medical practices, alchemy, and scholar­ship. Taoist monks became kung fu experts in all forms of combat, although they were particularly rec­ognized for their special proficiency with swords and other weapons. In turn, Kung fu men took to heart Taoist ways and lived their lives by the dicta of that philosophy. Although there is no way to know for sure, it is assumed that this era saw the formulation of the kung fu code which called for the 'protec­tion of the weak and punishment of evildoers.

During the Han Dynasty kung fu and its companion art go-ti became increasingly popular and for the. first time in history truly caught the pubic fancy. Credit for this widespread popularity is commonly attributed to the reign of the" emperor Han Wu Ti (157-87 B.C.) who was himself an ardent student and promoter of the sport. This new and widespread interest was reflected in the historical annals of the dynasty. The Book of Han, written almost two hundred years after Han Wu Ti's reign, hails the new importance of the art. Pan Ku, its author, devotes four chapters to kung fu strategy deal­ing with: configuration, positive and negative princi­ples in nature, Machiavellianism, and skill. The skill chapter alone is 199 pages long and deals in consid­erable detail with hand-to-hand. Combat, fencing, ex­ercises utilizing the arms and legs, the use of a wide variety of weapons, and ways to lead an enemy into a trap.

Chinese medicine supplied the next significant ad­vancement of the art. Written records describe a bril­liant doctor named Hua To (A.D. 190-265) who devised a sequence of movements to relieve muscular and emotional tension while tonifying the body. While medical gymnastics had been popular for years, Hua To's exercises are of considerable importance in that they were based upon the movements of different animals-a pattern that more advanced kung fu forms   would follow a thousand years later! Hua, consistently ahead of his time, is also credited with the discovery of anesthetics, which he concocted by mixing various herbs with wine. One of his lectures, which appears in the Hall Han-Shll Chronicles, convincingly puts forth his views and seems as though it could have been. Written by a later-day kung fu master. "The body needs exercise," he explains, "but not to the point of exhaustion, for exercise expels the bad air from the system, promotes the free circulation of blood and prevents sickness. The used doorstep never rots, so it is with the body. I have a system of exercises called 'The Frolics of the Five Animals.' The movements are those of tiger, deer, bear, monkey, and bird. This system removes disease, strengthens the legs [considered essential in kung fu], and insures health. It consists of jumping, twisting, swaying, crawling,

                                                                                        Rotating, and contracting."- 

Kung fu continued to flourish, and sometime dur­ing the Hou Han era (A.D. 25-220) the first modern style was developed. Originated by Kwok Yee, and known as the "Long Hand" style, this method was designed to subdue opponents from a longer range than hand to-hand combat. This was of particular importance as most techniques of the period only worked at close range. Long hand rapidly became the predominant defensive form and enjoyed considerable refinement. Masters became so skilled in this style that Emperor' Niwanti (A.D. 535-551) in his book Classic Literature, wrote that the long hand technique enabled a prac­titioner to defeat heavily armed opponents with his bare hands!

The next major influence on the art came in roughly A.D. 520 with the arrival of the Buddhist monk Ta Mo from India. Ta Mo was the twenty-eighth patriarch after Gautama, the original Buddha. Accounts of why, he came to China conflict. Some say he was captured during a military expedition; others insist he wished to bring Buddhism to the Chinese. Whatever the reason, he was presented to the emperor and allowed to retire to the Shaolin Temple. Legend tells us that his predominant activity during his first nine years in China ",,:as to face a wall and meditate until he. Was so m tune with the environment that he could discern the movements of insects behind him! Ta Mo's subsequent con­tributions were equally extraordinary. Although he translated many Buddhist texts, he is particularly. Re­membered for his Chinese interpretation of Buddhist known as Ch'an or Zen Buddhism. This method even­tually gained enormous popularity, momentarily eclipsing other schools of spiritual thought. As a re­sult Ta Mo became the first Chinese patriarch and is honored throughout, China with the title Bodhidharma

True Buddhism, like Taoism, is not another religion, but a mental discipline and a way of thought that is akin to yoga. The impact of Buddhism or kung fu was every bit as profound as Taoism one thousand years earlier. The mystical concept of the empty mind, the koan (an enigmatic unanswerable riddle. meant to bring spiritual awareness in a flash of intuitive cogni­tion), and other forms of Zen-style meditation were rapidly incorporated into the art. . As Buddhism is firmly grounded in peace and nonviolence, It further strengthened and fortified the kung fu code.

