Fukien/Fujian White Crane

Wai Jia: The Kung Fu Forum Southern Chinese Kung Fu
1

For FUBOKEN
Fujian White Crane
[Any further questions please ask]

Sorry I shall use Mandarin as it is easier for me (art least I didn’t use Hokkienese )

Fujian 1644-1662 – Yong Chun Bai He Quan (Wing Chun White Crane Fist)
Story states it being from the Bai Lien Si
Many people studied the art in the fujian area consisting of an accountable well versed 21 Masters.
Also practitioners became known as the ‘Chien Wu Hu’ – Primary 5 Tigers
1683 was carried on to Taiwan by practitioners who became known as ‘Hou Wu Hu’ - Later 5 Tigers

Initially known to contain the following fundamental Sets of techniques:
Dan Jr Dan Ma Fa
Shuang Jr Dan Ma Fa
Shuang Jr Shuang Ma Fa
Dan Jr Shuang Ma Fa
Gan Zi Da Fa
In Addition of Staff, Broadsword & Trident weapon Methods

The popularity of the style at the time made it influence and spread out. It had some influence almost all southern systems as it was spread out everywhere.

In Fact it was a major influence on the most popular and famous Fujian art of Wu Zhu Quan (5 Ancestors Fist). 5 Ancestors Fist was composed on the basis of the following systems at the time :

  1. Bai He Quan
  2. Da Mo Quan
  3. Tai Zu Quan
  4. Xing Jr Quan (Hou Quan)
  5. Lohan Quan
    Wu Zhu Quan in itself is a very large system. I may outline it later some time.

The white crane system itself was further complicated by being distinguished into 5 separate systems all of which had developed different routines/forms. However the basic strategies usually remained similar :

Zong He (Jumping/Free Crane)
Fei He (Flying Crane)

Ming He (Chirping/Shouting Crane)
Bai He (Ancestral Crane)
Fan He (Feeding Crane)

In Taiwan the Ancestral Crane was most popular.
Ancestral Crane consists of the following routines/forms :

Qi Xing , Shan He, Wu Mei Hua, Wu Bu, Gong He.
Xiao Yao, Da Yao,Yao Gu, Bai Mei, Ti Gua.
Zong He, Zhan Ji, Zhan He, Chuan Zhen, Fo Shou, Hu Die Zhang, Shi Ba Lohan Shou

Japanese Okinawan Goju Ryu Karate also traces much of its roots in the Bai He Quan in Fact one of their forms (Though incorrectly performed and practised) contains almost exact movements as one of the routines.

In 1929 a research organisation was established to Find the essence of the original Yong Chun Bai He Quan, They discovered that the art was popular in Singapore, Malaysia & Taiwan. Some of the routines considered here include the following.

Chi Bu San Zhan
Shi San Tai Bao
Shi San Bu Yao
Mei Nu Shu Zhuang
Ba Fen Cun Fa
Gan Zi Da Fa
Bai He Zhan Ji
Tang Lang Zhao Er
Meng Hu Na Mao
Bai He Xian Zhao
Li Shi Tuo Xie
Shuang Long Chu Lin
Shuang Yan Zhuan etc

Common features include things like Gang Jing (Hard Jing) which is common to many southern Martial arts. Liu He Combination of Internal/External, Shorter Stances, close fighting tactics, Sticky Hands, quick and triangular stepping, many hand formations (ie, crane claw, tiger claw, eagle claw, fist, vertical fist, phoenix eye fist, dragon eye fist, snake tongue, etc……
The routines/forms are very short in the beginning stages but they become longer as they progress.
Routines commence with the Hung Mun gesture (like hung gar) except that instead of coming from the right side it approaches from the left side. In the Fujian original formation it is commonly found to follow fujian method of the outside of the fist touching the palm centre rather than the inverse/inside part (which is the way Hung gar does it).

Another feature is the use of Bu Ding Bu Ba Ma stance which is central the fighting position in the system. In terms of power and strikes the palms are used very often in conjunction with the crane wing etc… fists in typical southern style.

Stances
Ping Ma
Sz Ping Ma
Ding Zi Bu
Bu Ding Bu Ba Ma
Ji Xiu Bu
Gui Bu

Basics
Dan Jr Yin Yang Jie
Sheung Jr Yin Yang Jie

2

ShaolinMaster-

Thankyou for your trouble. The Wing Chun White Crane name is interesting. I was mainly asking if you had any experiencial comparison to offer in regard to White Crane and White Tiger from the Fujian temple. The paragraph beginning with “common features” could describe the White Tiger that I know and maybe some “hakka” styles as well.

