I heard it exists. I heard that the style imitates a fetus (if a fetus could walk). I heard it uses lots of elbows and short power. Anyone have any information on it? Anyone have any experiences with it? Videos?
This dumb sh!t is one reason why kung fu sucks.
I once got into a fight and was getting my butt kicked by 3 guys and went in a fetal position. Does that count?
No video though. But it was a heck of a move.
i’m not sure how to respond to that
is it supposed to be a joke ?
Is this the answer that you seek?
This is a serious inquiry.
[QUOTE=Flying-Monkey;762755]This dumb sh!t is one reason why kung fu sucks.[/QUOTE]
yeah, I gotta agree with that. who would try and invent a style like this? it is like they wanted a gimmick that would bring them students. fetus? toad? crab? chickenhawk? who really studied these things in depth and came to the conclusion that fighting like a duck or a salamander is more effective than fighting like a human? I can almost understand snake, crane, mantis, ape, tiger, etc. but some things are just ridiculous.
TCMA isn’t the only grouping to have styles like that. Southeast Asian MA is full of them. I’ve also heard of some Japanese styles that people might say the same things about. Spider Jujutsu, for example. That said, I don’t judge styles as ineffective because they might seem strange. I actually like them. I feel they represent the diversity of MA.
[QUOTE=SevenStar;762831]yeah, I gotta agree with that. who would try and invent a style like this? it is like they wanted a gimmick that would bring them students. fetus? toad? crab? chickenhawk? who really studied these things in depth and came to the conclusion that fighting like a duck or a salamander is more effective than fighting like a human? I can almost understand snake, crane, mantis, ape, tiger, etc. but some things are just ridiculous.[/QUOTE]
Chickenhawk style, a lineage long known to despise and revile the descendants of Foghorn Leghorn. 
[QUOTE=5Animals1Path;762891]Chickenhawk style, a lineage long known to despise and revile the descendants of Foghorn Leghorn. :D[/QUOTE]
i was going to make an almost identical comment. ahh say ahh say ya beat me to it.
It’s been mentioned a couple times in KFM. Maybe it doesn’t sound as dumb in Chinese… I don’t know, but it is an actual style somewhere.
You guys don’t know kung fu
The first important thing to understand when doing kung fu research is that anything is possible. The second thing is that when a lot of kung fu research is stated simply, it sounds totally absurd.
We first published some info on Fetus style in our Nov 99 issue in the article The Martial Menagerie: Exotic Animal Styles of Kung Fu (Part 2). I’ve heard of the style described by a few masters. It’s very rare. Usually it is connected to the notion of prenatal qi, a fundamental concept if you’ve studied any qigong. Now, here’s the rub about CMA research. Most people simplify imitative boxing to a rather limited level - just the fighting. Imitative boxing is actually symbolic. When you think about it, trying to fight like a tiger, or an eagle, or whatever, is absurd. It’s more akin to shamanic familiars - it’s taking on the spirit of the beast. Obviously, if it was all based on a literal translation of animal fighting techniques into human, dragon style would be a huge reach. So while we might think that fetus style fighting sounds absurd, if you understand the value that qigong puts upon prenatal qi, it’s actually quite logical.
I have a personal theory about fetus style. The word in Chinese is tai xing, which is a ****phone for the word for ostrich style. Ostrich is a common animal in xingyi. Both styles tend to place the forearms together like parallel battering rams, and drive off the footwork, typically xingyi’s santi posture. I believe that fetus style descended from a misheard lyric, so to speak - that some student misunderstood the word ostrich for the word fetus. As this was passed down to successive generations, more inquisitive students filled in the gaps about why these movements would be called fetus style, mostly with prenatal qi theory. There’s no way that I can prove this since so much of lineage history is folk, colloquial and oral. It just seems reasonable to me given the similarities of the styles and the nature of CMA evolution. It wouldn’t be the first time something like this has happened in CMA history, that’s for sure.
didn’t know you studied xing yi gene
i always thought you were a shaolin guy. but as for the statements i was gonna say almost they same thing about fetus kung fu. pre birth internal taoist system, called fetus style or whatever, alot people just don’t get it and theres no point explaining everytime someone has a serious question, fool tend to comment. if you don’t know the answer or don’t care or think it’s rediculous don’t comment just move on.
gene regulates again
regulates? you mean CROTCH KICKS!!!