On the physical level, one of the most vital aspects of Ta Mo's legacy are his exercises and breathing tech­niques. Ta Mo was allegedly the son of Indian King Sugandha and as such was a member of the warrior caste. Consequently, most authorities agree that he received some sort of martial arts training throughout his youth. According to legend, when Ta Mo arrived at the Shaolin Temple he found the monks in such poor physical shape that they were incapable of staying awake through the long hours of meditation that he required. Thus he introduced a set of eight teen exercises into their regimen meant to condition and develop their bodies and minds in ·much the way that hatha yoga does. Known as both "18 Movements of the Arhan Hands" and "18-'Monk Boxing," these exercises were basically therapeutic and meditative. Authorities believe that t these were the forerunner of Shaolin Kung fu from which many of today's forms of the art developed. These exercises proved so popular with his students that other authorities insist that Ta Mo is also responsi­ble for several additional exercise courses. Known as the "Sinew Changing Course" and the "Marrow Wash­ing Course," these exercises (like IS-Monk Boxing) served to strengthen vital internal organs and prevent disease. Yet, it was only after Ta Mo's death in A.D. 557 that Shaolin Kung fu began to come into its own as a fighting art. During the early Tang Dynasty (seventh and eighth centuries A.D) the monks of the Shaolin Monastery were asked to help combat an invasion. They acquitted themselves with such astonishing ease that they in­stantly became famous for their skill throughout China.

Then in the Hou Tang Dynasty (A.D. 705-907) a monk named Sze Hungpey devised the "Feinting Hand" technique that introduced legerdemain to the art. This form of visual trickery further elevated the Shaolin techniques, making them possibly the most formidable in the land. 'With the arrival of the Sung Dynasty (960-1127) the importance of the Shaolin Monastery inexplicably began to fade. The founder and emperor of the dynasty, Sung Tai Jo, was himself a master of kung fu. As he is credited with originating the highly respected "Long Fist" style (still practiced today, and long recog­nized as one of the major branches of the art), it is possible that he contributed to Shaolin's decline.

Late in the Sung dynasty a famous general named Yao Fei (1103-1142) made further improvements in the art based on weapons techniques. Yao Fei, an expert in lance fighting, used this knowledge as a model for his own form of hand-to-hand combat. Later named "Yao's Shan Shou" by his disciples, today it is known as the eagle claw system. Besides its importance as a major school, this is the first recorded instance of weapons techniques being used as a model for un­armed combat. Using these unarmed techniques, later pupils originated still another famous branch currently called "Yee Chuen," which translates intriguingly as

                                                                                                                                                                            "Intellectual Fist."    

The next major development further accelerated the drift away from the Shaolin style. And, according to some sources, almost caused the total extinction of this once-dominant form. Tradition tells us that during the years 1417-1459 a Taoist monk named Chang San-fung devised a radically new form of kung fu known as the "soft fist" or "internal style." Unlike all the forms of kung fu that had gone before, this style was performed slowly and with little apparent physical effort. Up until this point no such division of kung fu existed. All forms of the” art were rigorous, sweat-producing exercises that depended upon brute strength to accomplish their purpose. From now on all kung fu was neatly labeled either soft fist or interI.1al style, or hard fist or external style, as the more physical forms came to be known. This was precisely what Chang had in mind, as he felt that all the intense physical exertion which had long been associated with kung fu was contrary to the spirit of Taoism and Buddhism, and in particular conflict with the various health nourishing exercises that had been long associated with the art. Conse­quently, he developed a style composed of graceful ballet-like movements, which from all outward ap­pearances scarcely looked like a martial art. Although Chang's innovative internal school literally shook the kung fu world, it eventually developed into a handful of styles (compared to virtually hundreds of external styles), of which tai chi chuan is the best known. The soft fist techniques were to have an influence totally out of proportion to their numbers, and the initial success of Chang's teachings almost drove the Shaolin School to the verge of extinction!

Yet, the Shaolin School was not a flash in the pan, and one hundred years later made a dramatic comeback that forever altered kung fu. Sometime between A.D. 1522 and 1566, a wealthy young man named Yen took the name Chueh Yuan and became a priest at the Shaolin Temple. An expert swordsman as well as a superb hand-to-hand fighter, he revised the work of all his Shaolin predecessors and compacted them into seventy-two deadly styles. But Chueh Yuan "was not to be content until the Shaolin art was completely restored to its former glory. Consequently, he traveled throughout the mainland looking for famous kung fu experts who would share their secrets with him to further refine the art. One day he came upon' a sixty year old peddler who was being roughed up by-a sadistic bully. The old peddler consistently tried to "turn the other cheek" but the brute was out for blood. Before anyone could intervene, the bully lashed out at the old peddler with a savage kick. Yet, the old man merely touched his foot with two fingers of his right hand and the bully fell unconscious.

