Snake Crane Wing Chun History - by master Wayne Yung

 

" History is often replaced by legends , our teachers passes old stories to us as a true history and those stories are often taken for granted , just because Sifu told us .Often times “history” of particular style begins with a story where some god or ancestor passed the system to the founder in a dream. Sometimes there is a research conducted and examination of the artifacts and written sources leads to some old (often unknown)  hermit who lived in a mountain. The question is ,will we insist in believing impossible or improbable things or will we make an effort search for the true historical facts ?」

Abbot Chi Sin and Southern Shaolin 

Snake Crane Wing Chun family historical records hold the Abbot of  Southern Shaolin monastery Chi Sin and a nun Ng Mui as their founders. They developed the shorter bridge and smaller stance system to deal with long bridge and wider horse stance system of Ma Ling Yee , a traitor who assisted the Qing government in destruction of Southern Shaolin Temple. Coincidentally, many southern systems also trace their origin to Abbot Chi Sin and Southern Shaolin as their source. The question is, with so many southern systems with distinctive flavors and differences that exist today, did Abbot Chi Sin had time to create so many different systems? Moreover ,different systems place Chi Sin in different  time periods , so , the other question is , how long did he lived and is it possible that he lived couple hundred years? There are even more important questions like, did the Southern Shaolin really existed? Moreover, why create a completely new martial arts system to solely  deal with one person, traitor Ma Ling Yee?

 

There were a lot of efforts to prove historical accuracy of burning the Southern Shaolin by Qing government. Furthermore, martial arts historians put a lot of effort in proving existence of Southern Shaolin monastery but to this day , without any success. Latest researches discovered that Southern Shaolin story has its roots in real historical events but the temple its self never existed and actual burning happened  in 1855.  Events which led to Southern Shaolin story creation are closely connected with Taiping uprising and “Dachen Kingdom” in Guan Xi. Red Boat opera troupe from Gunagdong province , led by Lee Man Mao ,joined the rebellion and established a headquarters  in “Fine Jade Hall” in Foshan.  Qing government ordered destruction of Fall Jade Hall as base for Anti Qing supporters and soon after Opera was prohibited in that area for more than a decade.  After rebellion was crushed, rebels who survived and who were mostly opera actors scattered all over Guangdong . A lot of them found a refugee in Foshan. Since opera was banned and it was not safe to talk openly about these events, story about Southern Shaolin burning emerged containing all key elements of the real events. There was one more purpose of this story, to give a sense of unity and common origin for different anti Qing fractions who still operated at the time. Term "Chi Sin" , it came from Confucius teachings and represents a state  of absolute kindness. As for a person with such a name really existed we do not have proof

History from the perspective of Snake Crane Wing Chun

There are different versions of Wing Chun history today, however, none of them have any mention of  Red Boats and Lee Man Mau involvement Taiping rebellion. There is one very interesting question, how Wong Wah Bo, Leung Yee Tai and Leung Jan were able to practice the art openly after the Opera ban and prosecution of opera members who were involved in Taiping rebellion .The only conclusion , supported with available documents and other historical sources , Wong Wah Bo , Leung Yee Tai and Leung Jan were never took a part in the rebellion , that is the reason why they could practice their art openly , without any fear of prosecution. On the other hand, lineages whose ancestors took a part in the rebellion and anti Qing activities ,like  Ban Chung Wing Chun and Snake Crane Wing Chun kept low profile over the last hundred years. Due to the low profile, these arts were passed down only to family members and stayed unchanged , still keeping all the characteristic of the classic martial style form Red boat period. Also origin of Wing Chun 3 empty hands  sets and  connection to the old rivalry between Wing Chun and Choy Lay Fut is still remained unknown to the public. Earlier in 2007 New Martial Hero published an article written by Mr Liu Kwong Wah about butterfly swords has some interesting points regarding the questions  mentioned above . All unanswered questions regarding Wing Chun history brought me to my personal quest for facts. Following  historical analysis contains data from, Snake Crane Wing Chun 3rd generation successor, Law Tiu Wen’s (1890) writings and also data and analysis from different  sources like Yuen Kay Shan Wing Chun and GuangZhou Wing Chun  which are for references and further studies.

