Shaolin Kung Fu Online Library

CHUAN NA QUAN, a kind of the pugilistic art, was developed by master Sha Da Chuan from the town of Nantong. All movements of this kind of the pugilistic art were taken from the style TAI JI YUAN GONG; the oldest and respected specialist in it was master Wang Yue Qun, a fellow-townsman of Sha Da Chuan. During several decades this style was formed through reflection, training and practical experience. It is complicated enough, sometimes sequences of movements are unpredictable, therefore, it is difficult to understand the essence without a prior grounding. The book contains 30 of the most effective methods from CHUAN NA and few techniques from the section SHAN DIAN SHOW ("Arms like lightning") of the style TAI JI YUAN GONG. ...

The book by Tang Ji Ren "DA HONG QUAN" was issued in November of 1933 with assistance of the first martial art school in Hangzhou. The main part of the book contains the following sections: YI ZI BU - "Steps along hieroglyph "one", SHI ZI SHOU - "Arm blows along hieroglyph "ten", SHI ZI TUI - "Kicks along hieroglyph "ten", DA HONG QUAN - "Big Hong Fist", XIAO HONG QUAN - "Small Hong Fist", Tong Ren San Gu - "The copper man straightens his bones", HU ZHAO QUAN - "Methods of tiger claws", HUANG LONG QUAN - "Fist of yellow dragon". From his early childhood Tang Ji Ren learned WU SHU from his father, prominent master Tang Peng Zhao (Tang Xian, 1856 - 1938) who taught the small boy the basic of Shaolin tradition. Treatise "HUAN MO PAI QUAN XUE " by Tang Xian and the personal experience of the author in the martial art accumulated during many years is the core of the book. The book was written as a guidance for training and had a lot of photos attached showing different aspects of each position and blow.

The book "CHIN NA FA" was written by Liu Jin Sheng in collaboration with Zhao Jiang. The first edition of the book was issued in July of 1936 as a manual for the Police Academy of Zhejiang province. The book was printed by the publishing house Shan Wu in Shanghai.Techniques of CHIN NA include a wide set of various movements: press and blows on vulnerable points, grappling, strangling, throws and so on. That set of movements (impacts on the enemy) allows to realize the following methods: "Separation (tearing) of muscles and sinews" (FENG JING), "Dislocating (breaking out) of bones and joints" (YU GU), "Suffocation" (BI QI) and "Impacting on points" (DIAN XUE). Also, those methods must be used skillfully, not just with brute force. Both army and police always attached great importance to this art. ...

The book covers "external" (WAI) and "internal" (NEI) training methods practiced by traditional schools of the "Shaolin family" (SHAOLIN PAI). The following proverb has been passed down from generation to generation of people who were occupied in martial arts: "Strength can not overcome style, style can not overcome mastery." There is one more saying: "Style is the flesh of mastery, mastery (GONG FU) is the skeleton of style." All this stresses paramount importance of training in the "internal mastery" (GONG FU). Now many exercises presented in the book are almost lost and practiced by very few people. However, earlier they were an integral part of training in traditional schools of Chinese martial arts. Those and similar training methods allowed masters of the past to reach staggering results. Now their skills seem to us supernatural and unattainable...

IN THIS ISSUE: The War Of The Civilizations: Being The Record Of A Foreign Devil's Experiences With The Allies In China by George Lynch / On Active Service With The Chinese Regiment: A Record Of The Operations Of The First Chinese Regiment In North China From March To October 1900 by A. A. S. Barnes / With the Empress Dowager of China by Katherine A. Carl / Village Life In China: A Study In Sociology by Arthur H. Smith / Western China: A Journey To The Great Buddhist Centre Of Mount Omei by Virgil C. Hart / The Study of Chinese Alchemy by Obed Simon Johnson / Fusang or the Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century by Charles Godfrey Leland / Life of Tai-Ping-Wang by J. Milton Mackie / History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea, From 1807 to 1810 by Charles Fried Neuman / Some Chinese Ghosts by Lafcadio Hearn / Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Song-Ling / The Adventures Of Hsi Men Ching by Wang Feng-Chow and Chu Tsui-Jen.

