The Basis of Fut Gar Kung Fu

As students progress in their Fut Gar Kung Fu training, they will become exposed to a variety of forms and training theories. I previously discussed the 5 Methods of Fut Gar Kung Fu which apply to Leung Tin Chiu Fut Gar's theory during free fighting scenarios. As you learn the forms (empty hand or weapon), you will see that they are based on 2 main theories. These theories are described by Grandmaster Chen Rong En as Fei Loong and Fook Fu.

Fei Loong is the Flying Dragon group of techniques. They include the training of your wrists through circling them and teach things such as reversing a grab (Siu Fei Loong) and breaking a grab followed by a strike (Dai Fei Loong).

Fook Fu is the Tiger Taming group of techniques and include control and strike (Dan Fook Fu) and double downward strikes (Seung Fook Fu).

Along with these are a mixture of of other dragon and tiger techniques such as Seung Loong Chut Hoi. There are also some complete forms that focus on improving these techniques such as Chin Jaang (Whole Elbow) which is known in some places as Loong Jow (Dragon Claw) because of the focus on the dragon techniques.

As Fut Gar students learn staff forms, the focus does not move away from these theories. Students of the style will learn Fook Fu Gwun (Tiger Taming Staff) and later, Fei Lung Gwun (Flying Dragon Staff) which I spoke about in a previous post.

While training in the style, looking for these theories will help understand the basis of Fut Gar Kung Fu.

Chan Tai San at the Temple

This is a clip that originally came from a documentary about Chi Gung/Chi Kung/Hei Gung...depending on your dialect. The video quality is horrible but it is still fun to watch. Grandmaster Chan Tai San is doing his trick where he snaps wires with his chest...I am not sure when this video is shot but he looks to be in his late 30's or early 40's? He shows up about 55 seconds in so be patient.

***** Clarification: Thanks to Michael Parrella in New York!!! He is actually about 60 in this video. Wow, quite bit off in my original guess.******

Leung Tin Chiu in Competition

If you try to find out about Leung Tin Chiu (Chee) you will find a variety of stories about his technique, fighting, form and how good he was. A common story is about his participation in a national Martial Arts tournament set up by the Chinese government. The tournament was set up with the best Kung Fu practitioners from across China competing. There were supposedly over 2000 competitors at the tournament. Competitors were ranked on a variety of categories including fighting, forms, technique and weapons. It is clear that Leung Tin Chiu did very well in the tournament but the final results have been reported in several ways. My understanding of the final results is that the overall winner was not clearly identified (possibly due to political reasons) but that Leung Tin Chiu was one of the top three. Other stories have him listed as 3rd overall, 1st overall, 1st in fighting, etc. What is clear is no matter where he finished, it was a great accomplishment in a tournament of this stature.

Our school is proud to be teaching Leung Tin Chiu's style as taught to his disciple, Chen Rong En. I am one of the original 9 disciples of Chen Rong En and unfortunately the only one of the original disciples that is still teaching Fut Gar Kung Fu. We have a sister school in China now which has been in operation for about 3 years.

The Kung Fu Family - Terminology

The Kung Fu school is very much set up like a family. You will be able to find many references to this if you do a search but here are the relevant terms to the members of our school.

The head of the school (Father) is the Sifu. There can only be one Sifu in each school unless it is a school that has different instructors teaching different styles. A female would be Simo (I shudder when schools call their female instructor Sifu) and could also refer to your Sifu's wife even if she did not practice martial arts at all.

The proper way to address a Sifu from another school or style not associated with your style of Kung Fu is (last name) Sifu such as Lee Sifu. You would not refer to me, your own Sifu as Chow Sifu but only as Sifu. In Western civilization we now also sometimes switch it so the last name comes after Sifu such as when I refer to Sifu Lee.

Your Sigung (Grandfather) is your Sifu's instructor, in our case it is Grandmaster Chen Rong En but also includes anyone that was an instructor of your Sifu in the past such as Chan Tai San in our case. Our Jo-Si (founder) is Leung Tin Chiu.