 

Snake Crane Wing Chun Successor Lineage line:

 

Chi Sin (1st) – Sun Kam (2nd) – Law Tiu Wen (3rd) –Law Ting Chau (4th) – Law Chiu Wing(5th)

 

In 1855, the Qing Government burned the Fine Jade Hall and banned  Red boat troupes. Yik Kam, Red Boat actor and  Ban Chung Wing Chun founder who was associated with Lee Man Mau and his Dacheng Kingdom which was situated in GuangXi was still practicing the one long  ,108 movements ,Siu Lim Tau set , also known as Snake Crane Fist. He found a refuge in Poon Yu village , not taking any other involvement  in anti dynastic activities and Ban Chung Wing Chun preserved this long Siu Nim Tao set to this day .Why there was a need to break one long set into three empty hands sets found in  most Wing Chun styles today? The reason for  splitting was a need for immediate application of the skills. The splitting should happened  after 1855 but not after 1860. How do we know this ?According to the Snake Crane Wing Chun notes(1890) written by Law Tiu Wen, the 3rd generation successor  we can roughly  calculate span of one  generation is around  30 years. If we know that first generation had one long Siu Nim Tao set and  Law Tiu Wen, the 3rd generation had 3 empty hands sets ,the split of the long SNT set happened  during 2nd generation period .  is approximately 1890-30 =1860.

 

Qing Government bribing Taiping Leaders

 

Most of the Southern Fist system has the similarities of being originated from Southern Shaolin and Abbot Chi Sin. From the Snake Crane Wing Chun Siu Lim Tau Song last verse has a significant meaning: 「Snake Crane (Fist) can subdue the traitors」. This shows that the Snake Crane Wing Chun was created to deal with Ma Ling Yee who specializes in using wider stance and longer bridge. However the questions is with why it was necessary  to create Snake Crane Wing Chun system with smaller stance and shorter bridge. It is believed that Abbot Chi Sin or Nun Ng Mui were sufficient to handle the traitor Ma Ling Yee. Therefore, “Ma Ling Yee” is not a only one person but a group of traitors who are specializes in using wider stance and longer bridge.

After First Opium War . Choy Lee Fat Chen Heng with his disciples returned home, put forward "YeeWuKeungJok" slogan, and  recruited numerous disciples who had excellent training. Two years later, more than a hundred men and women disciples are sent all across southern China and opened forty-four Choy Lee Fat 'HungShingMartialHall "in various parts of Guangdong, Guangxi. After the peasant movement broke out, Choy Lee Fa became the main military art of the Tai Ping Heavenly Kingdom forces.

After the Taiping Kingdom established its capital in Nanking, the momentum of the movement went nationwide. During those times they have encountered a lot internal conflicts and different points of view. Thus, there were generals who will be bribed and went over to the Qing Government. In 1854, the attack of the City of GuangZhou led by Lee Man Mau, the Red Boat troupe with the Taiping Army, and established Dacheng Kingdom in GuanXi in 1855, enraged the Qing Government. The Qing Viceroy Yip Ming Sum led the Qing Army ,burned the Fine Jade hall and the Red boats. The Survivors of the Red boat troupes and Anti Qing fighters were scattered. Most fled to Foshan for hiding. The traitors who had become members of Qing army, also resided in the same area. Canton opera theaters were banned for fifteen years. In order to seek revenge against the traitors, the evolution of one long set splitting to three sets was developed to shorten the time for training so that Foshan can be a stronghold for confrontation.

Why single form set system split to three forms set system.

Grandmaster Cheng Heng and his students from Choy Lee Fut were the trainers of the TaiPing Heavenly Kingdom army. As the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom grew bigger, the Qing government bribed and recruited many officials from the Taiping Army. Wing Chun evolved from the single long set which is non-open teaching and the way of fighting not being well known, to three sets for the purpose of quick training. The Single Set needs a longer time to learn and to handle .This is because it is based on ancient Chinese internal development as prerequisite thus it was separated into three sets to focus on the applications and it was easier to learn and handled in a short period of time. With the focus in applications, the three forms set system could train good anti-Qing fighters within a short time to deal with the traitors, by using the close contact fighting from the centerline to deal with the long range fighting from the side attack. And this is what it means by 「Snake Crane Fist can subdue the Traitor」 as the combat strategy of non-open teaching of Snake Crane Fist is using capturing the center line and close quarters concept against wide stance and long range bridge distance combat

 

 Article written by : Sifu Wayne Yung

New Book - Self-defense, safety tips

 

