I’ve received e-mail about my style of Hak Fu Moon (Black Tiger Style).I’ve received both positive and negative replys from members on this forum.I thought i would take this time and thread to explain some things about Black Tiger Style.
There are many schools of Black Tiger both of Chinese and Non-Chinese origin.The style of Black Tiger i study is not " Fu Jow Pai " or " Shangtung " but is a CMA.I’m going to post a thread from another forum written by my Sihing in Texas that should explain alot.
The original founder of this particular style (there is more than one Black Tiger style) was Wong Cheung, aka Kut Shuin, from Pun Yu county, Kwangtung province, China. At age 8, he was learning “Sam Chin”, the Iron Wire Form, from his grandfather. (This form is intended to harden the body making it more resistant to nerve and pressure strikes, as well as all kinds of other punishment. I used to practice it in order to do the “nail bed” trick.) At the age of 10, Wong contracted small pox and was sent to Dr. Leung Shu Cha. After he recovered, he stayed with Dr. Cha for some time and learned the “108 plum-blossom dummy” and the “9-armed grinder dummy.” (The latter form is still extant and contains 72 techniques and 108 movements.) At the age of 14, Wong went to Canton where he secretly watched Dr. Fu Man (brother of Fu Cheng Sung of Iron Palm) practice Dragon Pa Kwa. After being found out, Fu agreed to teach Wong this style. At the age of 19, Wong arrived in Hong Kong. A co-worker saw Wong practicing with his staff and, borrowing it and imitating Wong’s technique, broke it in 2. It turned out that this co-worker, Fung Wing-Pai, was a monk who had returned to “worldly life.” Fung had studied under a disciple of the founder of Black Tiger Kung Fu, and he taught this style to Wong for 3 years. Wong also studied under Kwong Ken Chen, a disciple of Wong Fei Hung. He studied Chi Kung under Cheung Loy and Lee Kow. He studied weapons under Pun Fei San, learning to use the 18 standard weapons and a number of others. In 1928, he set up a school in Hong Kong and, after the war, moved across the harbor to Kowloon. Sifu Wong died a few years ago at the age of 95 (or so I was told). I don’t know if a school is still open. So Black Tiger is really a family of different styles. Black Tiger itself doesn’t put a high priority on “clawing techniques,” like some of the other Tiger styles. Rather, Black Tiger is more of a philosophy. In Chinese mythology, the black tiger is cunning and treacherous, as opposed to the white tiger, which is honest and forthright. Wong was less than 5’ tall, so he emphasized sneaky techniques and body hardening to a high degree. Most of the kicks are low and gouging, clawing, and raking to vulnerable areas are preferred to hitting in a real fight. Among the many forms are elements of most animal and family styles, as well as chin na and drunken boxing, neither of which is actually a style in itself.
As with the original traditional Chinese arts, there were no belts. Seniority was established by when a person enters into the system. So even a person who is no longer active is considered “senior” to someone who started later. Seniority has nothing to do with who is a better fighter. This is established in the frequent sparring and everybody recognizes where they stand with respect to everyone else. It promotes “brotherliness” and eliminates a lot of the pettiness and nonsense of arbitrary belt awards based on a particular “standard” or “fighting ability.” (Not that the standards of all arts are always substandard, mind you. It just seems that belts are often awarded nowadays as an incentive to continue paying dues, rather than true mastery of technique or philosophy. Another thing I personally dislike is putting famous “masters” on the board or awarding them honorary “belts” just so they can appear on a club’s directory. Both the club and the “master” are guilty of self-promotion, if you ask me). In the Wong Cheung Gymnasium, there was only 1 sifu, whom we would also call a grandmaster, and that was Wong Cheung. In the old days, a sifu was an older person, probably past his prime physically, who was a fountain of knowledge and yet still very competent. Thirty and 40 year old “sifu’s” were unknown. Fat or obviously incompetent sifus were also rare. You can cloud the whole thing over with semantics all you want, but young sifus were virtually non-existent. Simply the fact of being a skilled fighter, perhaps capable of beating every opponent, was not grounds for the title, “sifu.” My own teacher, although extremely gifted and intelligent, always insisted on being called “teacher” and nothing more.
Grandmaster Wong Cheung was the 5th Grandmaster of Black Tiger Style.My Sifu Fred Woo was the Chairman of The Black Tiger Assocation in Hong Kong under Grandmaster Wong Cheung his Sifu.
If you guys have any questions ask away i’ll be glad to answer any questions.I hope this clears up some of the mist about Black Tiger.
Note: This is in no way a show of Disrespect towards Fu Jow Pai or Shantung Black Tiger.This is just to explain this school of Black Tiger.
jmd161:)
