PlasticSquirrel
I have a pretty good idea of the answers, Ive learnt Lau Ga Kuen but im no authority.
“what types of moves from hung gar were added into hung gar’s lau gar form”
Im not sure exactly and i dont think many would know for sure outside of Lau Gar proper, which is very rare now especialy outside of china. What i do know is that the stances were adapted, the salute was changed a little and im pretty sure a couple of moves may have been actualy added to the form though exactly what i couldnt say with certainty.
“what types of applications does hung gar’s lau gar have (assume that i’m not familiar with either style of lau gar)?”
Lau Ga that i have learnt is external\internal and uses a combination of plain fists, phenix eye fists and tiger claws. Its application is similar to Hung though it is a little closer to the body in some movements.
“what are it’s strategies and characteristics”
Lau to my knowledge was another Shoalin rebel and so the style is similar in Hung in many ways, though due to Lau [dont know his full name] having different skills to Hung Hei Kwun, it relies on different things.
I have heard that Lau was a master of iron fist and phenix fists but was actualy best known for his pole work. The full system of Lau Ga contained more pole forms than fist forms. Hence it likes to crash though and likes to strike nerves. hehe im guessing Lau had a hatred of kickers to, theres more than enough ways to deal with kicks in that form and there all really brutal. There are also quite a few backfist techniques in the form.
"how long approximately is the form (number of movements)? "
The length is about 150 movements give or take a few depending on linage and whats done with the form. That was a bit of a guess as im to lazy to go out and check right now. My school has doubled many of the techniques in the form to be done of both sides hence for us its a bit longer than that.
“why is it taught to beginners often in hung gar?”
This is a tricky question, its a bit easyer to learn than the regular first Hung form which is Gung Gee Fuk Fu. Its also a bit shorter but the application still requires a good foundation and a lot of bravery. It is very fighting driven.
Hope that helped a bit, ive been studying Hung for a while now and most of that information is from my sifu and some is stuff ive read around other Hung sites and in books.
Ive also heard several different varients on how it got intergrated into Hung Ga. I wont go to far into that, other to say most schools including mine say it was to keep the Lau system from dying out.