Security and safety challenges rank among the most pressing issues of human society of all times. There are numerous books and video courses about self-defense that cover various scenarios from hand to hand combat to fire arms. All these courses teach how to survive violent attack and offer wide variety of techniques and approaches to the problem of self-defense. Best way of self-defense is when attack never happens. While practicing martial arts and tactical shooting is certainly good, actual fighting is the last resort and it represents only 2% of complete self-defense strategy. Prevention is the key that allows people to be safe. Avoiding or preventing an attack is the safest way to ensure security and it is surprisingly easy. Most situations do not require physical self-defense or martial arts and 98% of potentially dangerous situations can be completely avoided or defused. To implement safety strategies you must understand the fundamentals of prevention, when you do, you will be able to improvise safety strategies that are relevant to your needs. This books offer essential safety tips that will help you to stay safe by preventing and avoiding violence

                           Book can be found by following this link            Self-defense, safety tips

Change in TCMA, let's do it properly

 

Chinese martial arts started to change. Under the influence of full contact competitions in which Kung Fu people started to participate, at first in extremely low numbers, but as time passes, we can see more and more people are engaging in those kinds of competitions. As a rule, kung fu practitioners performed very badly in those encounters.  It became obvious that so called traditional martial arts have little to no martial value and they became pure art forms.

Why and how old fighting systems became completely useless in modern day competition arena was explained in some of the previous articles. What became obvious to everyone involved in full contact competition is that focus in training in traditional martial is not compatible with fighting training. Facing this simple truth many changes started to happen in TCMA community. People started to question everything, even the untouchable “masters” of the old. Of course this process is slow and there are still a lot of people locked in all that “tradition”, “original style”, “pure lineage” and other things used for more than a century to justify and cover lack of real martial training. On the other hand more people realize the truth about their previous training and they not only start to question everything but also begin to change their training approach and focus.  While that is certainly a good thing there are few points we have to be aware of in order to preserve traditional martial arts in all their fullness of content.

First thing we have to have in mind is that not all people practice kung fu for fighting. They are drawn to kung fu for other reasons like health, fitness, tradition, ect. For these people, training certainly shouldn’t be fighting oriented.

When we talk about fighting oriented training there is one thing we should be aware. Over time I have noticed that, fighting training in TCMA looks exactly the same as in boxing, kick boxing and Thai boxing. These arts were developing and improving their training approach for a long time in the direction of creating good fighters. While I do think it is important to learn from these arts because they have a lot longer experience and have explored many different ways of training in order to achieve good fighting results, I don’t think it is wise to copy them completely.

Adopting training approach is one thing, copying the complete system is something else. It is easy to fall in the trap of copying these styles because they do offer simpler and apparently more effective solutions. As rule, kung fu people who work toward improving their fighting approach, copy kick boxing or boxing completely not only in training but also in techniques. While I do respect full contact sports and never have doubt in their efficiency, I do think that TCMA should develop their own repertoire of full contact techniques based in TCMA foundation principles of body structure and power generation. We also have to make a clear distinction between sports fighting and self defense. Sports fighting reinforce one dangerous belief. In sports fighting, professional athletes get hit many times, thus people believe that taking a punch in a real fight is something like a norm. We have to be aware that in sports fighting people who engage the a match are pretty much equal in terms of physical traits and skills. In random act of violence there is very little chance that we will encounter someone who is equal to us in any way. Getting hit, even once can be a death sentence. And here we come to the point of blocking. While blocking in sports fighting, due to protective gear and lack of weapons is pretty much ineffective, in real fight blocking can save your life.

What we should do is to save the technical content of TCMA in its entirety and simply adopt better training systems that will allow us to use our  traditional styles to their full potential .