Students that are senior to you within the class should be referred to as Si Hing or Si Jeh in the case of a senior female student. Students that are junior to you are referred to as Si Dai or Si Mui if female. These terms refer to your fellow students as older brother/sister and younger brother/sister. To further clarify who you are referring to, the most senior student is referred to as Dai Si Hing/Jeh (Eldest brother/sister) and could count down from there to Yee Si Hing/Jeh (2nd older brother/sister), etc.

The other terms that may come up in our school would be Si-Bak which refers to your instructor's Si Hing (in our case that would be my brother Chow Wun Dak "Dick") and means older uncle. Si-Sook is the proper way to address your Sifu's Si Dai and refers to a younger uncle...there are quite a few of these that you could meet over time.

Keep in mind that we refer to elder and younger but do not mean by age. The only thing that determines seniority is amount of time as a member of the school. This does not have anything to do with belt/sash level
or the ability level of the students. You cannot surpass another student in seniority no matter how much more knowledge you possess or ability you have. Your Si Hing is always your Si Hing.

Fut Gar Flying Dragon Staff - YouTube

Here are a couple of YouTube videos of some people training on Flying Dragon Staff techniques. This is the most famous staff form in the Fut Gar style and was known as the "King of Staff Forms" in China. The person may or may not be a Fut Gar person but those that know the form will see the techniques here.





I encourage my students to view these videos for interest and to see some interesting uses of the staff techniques...I agree with some and disagree with some but remember that I always teach that a technique that is incorrect in theory becomes correct if you can prove/execute it successfully in a fighting situation. They identify the people in the videos but I don't know them. If they were serious Fut Gar practitioners, Sigung will know them so I will try to remember to ask him.

I am not sure if it is for demo/practice purposes but I can't stop wondering why the people are getting knocked down or off balance so easily...am I missing a rock that they keep tripping on? I also wonder why they allow themselves to be locked up by a staff....it is not a joint lock where you have to break out, you can let go of the staff before the opponent has levered you into the ground. Hopefully they were happily playing along with the training and not hanging on to the staff for dear life just because they didn't know what to do.

Chan Tai San and Chen Rong En - What Is the Connection?

Students of my school are aware that the curriculum taught in the school came from two sources, Grandmaster Chan Tai San and Grandmaster Chen Rong En. Students are extremely fortunate when they are able to train under a Sifu with great knowledge but to have the opportunity twice is unheard of. To be clear, I am not the luckiest person in the Martial Arts world...there was actually a connection between my Sifus (is that the proper pluralization?....Steve, Jackie help me out here). My time training with Chan Tai San was extremely important to my development and I was happy to spend the rest of my time training in Choy Li Fut (the style in which Chan Tai San named me an instructor) and Lama (the style that was taught to my brother Chow Wun Dak...for my students that is your Si Bak). Then one day in 1992 or 1993 my brother called me and said that Sifu has asked us to take up the Fut Gar style of Kung Fu with his friend Chen Rong En. Sifu had officially introduced Wun Dak (see picture above) and myself as good students that would be excellent candidates to carry on his style.

So how did they know each other? My Sifus were instructors in the same region of China at one point and happened to become friends. Below is a photo taken of instructors in the region...not sure how or why the instructors were brought together for a photo but you will see Chan Tai San (bottom row 2nd from the right) and Chen Rong En (middle row, middle). When Grandmaster Chen Rong En moved to Canada, he mentioned to Grandmaster Chan Tai San that he is looking for a few students to carry on the Fut Gar style and was promptly directed to my brother and I. I feel fortunate that Sifu would recommend me as a person that he felt highly of and with good character to carry on a style. I have done my best to ensure that the style survives as a whole style instead of in pieces as it is taught in many schools worldwide. My Sifus continued to stay in touch over the years and actually participated in an event together in 1995 (see photo below).