Provides a detailed description of the old Shaolin method of "Internal Training" - TIET SIN QI GONG. A master of the "Iron Thread" can withstand, with no consequences, the strongest of blows, including ones with heavy objects or cold steel arms, bend thick iron rods with his hands, and his "rooting power" is so strong that he cannot be displaced by a group of strong people. In addition, this wonderful method strengthens all internal organs, bones, muscles and sinews. The entire body thrives and rejuvenate.

IN THIS ISSUE: The War Of The Civilizations: Being The Record Of A Foreign Devil's Experiences With The Allies In China by George Lynch / On Active Service With The Chinese Regiment: A Record Of The Operations Of The First Chinese Regiment In North China From March To October 1900 by A. A. S. Barnes / With the Empress Dowager of China by Katherine A. Carl / Village Life In China: A Study In Sociology by Arthur H. Smith / Western China: A Journey To The Great Buddhist Centre Of Mount Omei by Virgil C. Hart / The Study of Chinese Alchemy by Obed Simon Johnson / Fusang or the Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century by Charles Godfrey Leland / Life of Tai-Ping-Wang by J. Milton Mackie / History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea, From 1807 to 1810 by Charles Fried Neuman / Some Chinese Ghosts by Lafcadio Hearn / Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Song-Ling / The Adventures Of Hsi Men Ching by Wang Feng-Chow and Chu Tsui-Jen.

The book covers "external" (WAI) and "internal" (NEI) training methods practiced by traditional schools of the "Shaolin family" (SHAOLIN PAI). The following proverb has been passed down from generation to generation of people who were occupied in martial arts: "Strength can not overcome style, style can not overcome mastery." There is one more saying: "Style is the flesh of mastery, mastery (GONG FU) is the skeleton of style." All this stresses paramount importance of training in the "internal mastery" (GONG FU). Now many exercises presented in the book are almost lost and practiced by very few people. However, earlier they were an integral part of training in traditional schools of Chinese martial arts. Those and similar training methods allowed masters of the past to reach staggering results. Now their skills seem to us supernatural and unattainable...

IN THIS ISSUE: The War Of The Civilizations: Being The Record Of A Foreign Devil's Experiences With The Allies In China by George Lynch / On Active Service With The Chinese Regiment: A Record Of The Operations Of The First Chinese Regiment In North China From March To October 1900 by A. A. S. Barnes / With the Empress Dowager of China by Katherine A. Carl / Village Life In China: A Study In Sociology by Arthur H. Smith / Western China: A Journey To The Great Buddhist Centre Of Mount Omei by Virgil C. Hart / The Study of Chinese Alchemy by Obed Simon Johnson / Fusang or the Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century by Charles Godfrey Leland / Life of Tai-Ping-Wang by J. Milton Mackie / History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea, From 1807 to 1810 by Charles Fried Neuman / Some Chinese Ghosts by Lafcadio Hearn / Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Song-Ling / The Adventures Of Hsi Men Ching by Wang Feng-Chow and Chu Tsui-Jen.

IN THIS ISSUE: The War Of The Civilizations: Being The Record Of A Foreign Devil's Experiences With The Allies In China by George Lynch / On Active Service With The Chinese Regiment: A Record Of The Operations Of The First Chinese Regiment In North China From March To October 1900 by A. A. S. Barnes / With the Empress Dowager of China by Katherine A. Carl / Village Life In China: A Study In Sociology by Arthur H. Smith / Western China: A Journey To The Great Buddhist Centre Of Mount Omei by Virgil C. Hart / The Study of Chinese Alchemy by Obed Simon Johnson / Fusang or the Discovery of America by Chinese Buddhist Priests in the Fifth Century by Charles Godfrey Leland / Life of Tai-Ping-Wang by J. Milton Mackie / History of the Pirates Who Infested the China Sea, From 1807 to 1810 by Charles Fried Neuman / Some Chinese Ghosts by Lafcadio Hearn / Strange Stories from a Chinese Studio by Pu Song-Ling / The Adventures Of Hsi Men Ching by Wang Feng-Chow and Chu Tsui-Jen.