Wing Chun Grandmaster Wayne Yung - biography

- Wayne Yung graduated from Civil Engineering, majored in Structure and Applied Mechanics in Hong Kong Baptist University in 1983 and gained his Master in Computer Science in the Queen’s University of Belfast in Northern Ireland in 1987. - In 1987, he taught Computer Science full-time in Hong Kong Baptist University and part-time in the City University of Hong Kong. Now, he is working in the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology since 1990. - From 2009-2014, he was appointed to conduct a Kung Fu class for the co-MBA program of Hong Kong University and Science and Technology and New York University @ Stern once a year. - Wayne Yung is the consulting editor and writer of New Martial Hero magazine since 2008 and a writer on the “Health & Kung Fu Talk” Special topic in the newspaper AM730 in Hong Kong since 2014. - He learnt different Chinese martial arts, TaeKwonDo and Judo in his teenagers. In 1976 and 1977, he won the Hong Kong South China Athletic Association Open Hong Kong Tournaments 1st runner up and 2nd runner up respectively. Then he taught Judo and became a Judo referee until 1993, totally getting retired from Judo. - In 1978, he followed Grandmaster Law Chiu Wing to learn Snake Crane Wing Chun in closed door style till 2008. Since 2009, Snake Crane Wing Chun re-open to the public, and he is appointed by GM Law to be the president of the Snake Crane Wing Chun Martial Arts Association. In the same year, he established a Snake Crane Wing Chun martial art team for staff of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. The team had been invited repeatedly to have open kung fu cultural exchanges and workshops for the foreigner HKUST students - Based on his educational background, in 1993, he spent 25 years to study and analysis all he learned the traditional Snake Crane Wing Chun, and developing a good easy modern way to teach. - In 2014, he published a paper on “Investigation on Some Forgotton Wing Chun Kuen History”which was recognized by the Foshan Wushu History Research Centre and Foshan Wing Chun Oral History Study group. - In 2017, he was invited by Sifu Salvador from Spain to present the Snake Crane Wing Chun history in their “International Wing Chun day”in Spain in March. - In 2012, he submitted Snake Crane Wing Chun to apply for the first published list of Hong Kong Intangible Cultural Asset Heritage in 2014. - In 2012, he was also appointed as the Wing Chun Advisor of a Kung Fu movie “亂世護寶- Troubled Treasures” to train the action directors and actors, and later Snake Crane Wing Chun contents and Kuen Kuits have been added to the movie by the scene writer. - President of Snake Crane Wing Chun Mun, Snake Crane Wing Chun Martial Arts Association, Snake Crane Wing Chun Athletic Association, Snake Crane Wing Chun Yung Kwok Wing Athletic Association. - Snake Crane Wing Chun Athletic Association is for international promotion of SCWC. Now, there are branches and representatives in Germany, France, India, Canada, Taiwan, Singapore, Costa Rica. 翁國榮師傅的歴 翁國榮師傅 - 翁國榮師傅於1983年畢業於香港浸會大學土木工程學系，主修結構與應用工程力學，並於1987年在北愛爾蘭貝爾法斯特女王大學獲得計算機科學碩士學位。 - 1987年，他在香港浸會大學全職教授計算機科學，並在香港城市大學兼職教授計算機工程。從1990年開始在香港科技大學工作至現在。 - 從2009年至2014年，他每年一次教授香港科技大學和紐約大學@Stern的MBA課程的功夫工作坊。 - 翁國榮師傅自2008年起擔任New Martial Hero雜誌的顧問編輯和撰稿人，並自2014年起擔任香港AM730報紙“武健講場”專題的撰稿人。 - 他在年青時習了不同的中國武術，跆拳道和柔道。 1976年和1977年，他分別獲得香港華南體育會香港公開柔道錦標賽亞軍和季軍。然後，他教授柔道，及成為柔道裁判，直到1993年完全從柔道退役。 - 1978年，他跟隨羅昭榮師傅，以閉門式學習蛇鶴詠春至2008年。自2009年起，蛇鶴詠春向公眾開放，成立蛇鶴詠春國術總會，並由其師任命為總裁。同年，在香港科技大學職員會成立了蛇鶴詠春武術隊。該隊曾多次被邀請為科大外國學生開設功夫文化交流和工作坊。 - 根據他的教育背景，1993年，他花了25年時間研和分析他所學習的傳統蛇鶴詠春，並把它整理成一種簡單易學的教學方法。 - 2014年，他發表了一篇用了超過20年研究的蛇鶴詠春歷史的論文「一段被遺忘的詠春拳歷史」，原來蛇鶴詠春是與太平天國火燒紅船有關的。 - 2017年，他受西班牙師傅 Salvador邀請，在3月份飛西班牙參加其“國際詠春日”，當中講述了所探究的蛇鶴詠春歷史。 - 2012年，他提交蛇鶴詠春資料申報香港非物質文化遺產，成功地於2014年列於首批香港非物質文化遺產名錄中。 - 2012年，他還被邀請作功夫電影“亂世護寶”的詠春顧問，以培訓動作導演和演員，後來蛇鶴詠春內容和拳訣更被編劇加到電影中。 - 現擔任蛇鶴詠春國術總會、蛇鶴詠春體育會及蛇鶴詠春翁國榮體育會會長。 - 蛇鶴詠春體育會作蛇鶴詠春的國際推廣官方機構。現在，德國、法國、英國、中國、印度、加拿大、台灣、新加坡及哥斯達黎加都有分支機構和代表。

New book release

Dear friends it is my great pleasyre to present new book "WHITE CRANE, SECRETS OF INTERNAL POWER".

