Kungfu Pages:

Basic Kungfu History

Chang's Biography

Senior Disciples

Kungfu School News

Corporate Exec. Program

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Chang's Movie Pages

Some Basic History of Kungfu:

In the beginning, there was no kungfu. Buddhism, introduced to China from India in the Han dynasty (about the time of the Greek empire), was taught in monasteries and temples. Monks would join temples for intensive study and devotion, and would sit for long periods of time to listen to the teachings of the priests. Eventually, it was found that the monks needed strong physical training to balance their intensive mental, spiritual, philosophical training so they would have better strength and endurance for sitting for long periods listening and studying. Therefore, the abbot (the head monk) designed a boxing system based on 8 animal styles (dragon, snake, tiger, crane, etc.). The "Martial Monks" became renowned for their fighting style, strength, endurance, and stamina. At first they would defend their temples and the treasures therein (gold statues, scrolls and scripts, medicine, etc.), and then the surrounding areas, and sometimes they would serve kings and emperors in various battles. It was written that a single, barehanded martial monk could fight against an attack of 10 people, and with a pole even face 50 to 100 people!

Destruction of the Shaolin Temple:
In the 19th century, the Qing dynasty (the last dynasty of China, ruled by Manchurains, non-Chinese similar to Mongolians) found their crumbling rule over China beset on all sides, both by encroaching foreigners (especially Europeans) and by local rebellions (such as the Taiping and the Boxers, many of whom were from or associated with Shaolin). Fearing the potential threat of the Shaolin Martial Monks, the Manchurian rulers bribed a junior monk in the temple to betray the monastery, murder the supreme priest, and set fire to the temple. The temple was burned to the ground. Only 3 disciples managed to escape: Hung, Fong, and Wu. They were wanted men, so they disguised themselves and hid among boat people. At night, they taught Shaolin animal styles of kungfu - such as tiger, crane, snake, leopard, and dragon - so that the style would not disappear with the temple. This style has been named Hung gar (Hung family) or Hung Kuen (Hung fist) in honour of Master Hung (the most important and prolific teachers of the three monks who escaped the destruction of the Shaolin temple). From the original 8 animal styles, Shaolin Hunggar Kungfu has been gradually expanded to 108 forms.

Kungfu comes to the West:
The term "kungfu" (or gongfu) meaning specifically Chinese martial arts first appeared in 1972. Before that, the term gongfu meant anything done with great skill and success. Chinese boxing was introduced to the West by people such as Bruce Lee in Seattle and Stephen Chang in Vancouver, both of whom met strong opposition in the Chinese community for teaching the Chinese secrets to non-Chinese. The local Chinese community initially branded both Lee and Chang as traitors for teaching cultural secrets, but Chang had been sent to North America by his own grandmaster specifically to teach Chinese martial arts to non-Chinese,. Unfortunately, by this time Chang's grandmaster had already passed away, so he could not verify or corroborate Chang's mission. Now, after the work done by people such as Lee and Chang, Chinese martial arts is widely available to and respected in the non-Chinese world.

Hung Gar Kuen ("Hong Jia Chuan" in Mandarin):
The animal style is so graceful that the avid practitioner does not quite look like a human kicking and boxing. The practitioner can defend like a crane, attack as a tiger, retreat and defend as a snake, approach again as a leopard, be as powerful as a dragon, grab like an eagle, fly as a butterfly, sting as a scorpion, and prey as a mantis.

In Shaolin Hunggar (Chinese Boxing, Gongfu), we never attack or fight first. Rather, we learn to improve human confidence, honour, health (in body, mind, and spirit), and longevity. We imagine different animals when practicing, for they only fight for survival, to protect themselves and their young, and for food, rather unlike humans, who fight too much for pride and prejudice and politics. We only strike back at the right time to protect ourselves and our loved ones, and to strike with the minimal force and impact necessary to achieve these minimalist goals.

A young Master Chang practicing with the trident.