CHUAN NA QUAN, a kind of the pugilistic art, was developed by master Sha Da Chuan from the town of Nantong. All movements of this kind of the pugilistic art were taken from the style TAI JI YUAN GONG; the oldest and respected specialist in it was master Wang Yue Qun, a fellow-townsman of Sha Da Chuan. During several decades this style was formed through reflection, training and practical experience. It is complicated enough, sometimes sequences of movements are unpredictable, therefore, it is difficult to understand the essence without a prior grounding. The book contains 30 of the most effective methods from CHUAN NA and few techniques from the section SHAN DIAN SHOW ("Arms like lightning") of the style TAI JI YUAN GONG. ...

The system of knife combat presented in the book was used for training of soldiers from reconnaissance/sabotage units of the Soviet Army. Special Forces of the MAIN INTELLIGENCE DEPARTMENT of the General Staff of the Russian (former Soviet) Army (or, in an abbreviated form, "Spetsnaz GRU") are intended for conducting secret combat operations at the rear of the enemy. Missions carried out by SPETSNAZ troops determine special character and basic lines of SPETSNAZ COMBAT training. "The main mission of a Spetsnaz fighter in a Close Combat is to destroy the enemy with any available means as quickly as possible despite their arms and superior number...". The fighter himself should not be seriously affected, otherwise he could jeopardize the achievement of a fighting mission by his reconnaissance/sabotage team. That's why the combat training of a fighter from the Spetsnaz is aimed at gaining a flawless proficiency in many types of fire arms and cold steel and traditionally a combat knife is of special importance among them.

HERITAGE OF THE SOUTHERN SHAOLIN. According to tradition the style SHE ZU QUAN came into existence in the Fujian province (South-East China) in the beginning of the 18th century. The founder of the style is considered Tie Zhu, one of several monks who survived complete devastation of the Southern Shaolin monastery by emperor Yongzheng's troops. After long wandering Tie Zhu settled down in the village of Jindouyang. The village was situated in a remote mountain region in the North-East of the Fujian province where since long time the small nationality SHE lived. In time Tie Zhu opened a school to teach local inhabitants. Later the style was spread among the people of SHE and received the present name. SHE, one of small peoples in South-East China, inhabit mountain region at the junction of provinces Fujian, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, Guangdong. During long time the SHE people led isolated life. Contacts of SHEs with the outside world were limited very much until the middle of the 20th century. SHE ZU QUAN, always being a closed style, was passed down from generation to generation at family schools.

The book "Training Methods of 72 Arts of Shaolin" by Jin Jing Zhong is devoted to the most enigmatic and little-known aspect of training of Shaolin monks. The book was written in 1934 with blessing and direct participation of the Head of the Shaolin Monastery Reverend Miao Xing nicknamed "The Golden Arhat", one of the best Shaolin fighters of all times. Training methods described in the book allow to develop supernatural abilities, far beyond abilities of an ordinary man. In the course of many centuries the methods were the base and core of Shaolin combat training, the most secret part carefully hidden from strangers. However, after a huge fire in 1928 that burnt down Shaolin and a greater part of its records the situation changed. An acute problem of preserving the Shaolin heritage for future generations arose. Most probably, it was the principle reason which made Miao Xing reveal one of the main secrets of Shaolin to the public. The book presents full description of exercises and requirements to their execution, as well as the fundamentals of training theory of 72 Shaolin Arts.

Book are about methods of acting on acupoints and their practical application in Martial Arts. DIAN XUE SHU that is literally means "The Art of Touching Acupoints" is more known in the West as DIM MAK ("Blows at arteries" in Cantonese dialect) or "Death Touch". It should be noted that the last two names do not fully reflect the essence of this method. DIAN XUE SHU is a profound teaching which is closely connected to Chinese traditional medicine. Besides the martial aspect, it includes a wide range of methods of reanimation and medication. You will be able to read about it in detail in the books which are offered for your attention. Besides theoretical fundamentals, the books give detailed description of the localization of basic acupoints, methods of acting on them with the aims of combat, reanimation and medication, effects of acting on a particular point, methods of exercising fingers and palms, blow techniques and many other things.

