Chinese Martial Salute / Kung Fu Salute / Martial Salute

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Shaolin Kung Fu
1

Well, i’ve read aroud on the internet about the chinese martial salute, and well, i’ve seen so many ways to do it… I read that in ancient China (maybe Asia) people weren’t used to the now popular “hand shake” because it could turn into a Qin Na technique or something like that, so they prefered to make a formal salute in other way. Also i read about the salute in the army (ancient army), i know the salute with right fist and left palm, but the thing i read said that the normal salute for martial artist was with the left fist and the right palm, but the army did it RF/LP because they had their weapons in the right hand, and well, you can’t change your weapon to the other hand every time youhave to salute, so the “army salute” became so popular that everyone did it that way, until today. The questions are, why so many ways? is it just for “looking cooler”? is it different in north and south? is there a “correct way”? what do you know about this? another “theories”? additional info?

I’ll let here some images i found

Thank you!

P.S.: I have to say sorry for my grammar, as you can see, english is not my native language and well, i can’t write in spanish because no one would understand anything

Hugo Moreno

EDIT: I think i posted this in the wrong place (shaolin kung fu)… If someone can move this where it belongs (kung fu forum, i think)… please and sorry

2

Many, many different salutes from different styles. Literally hundreds.

3

There may be many variations and interpretations of the meaning of this salute in the martial arts world, but this is the traditional greeting of the Chinese Han ethnic group with over 3,000 years of history, originating before the Zhou dynasty.

Traditionally the proper salute is with the left palm covering the right fist, which is called an “auspicious salute”. The opposite is disrespectful to the other person and is called an “inauspicious salute”.

The salute became popular with many martial arts groups during the Qing dynasty who were pro-Ming looking to overturn or rebel against the Qing rule. Reason being, in the salute the right fist looks like the “sun” character , while the extended palm looks like the “moon” character . Placed side by side, , they combine into one character, , which is the character for Ming, as in the Ming dynasty. The popular rebel phrase was “Fan Qing, Fu Ming”, meaning “Overturn the Qing, Restore the Ming”. Shaolin was accused of being on this rebel side as well. Hence, Shaolin and many Shaolin derived martial arts groups from the time often used this salute and practitioners continue to use it as the common salute today.