I’ve been studying xingyi for a few years now with Tony Chen. I really enjoy xingyi sword. But lately, Sifu Chen and I have been really busy, so we haven’t been connecting for lessons, so I’m going back to Shaolin.
[QUOTE=The Xia;762835]TCMA isn’t the only grouping to have styles like that. Southeast Asian MA is full of them. I’ve also heard of some Japanese styles that people might say the same things about. Spider Jujutsu, for example. That said, I don’t judge styles as ineffective because they might seem strange. I actually like them. I feel they represent the diversity of MA.[/QUOTE]
china definitely has the corner on that market. japanese styles were based on more natural movements and were not animal styles, though they may have had some animal named techniques - cat stance, ox-jaw fist, crane’s beak, etc. It’s rare that you will have ever seen an entire japanese style based on an animal, and if there was, I am betting that it is extinc now. I don’t think spider was the style of jujutsu. If I remember right, a guy happened upon a spider trapping something in his web, and somehow, that gave him greater understanding of the principles of aiki. I don’t think he created his own style based on it.
As for SE Asian arts, same thing muay thai and kali have animal named techniques - crocodile whips its tail, snaking, etc. but are not patterned after animals. I am not sure about silat, however.
I am not saying that animal styles are ineffective - what I am saying is I don’t understand why they tried to pattern themselves after animals, thinking that it would make them more effective than had they remained fighting like humans.
Good posts Gene.
I heard the style had to do with prenatal chi and was called “tai xing”. It’s funny you mention Ostritch style. I’ve heard it also called “Emu”.
[QUOTE=SevenStar;763021]china definitely has the corner on that market. japanese styles were based on more natural movements and were not animal styles, though they may have had some animal named techniques - cat stance, ox-jaw fist, crane’s beak, etc. It’s rare that you will have ever seen an entire japanese style based on an animal, and if there was, I am betting that it is extinc now. I don’t think spider was the style of jujutsu. If I remember right, a guy happened upon a spider trapping something in his web, and somehow, that gave him greater understanding of the principles of aiki. I don’t think he created his own style based on it.
As for SE Asian arts, same thing muay thai and kali have animal named techniques - crocodile whips its tail, snaking, etc. but are not patterned after animals. I am not sure about silat, however.
I am not saying that animal styles are ineffective - what I am saying is I don’t understand why they tried to pattern themselves after animals, thinking that it would make them more effective than had they remained fighting like humans.[/QUOTE]
to me it would seem that maybe these guys that did fassion their arts so closely to animals may have done so due to lack of understanding the human body and its abilities in combat. in other words, not enough research and compilation of data had yet been recorded/passed along to give a solid style that could be used.
kind of like taking a shortcut in a sense. they see this tiger and how it fights and see it kill things so well. they might figure if they could copy closely enough they might be able to fight as well. (just shooting in the dark here BTW 
)
granted as people developed and studied and practiced and tested these styles, they would surely find out more about thier own bodies and physiologies. thus removing further from the actual animal movements and embodying more of the "essence’ of the animal and its movements.
plus the aspect that people would see an animal fully removed from the ego and fighting purely on instinct. something humans have a hard time doing. maybe they were trying to get closer to that aspect. also as mentioned by gene the whole shamanistic approach. we are dealing with people from a very long time ago who had different ideas about animals and spirits and such.
why they tried to pattern themselves after animals
It’s shamanism, pure and simple. The reason to pattern yourself after an animal, or a drunk, or a fetus, is highly practical in a culture governed by superstition and folklore. This was the China of old (and to some degree, modern China, although they might be unlikely to admit it). In shamanism, you seek to gain power through the spirit world, and these often manifest with animals. It’s akin to voodoo, witch doctor stuff, obeah. However, in a culture that is based on this kind of belief system, it’s very powerful.
This taps into the whole ‘no touch knockout’ thing, something I touched upon in my Jul Aug 2002 article, No Touch Knockouts: Pressure Points and Qi Projection. It’s all about faith. If you are within a culture that has a lot of faith, evoking animals or other spiritual sources into your fighting style is very powerful. If everyone believes in no touch knockouts, then they work. In our current age of science, these things lose their combat practicality.
However, that doesn’t mean they lose their validity. Shamanism is a taproot of our tradition. To simply disregard it is to throw the baby (or the fetus) out with the bathwater. Intrinsic within these shamanistic beliefs are implicit morals. As we ‘scientifically’ disprove these superstitions within the martial arts, we must be careful not to become amoral in the process.