New book that reveals secretes of internal training without esoteric or religious terminology. Book was written in simple, clear and easy to understand manner based. All the processes involved in internal training were explained through modern physics, chemistry, biology and medical science. This is also the only book about Shaking Crane style ever written in English. Training approach and exercises presented in this book can be beneficial for internal martial arts practitioners, especially for Wing Chun practitioners.Book can be bought on Amazon

Stupid shit Wing Chun people say

Wing Chun is my primary art, which I have been practicing for more than 3 decades. Over the years I have heard many stupid, illogical, esoteric, weird and borderline schizophrenic explanation of the art. But there are few that are used frequently in order to hide incompetence of teachers and inefficiency of their styles. Number one is "My Art Is Too Deadly To Spar." Many people truly believe that Wing Chun hides secrets of how to kill people with bare hands. Some just say that to hide lack of real fighting training. In reality it is not easy to kill someone with bare hands, especially if that someone actively resists. It is possible of course, and it happens sometimes, usually by pure accident. If killing with bare hands is actually possible people wouldn’t bother to invent weapons of any kind. If the art is” too deadly to spar or fight” it is not worth anyone’s time or money, simple as that. My next favorite “Wing Chun Is Not Meant \For Sport, I can’t use many techniques because of the gloves and many efficient techniques are forbidden by rules , like eye gauge or kick in the balls." Simple truth about this is, if someone can’t compete, he can’t fight in real selfdefese situation. Hitting the eyes of the moving opponent with finger jab is almost impossible. Kick in the groins doesn’t really work that well on people full of adrenalin who have desire to hurt or kill you. About movement restriction caused by gloves, that is also pure crap, I can and I use all wing wing chun hands position with or without gloves, no real difference there. Third place is a claim that you don’t need muscles to generate power. Power will come from “internal” sources and lately there is claim that muscles are not needed for punching power because more power comes from tendons and ligaments. This is not only beyond stupid, but amount of people who believe in this things clearly show how bad education system is these days all over the world. Basic scientific truths, about basic physics and biology, which supposed to be taught at elementary school level got lost somewhere along the way. No further explanation is needed. Fourth place goes to "Your Technique Is Wrong ,(because it is slightly different than mine)”. This shows fundamental misunderstanding of the basic principles of the art and also shows some psychological issues. Paying too much attention to the smallest details like someone’s life depends on them is just stupid. Either Art can work, or not, few millimeters difference in hand position won’t make real difference in real fight. Of course, ‘’snake oil’’ sellers will insist on smallest details explaining how important they are and how that makes their style more efficient, original and better than all others. Fifth place goes to secret techniques which are nothing more than new choreographies of movements without any real value. Any efficient martial art is based in simple principles and proper training approach, there are no secrets there, no “higher level knowledge” ($$$$$). Either you can learn basics of fighting in 6 months or not, You can become proficient fighter in few years or not. The only secret is hard work and proper training. To conclude this article, if you hear something like this in your school, run , don't turn back, because it is complete waste of your time and money

Why Kung Fu has a shape we know today ? Part one

During Qing dynasty period teaching martial arts in China was based on  "close door"  system. Martial schools were extremely expensive and most schools was closed for outsiders even if they had enough money. Less than one percent of Chinese population at the time practiced some form of martial arts, mostly military and law enforcement personal as well as bodyguards, caravan security and bounty hunters. After Taiping rebellion and especially after Boxer rebellion martial arts in China significantly declined in number of practitioners and quality of training. The end of Qing dynasty brought enormous social and political changes and true golden age of Kung Fu started with establishment of the republic.

Newly formed Republic of China faced multiple challenges on every level of social, political, economical and all other possible aspects of life. New republic had to make an enormous jump from feudal society into a modern period.  While China fell into a period of chaos and constant infighting known as the Warlord Era (1916–1928) when control of the country was divided among former military cliques of the Beiyang Army and other regional factions, progressive intelligence sought new ways to push the country forward despite the hard political situation.