Impressed, Chueh Yuan immediately revealed his quest. The peddler, whose name was Li Chieng, mod­estly explained that he did not have any great knowledge of the martial arts, but he offered to introduce him to; Pai Yu-feng, the acknowledged master of Shansi, Honan, and Hopeh-provinces that com­prised a sizable hunk of China.  At the time, Pai was fifty and at the height of his power. With a reputation as a kindly, spiritual man, Pai received Chueh warmly and listened openly to his plans for the advancement of kung fu. He was im­pressed by the young man's expertise and burning de­sire to elevate the art and agreed to accompany Chueh to the Shaolin Temple. There they enlarged and re­fined Chueh's 72 movements into 170 actions which were subdivided. Into five animal styles or forms. Each form was made up of a set number of actions that imitated the movements of the dragon, tiger, leopard, snake, and crane. Each form represented the cultiva­tion of one of the five "essences" that Pai believed all men possessed. The dragon style is designed to nurture the spirit the tiger style trains the bones to resist heavy shock. The leopard style develops strength., The crane style trains the sinews. The snake style is .for building chi. Pai's program bad an enormous Impact on the art for two reasons. First, it combined the best aspects of the soft fist with the hard fist. Second, its animal forms became the basis of many of the schools that exist in China today. Yet, despite this striking advancement, the Shaolin art was almost totally destroyed scarcely a century later. This was no simple decline, but the, result of an invasion by a powerful border tribe, the Manchus. By 1644 the conquest was complete, the Ming dynasty was ousted and the Ch'ing dynasty installed.

This initiated almost three hundred years of rebel­lion in which Ming sympathizers and patriots went underground in an attempt to throw off the yoke of "foreign domination." During the early years of these efforts the Shaolin Temple became a virtual hotbed of revolution. It was an ideal vehicle for secrecy and military training. The effectiveness of using a monas­tery for a refuge was attributed to the special treatment accorded monks and nuns by Chinese society. While an ordinary citizen was subject to the laws of the country, a monk was not. Curiously, this was because monks were no longer considered members of Chinese society. A worshipper of God was not of the material world. Such a person was called sh'u-shia and his name was often deleted from family records be­cause it was widely considered a disgrace to leave society. Thus the loyalists were free to enter monastery life, invent new defense systems, and train others m the arts of war.

The true monks, naturally, resented this invasion, and tried unsuccessfully to weed out the loyalists. The same stratagem of infiltration was used at other' monasteries which led to the persecution of Buddhists and Taoists by the Manchu emperor, K'ang-hsi, who forbade His subjects to worship in these temples. The entire Situation came to a head when an informer told the Manchus of the Shaolin Temple's whereabouts and. of the martial trainings that the Mings were administrating. The emperor sent an army to the monastery to arrest all that were involved in the plot. Knowing their fate, the monks fought brilliantly and re­pulsed the Manchu forces. But K'ang-hsi could not allow a nest of revolution to exist or such a humiliating defeat to go unpunished. A subsequent and larger attack was mounted which totally destroyed the monastery. Bent on revenge, the Manchu forces massacred all but five of the monks. These five escaped, taking with them the secret of the Shaolin art. 'And within a short space of time, with the aid of other Ming loyalists, they built a second Shaolin monastery whose sole goal was revolution. Unfortunately, history often repeats itself, and the Manchus learned of the second monastery. Again they dispatched an enormous force against it but with a different outcome.

This time most of the monks had been informed of the attack and were able to escape. They fled to the southern cities and began to dissemi­nate their knowledge to make a living and to further their cause. For the first time Shaolin techniques be­came available to the general public. As a result hun­dreds of new styles were devised and became the basis of most of the external forms practiced today.