3

Fubokuen

Hello

In Fujian Style the white tiger and White Crane Styles differ significantly.
To begin with the stance is higher in White Crane.
The Breathing in White crane is very very different and wierd. Short quick exhalations with a heh empty air sound (part of special qi gong)!]
The Stance in Fujian Bai Hu is higher than hung gar (Hei Hu) etc, but lower than Crane. It uses a typical fujian stance where there is a front stance with the rear leg slightly bent, 45 degrees feet angles, parallel, line between foot of front and heel of rear…etc.
Power is completely different regarding the sink and the float logic that prevails in the Hakka related arts …
more later busy now

any direct questions please ask and I will do my best to answer. If prefer in private for in depth discussions please use email

Regards
Shi Chan Long

4

Fuboken

A little more…

The Styles of Hakka (Chu Gar, Chou Gar, JookLum Sth PMantis) and Bak Mei, Long Ying as well as Yau Kung Mun share similar Features due to one of the following ‘probable’ reasons.(This is pretty dangerous so please note the use of probable without any claim before critiscm).
Firstly The founder of Chu Gar was learning at shaolin temple (being royalty from superseded dynasty) at the same time as Bak Mei and the other elders. Basically Bak mei was an elder at the time and probably was more of an authority at that time. As it is known from Fujian records the most popular styles at the time were Duan Quan, Lohan Quan, Mei Hua Quan and the like. In those days Forms did not number as many as today and in fact it was the principle techniques and tactics that made up the system as well as special skills relevant to the system (ie iron body, palm or fist, light skills, cavity striking, and the like). [It is for this reason that Shaolin-Do’s claims are questionable especially funny things like Chen’s Tai Qi or worst still a combined form(modern PRC Creation), that is truley silly and 900 forms no way, but let’s not go there, not to mention there are 12 forms of Hua Quan but Cai LongYun only wrote books on the first 4 of which shaolin DO proclaims to teach and many other yeah right!].
From these events Chu Fook To (Chu Gar Ming Emperor Family) after the Ching’s soldier’s raid of shaolin and all associated people, changed his name fled and kept the Chu Gar style within the Family (Hakka = Ke-ren, Ming flee to sth) for generations. Latter Yi Sui created(renamed) the style to Chou Gar and Student of Lau Sui created Kwang Sai Jook Lum..
The Hakka style’s characterised by
-Sink, Float, Spit & Swallow
-Rounding of Back
-Leg Jing (Impulse stepping)
-No T no V Step [Bu Ding Bu Ba]
-Centre line punching, Open hands standbye
-2 man sticky hands (Feeling Hands)
-Bridges training
-Phoenix Fist
Fighting is using tactics such as close gap, cross bridge, feel balance of power and retaliate accordingly, explosive power, small area striking aggressive and infinite til battle is won.

Bak mei & Fung Dao De as all know fled to Ermei (Ngor mei..whatever), Both exchanged ideals yet Taoist principle were invoked, Bak Mei remained in the Ermei areas, Fung Dao De wandered and resided in places such as Wudang are and the like absorbing the Way (Dao). Bak Mei introduced principles such as the Bakua area striking and furthered his shaolin art. Fung Dao De emphasised internal aspects. Again without disrespect only a small amount of forms(1-4)if any would have been trained or practised.

to be continued

Regards

Shi Chan Long

5

Hi thankyou very much for your perspective. Are you saying that your Fujian Bai mei and Bai Hu do not utilize the sink float swallow spit posture?

Are there any records of a White Lotus fist in the Fujian temple?
We may at some point want off this forum. You can start emailing as soon as you like…
fubokuen@hotmail.com

6

Yang Jwing Ming

Hello,

Just as a query are there any Yang Jwing Ming students that would like to outline there own experiences of Taiwanese White Crane (Mine are from China and singapore).

Please share concepts and regumin as you like.