Memories of western colonial actions and humiliation they brought to Chinese people as well as centuries of Mongolian suppression were still fresh and kung fu was seen as a perfect way for busting national pride and sense of self worth. Through Goushu academy as a government project Jing Wu association as government supported private project on state national level and many local associations kung fu was transformed and changed in so many ways. From purely fighting purposes during Qing dynasty, practice shifted toward health, philosophy, tradition and sometimes even religion. All this was used as a tool of political and mostly social influence.

Suddenly kung fu schools had hundreds and sometimes thousands of students, in some areas participation in kung fu training was mandatory for people who worked in government infrastructure. At this period, for the first time woman started massively to participate in martial training.  

National awakening in China started several decades before the actual establishment of the Republic and we can see significant social, political and cultural changes in the period from the beginning of Taiping rebellion to 1911. These changes couldn’t be stopped but they were suppressed by Qing government. After 1911, newly established republican government put a lot of effort to build new Chinese identity based in nationalism.

This is the period when kung fu finally got the shape it has today. Suddenly, combat effectiveness was the main focus of training. Kung fu schools that belonged to big government owned or funded associations were used more like education (or more precisely re-education) centers than martial arts training facilities.  

At this period most “traditional” kung fu styles had been invented or at least got their final shape in a sense of techniques and forms. Great transformation of old fighting systems occurred at this time. While old styles were actually weapon fighting styles with little to none empty hands techniques, obsolete weapons completely lost any significance in the modern warfare of the 20st century, new forms of the old styles put all the emphasis on hand to hand fighting. Some styles transitioned from old to new way training better than others. Some styles simply kept the old weapon forms  now done without weapons and just tried to find some kind of practical application for those movements and positions in hand to hand combat. Other styles kept the basic foundation and principles of fighting but created new forms, better suited for eppty hand fighting. 

This also a period when kung fu was introduced to Taoist philosophy and practices for the first time. This was sole effort of one man, Sun Lu Tang who had knowledge and skills in both, martial arts and Taoism, and most importantly he had enough political power to push his agenda and connect Chinese martial arts to ancient practices of Taoism. He was at the right place at the right time and his work changed the shape of kung fu completely for the generations to come. Introducing Taoism to kung fu also shaped developmental path of what we today know “internal’ styles. The term “internal” was also Sun Lu Tang’s invention. Today we have styles that completely lost martial aspect and they cannot be separated from Taoism because everything that is done is explained through Taoist theories and the end goal of practice is not fighting but something completely different and unrelated to fighting.

Republican government needed to boost national pride and that need brought new “histories” and also new “legends” and “myths”. Shaolin became what it is today during republican period. Same thing goes with Wudang. Shaolin was never a place of research and development of martial arts and kung fu as we know it today for the first time was practiced in Shaolin in 1990’s. Wudang was introduced to so called internal styles in 1920’s by the delegation of Goushu academy, never before any kind of empty hand fighting was practiced in Wudang. All the “oral” histories about legendary founders of almost every style in China had been invented during this period of time. All these histories basically tell the same story, an old master, who had to fight for justice went through a period of immense hardship and developed almost god like skills. After the master defeated all his enemies he passed the art to the next generation of students who had just a little less power than their teacher. Truth is, government need these stories to push their political and social agenda and to give more credibility to these stories, fictional characters got connected to real and very important places like Wudang and Shaolin, which were not only the most important religious sites but also held a lot of political influence. While Wudang and Shaolin are located on the north of China, southern provinces, Fujian and Guangdong didn’t have any place of such significance. To resolve that problem and give people of the south something they can build a sense of unity and nationality a story about Southern Shaolin was invented. Today more than 90% of all southern kung fu styles trace their origin to Southern Shaolin, a place that never existed.

This is also the time when kung fu “culture” was born. At this period martial arts novels were published in astonishing numbers and they were extremely popular, also first martial arts movies were made at this time. Through this pulp fiction novels, government promoted “traditional” culture and values which became the social foundation of kung fu school and it is still alive today.

Also for the first time, practices that were never part of kung fu were included in curriculums. Parts of traditional medicine like making different kind of remedies and also parts of acupuncture as well as in some rare cases meditation and Taoist magic were included.