The history of the creation of this book goes back to Master Fan Xu Dong (life time: 1841 - 1925, according to another data - 1936). At the turn the 19-th and 20-th century Fan Xu Dong several times visited Shaolin Temple where he studied heritage of the monastery. That's what Master Jon Funk writes about it: "Fan made several trips to the Shaolin temple and spent time there researching with the monks. From these trips to the Shaolin temple, as well as his other work with the Seven Star Praying Mantis system, he wrote five volumes titled "The Shaolin Authentic". These handwritten manuals contained concepts on fighting skills, medical information and historical aspects of kung fu. Contained in one of these five volumes is the eighteen exercises of the LUOHAN GONG complete with replicas of the original drawings of the Shaolin monks demonstrating the postures of each exercise." These five books were later hand copied in Hong Kong by shifu Huang Han Xun. The original illustrations and calligraphy on LUOHAN GONG by shifu Fan Xu Dong was reproduced in shifu Huang's book in which he added photographs to depict the movements.

An old proverb says: "If you exercise only the technique (style) but ignore special training you will be a nobody till your old days." "Special training" implies particular exercises for developing both WAI ZHUANG - "the External Power" and NEI ZHUANG - "the Internal Power". Those exercises (training procedures) are collected under a common title - LIAN GONG, literally "Exercising to Acquire Mastery". In his preface the author writes: "...It is not an idle talk that "Strength can not overcome the Pugilistic Art (Quan Shu), the Pugilistic Art can not overcome Internal Mastery (Gong Fu)". The people think that it is enough to exercise the Pugilistic Art (Quan Shu) but few know that the Pugilistic Art can not withstand the Internal Mastery (Gong Fu) as the Pugilistic Art is sprouts of Gong Fu and Gong Fu itself is the base and root of the Pugilistic Art. There are people who exercise only Gong Fu and do not exercise Quan Shu. But nobody heard that Quan Shu can be exercised without exercising Gong Fu. Such "mastery" is like flying fluff or floating duckweed - too weak base. It is necessary to exercise both Gong Fu and Quan Shu, only in that case there will be a strong base and excellent Mastery."

The book scrutinizes an old canonical form (the Tao) of the Southern Shaolin Kung Fu, the "Gung Gee Fook Fu". According to the legend, the founder of the Hung Gar Kung Fu style, Hung Tziguan studied this form under the tutorship of Southern Shaolin's best fighter, a Master of the Tiger Style Chzi Shan. The quintessence of Southern Shaolin Kung Fu School. This TAO includes main basic techniques and fighting methods of Southern Shaolin Tiger Style, one of the most effective hand-to-hand system of Chinese Fighting Kung Fu.

The book deals with the most popular and probably the most monumental form of the Hung Gar Kung Fu style. This form, known as "The Tiger and the Crane", was created in the late 19th century by Lam Sai Wing's teacher, an unrivalled master of Kung Fu Wong Fei Hung. The Tiger's extremely tough, fierce and lightning-fast attack are balanced against and supplemented by the softer and smoother techniques of the Crane. The "tough" and the "soft" combine in a harmony. A lot of attention is given to real-life combat application of the Kung Fu techniques in question.

The book by Tang Ji Ren "DA HONG QUAN" was issued in November of 1933 with assistance of the first martial art school in Hangzhou. The main part of the book contains the following sections: YI ZI BU - "Steps along hieroglyph "one", SHI ZI SHOU - "Arm blows along hieroglyph "ten", SHI ZI TUI - "Kicks along hieroglyph "ten", DA HONG QUAN - "Big Hong Fist", XIAO HONG QUAN - "Small Hong Fist", Tong Ren San Gu - "The copper man straightens his bones", HU ZHAO QUAN - "Methods of tiger claws", HUANG LONG QUAN - "Fist of yellow dragon". From his early childhood Tang Ji Ren learned WU SHU from his father, prominent master Tang Peng Zhao (Tang Xian, 1856 - 1938) who taught the small boy the basic of Shaolin tradition. Treatise "HUAN MO PAI QUAN XUE " by Tang Xian and the personal experience of the author in the martial art accumulated during many years is the core of the book. The book was written as a guidance for training and had a lot of photos attached showing different aspects of each position and blow.