Regards

Shi Chan Long

7

Hey ShaolinMaster,
I’ve studied mostly Taiji from Dr. Yang, but I did take one 3-day seminar on his White Crane. I believe the seminar I took covered a lot of the material that a beginner would learn in the first few months of regular classes. He really focused a lot on spine and chest movement–lots of slow exercises for bow-ing and arcing the chest, loosening up the vertebrae and waist–all coordinated with reverse breathing. Lots of focus on sinking the qi, and really mainting your root. We sort of did some Sumo type wrestling with a partner to get a sense of rooting. Dr. Yang tended to divide the White Crane qigong into hard and soft. The soft stuff was VERY similar in theory and practice to Taiji–mind leading the qi through very relaxed muscles in coordination with slow physical movement. The hard qigong stuff started out the same, but then the muscles (forearm, for instance) would be slowly tensed to trap the qi there, held tensed for a few seconds, and then released–these being excercises designed to use the qi to build up muscular strength.
He also emphasized the nature of White Crane as a soft-hard style–a lot of the same whipping power through relaxed muscles as Taiji does, but with a bit more focus on muscular tension at the impact of the techniques.
We also did some 2-person forearm conditioning drills (maybe it was called 3-star blocking?)–which left my arms slightly black and blue for a few days .
I’ve worked a number of those exercises into my current training, but I decided to focus on Taiji, so that’s been pretty much the extent of my White Crane instruction

“Without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd; without innovation it is a corpse.” --Sir Winston Churchil

8

Thanks

Thank you for your post it has been pleasant. Although a seminar is not exactly it ..I was wondering about actual practitioners.

Regards
Shi Chan Long

9

Hey, no problem. If you have specific or higher level questions, I’m sure somebody at the school would be happy to talk to you–you can get contact info at:

http://www.ymaa.com

10

Southern (Fukien) White Crane

I just read the latest issue of Qigong-Wushu-KungFu (title’s too damn long!!) and there was an article about Fukien White Crane style. From the description, it sounds an awful lot like either SPM and/or Bak Mei. I know that geographically they’re all neighbors, so can anyone who is acquainted with these arts tell me if there are similarities and/or relations amongst them? Thanks.

…don’t think you are, know you are…

11

Same but different

Superficially there are many similarities, however in depth there are many differences amongst all these southern arts.

Probably because the fundamentals are similar yet as one develops the essence, approach and function become more specialised.

Patience and Peace
Shi Chan Long

12

Fukien White Crane

That’s Southern Chinese Kung Fu, right?

I don’t get mad.
I get stabby.

13

hehehhe the answer is in the question :smiley:
Repeat after me: F U K I E N
Hehehehehhe sorry for pulling your leg, I jut couldn’t resist!!

14

uh nobody was suposed to answer that I thought we were all on the same page :mad:

New classes New online Catalog
www.shaolindynasty.cjb.net

15

Wow, I know I could have easily figured it out with a map , if I had one on handy- which i don’t(no I don’t have the provincial geography of China committed to memory). I didn’t think it was a big deal to post as a question.

CP,
If you aren’t sure where Fukien is in China, the north/south enigma remains. :confused:

SD,
Take that “thumbs down” turn it around and shove it up your arse! :stuck_out_tongue:

I don’t get mad.
I get stabby.

16

Stranger

Don’t let them get you down. We’re not all experts - I’ve asked some really dumb questions on here.

But you know what - the question that was dumb to them has now been answered so there is one less dumb person out there.

I thought that’s what this forum was for? Education and sharing knowledge.

Don’t make people feel stoopid - otherwise they wont come back.

“We had a thing to settle so I did him”
Tamai, 43, was quoted by Police as saying.

17

While we’re on the subject

What are some of the external characteristics of Fukien White Crane? Examples of techniques, etc.

18

Eviljungle,
That was one of my follow up questions.
I quit after I got my first wave of replies.
You have inspred me to try again.

OK, we’ve apparently established that Fukien is indeed in Southern China, thus making Fukien White Crane Southern Chinese Kung Fu .(wipes brow and cautiously proceeds)It has been suggested on the main forum that Fukien White Crane and Tai Chi (a northern style) mesh very well.

Do they share any commnalities in your eyes? What kung fu background did the creator of Fukien White Crane posses that would have contributed to White Crane’s strategy, energy, or technical base?
(slowly steps away from thread prepared for the worst)

I don’t get mad.
I get stabby.

19

Damn, sorry it was a joke :rolleyes:

New classes New online Catalog
www.shaolindynasty.cjb.net

20

SD,

That’s OK, I put a “razz smile” rather than an “angry face” on my riposte so you would know I was just busting your stones in return. :slight_smile:

Any help on my follow up questions would be appreciated.

I don’t get mad.
I get stabby.