The dispersion produced another fascinating phenomenon particularly indicative of the dual nature (good and evil) of kung fu -the rise of patriotic secret societies. Formed by loyalists and monks, these societies organized underground governments, which channeled their energy into humanitarian as well as political causes. The major group, the Triads, created by the Shaolin-monks, even took on the responsibility of educating the young and caring for the elderly. Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the founder of the short-lived Chinese. Republic, was an important Triad, and is responsible for founding the Hong Kong branch. From this base, in what was then a British colony, he coordinated the founding of the first and only Chinese democracy.

A darker page of history attributes the infamous "Boxer Rebellions" of 1900 to the secret societies. Es­sentially an attempt to overthrow the Manchus, the boxers" were kung fu men who received their train­ing from these societies. Called "boxers," because westerners had no other name for such skill in un­armed combat, the rebellion proved a major setback for kung fu. Thousands were slaughtered, as these valiant kung fu men fought fully equipped western armies sent to prop up the corrupt and crumbling Manchu dynasty. With the establishment- of the republic a few years later, many of these groups lost their patriotic motiva­tion. Different factions of the once-esteemed Triads began to battle each other for the control of Towns and tracts of territory. The disintegration. Continued until more and more groups turned to crime and harass­ment. The infamous and bloody tong wars of San Francisco were a direct outgrowth of  this rivalry.

The low point of Triad activity was reached during World War II. After the Japanese invasion, the military authorities controlling Hong Kong successfully eli­cited aid from the Triads. Under Japanese protection the Triads united and formed a single gang called the Hung Ah Kee Kwan (Asia Flourishing Association). The Japanese virtually gave the Triads Hong Kong, where they ran all vice operations until the end of the war. Returning authorities managed to destroy the Triads through infiltration in the early 1950s, yet many of the arriving immigrants in the United States and elsewhere still have some secret society background, which explains the resurgence of gang activities in Chinatowns across the country. The history of the Triads-is by no means unique in kung fu annals. Other secret patriotic societies and principled kung fu schools have experienced a Similar process of degeneration. The Triads stand out from all the other offshoots of the prestigious Shaolin Temple and make kung fu's dual nature all the more apparent.

Returning to the history and development of the art, the final and most recent innovations were to come from the internal school. Although the original "soft fist" as taught by the legendary monk Chang San-­fung was lost, a new and immensely important style developed sometime in the eighteenth century. Ac­cording to spoken. Record, a man named Wang Tsung-yueh was passing through a small town in Honan when he saw the villagers practicing their own regional form of kung fu. Later, at an inn, Wang made a number of remarks about this style,' and he was immediately challenged by several of the villagers. He dispatched his challenges with such ease that the impressed elders of the village asked him to stay and teach them his "soft fist" techniques. Wang accepted their invitation and their town, Ch'en chia kou, be­came the center from which modern tai chi developed. In subsequent years tai chi was to develop into three distinct schools. The oldest branch was called the Ch'en school, named after the Ch'en family clan who were almost the sole inhabitants of the Honan village (Ch'en chia kou) where Wang taught his soft fist de­fense. That Wang actually existed is a certainty; whom he learned his art from is a mystery. All we have today to authenticate his teachings is a brief. But impressive manual he wrote sometime in the late 1700s. Unfortu­nately, Wang's original system is lost, but the Ch'en clansmen further developed tai chi into two methods, which gradually spread throughout China over the next few centuries.

Tai chi was not the only "soft fist" school that de­veloped: in the same period is hsing-i, also called lu-ho chuan and I-chuan. Roughly translated as mind-fist, or heart-mind fist, all the names purposely suggest that physical action developed to its highest point is at one with the mind. The originator of the school is unknown, but its history begins with Chi Lung-feng who, between 1637 and 1661, met a strange boxer who taught him this unique form. Chi had two major students, one an important general in Shansi and the other a Kung fu man in Honan who gradually spread the art throughout China. Perhaps the most significant event in the evolution of hsing-i was its' collision with another internal system called pa-kua, with which it eventually coupled. Today, both sys- • terns are usually taught together as complementary methods.

Pa-kua is the last major form of internal kung fu to be developed. Devised some time in the early nineteenth century, it is very mystical and difficult to master. Based on the ancient Book of Changes or I Ching, it stresses (as the book does) the cyclical nature of all things. Consequently, the basic movements are circular, and the chief exercise is called "walking the circle. " Kung fu did not stop developing with pa-kua. Many other new and ingenious styles were. Invented; however their overall impact on the direction of the art has been slight. But with the recent resurgence of the art d the new spirit of cooperation, startling new developments further enlarging the abilities of the kung fu man may be around the corner.

UNKNOWN AUTHOR