TIGER CRANE STUDIO: COURSE LIST

Basics
I.
II.
III.
IV.
V.

Stances
Punches
Palm & Claw
Bridges
Elbows & Kicks
This Course will cover the essential building blocks of Hung
Kuen Kung Fu. Stances will form the foundation of strikes, which
are combined into patterns that becomes a character or a
style.
Stances:
- Horse Stance
- Bow & Arrow Stance
- Cat Stance
- Twisting Stance
- Unicorn Steps
Punches:
- Straight Punch
- Hammer Fist
- Rocket Fist
- Hook Punch
- Reaching for the Sky
- Hanging Hammer Fist
- Water Crest Hammer Fist
- Nailing Hammer Fist
Palm & Claw:
- Butterfly Palms
- Target Hand
- Knife Hand
- Double Tiger Claw
- Black Tiger Claw
- Palm Strike
- Two Dragons Out of the Sea
Bridges:
- Extending Hand
- Finger Hand
- Crossing Bridge-Hand
- Forcing Bridge-Hand
- Stabilizing Bridge
- Dividing Bridge-Hand
Elbows & Kicks:
- Throwing Elbow
- Horizontal Elbow
- Rolling Elbow
- Tiger Tail Kick
- Sweep

Block and Groin Kick

Taming the Tiger

Taming of the Tiger in Gung Pattern (Gung Ji Fuk Fu Kyun) is
the oldest, most basic and fundamental set of Hung Kyun.
Technically speaking, Gung Ji Fuk Fu Kyun is one of the orthodox
Shaolin (Siulam Jing Jung) sets of our curriculum, tracing its roots
back to the legendary Southern Fukgin Siulam temple Venerable
Jisin (Jisin simsi ) and his students, Hung Heigun and Luk Achoi.
According to some sources the name of the original set was Siulam
Tames the Tiger (Siulam Fuk Fu Kyun) or Arthat Tames the Tiger
(Lohon Fuk Fu Kyun), but it was changed to Gung Ji Fuk Fu Kyun. The
short version of the name,Taming the Tiger (Fuk Fu Kyun), is also
often used.

Gung Ji literally means Gung Character. The pattern of this sets

footwork follows the Chinese character Gung (). The meaning of
the word Gung is also important hard work, which is a metaphor
for the difficulty of Taming of Tiger (Fuk Fu) and mastering of this
long and sophisticated set.
The Gung character consists of three strokes the upper horizontal
stroke represents the Heaven (Tin), lower horizontal stroke the Earth
(Dei), the middle vertical stroke the Man (Yan). The secret meaning
of Gung Ji Fuk Fu means: Members of the Heaven and Earth Society
(Tin Dei Wui, ie. Triad) subduing the foreign opressors (Tiger, ie.
Manchus, the Ching dynasty).
Gung Ji Fuk Fu Kyun contains all the basic techniques and principles
of Hung Kyun stances, blocks, punches and kicks. Mastering of
Taming of the Tiger is a prerequisite for further training in the
style. We have a saying in Hung Kyun: Beginner has to tame the
tiger first (Yap Mun Sin Fuk Fu). Therefore, students in traditional
schools spent their first few years practicing this set and mastering
its skills and combat applications.

Tiger & Crane

The most famous Hung Kyun set and perhaps the most famous set
of Southern gungfu is the Tiger and Crane Double Form Set. The
gungfu style of the Hung family, especially the lineage of Grand
Master Wong Fei Hung, is often referred to as the Tiger and Crane
Hung Kyun (Fu Hok Hung Kyun) or Tiger and Crane System (Fu
Hok Paai). Many masters consider Fu Hok Seung Ying to be a
complete system on its own. As the famous gungfu saying goes:
Combination of Tiger and Crane has no enemy in the world! (Fu
Hok Hap Yat, Tin Ha Mou Dik).

Todays long version of the Fu Hok Seung Ying was developed by the
famous Wong Fei Hung. Grand Master Wong combined the following
techniques:

Hung Hei Guns tiger and Fong Wing Cheuns crane techniques
Stances and Bridge Hands (Kiu Sau) techniques of Leung Kwan
(alias Iron Bridge Three, Tit Kiu Saam)
Long reaching techniques of Buddha Family Arhat Style (Fat Ga Lo
Hon Kyun), ie. Hap Ga
The core of the set comprises relatively short sections of the tiger
and crane techniques; in most versions there are 10 tiger and 8
crane techniques. However, the number can vary in the different
lineages of the style. The tiger and crane symbolizes the unique
characteristics and balance of Hung Kyun. The hardness, power, and
ferocity of the tiger claws (Fu Jaau) is complemented by the
softness, evasiveness, and elegance of the cranes wings (Hok Chi),
cranes beak (Hok Jeui) and crown (Hok Ding).

Tiger & Crane Sparring Set

Tiger&CraneSparringSetiswithoutadoubtasignaturesparringformofLam
FamilyHungKyuntrueheritageoflegendaryGrandMasterLamJou.
Powerfulstrikesandblocks,lightningfastkicks,eyecatchingsweepsandjumps
thisisthemostpopularmodernHungKyunsparringsetcalledTigerandCrane
DoubleFormSparringSet(FuHokSeungYingDeuiChaak),alsocalledFuHok
DeuiChaakorjustsimplyFuHokChaak.Thesetcontainsmanytechniquesfrom
othersets,aswellastechniques,whicharenotfoundinanyofthepillarsets,butwere
taughtasseparatetechniquesandapplicationsdrillsbyMastersoftheprevious
generations.
This is a two-man set that contains attacking and defensive
methods, but it has its own style and structure, which is rather
different from the original sets. It can either be practiced as a set,
or have some of its training methods taken out and practiced
separately. Fu Hok Doy Chaak is not restrained by the form of the
original set, rather, using the existing principles and techniques as
foundation, it gives expression to various applications, adapting and
even changing the form of certain techniques where necessary.
The techniques are considered to be flexible movements rather than
rigid techniques, which afford multiple interpretations and
applications to show that the forms these techniques take in the set
merely, express the underlying principles, which may be applied
flexibly according to the situation.

EightDiagramPole
Its roots reach all the way to the Sung dynasty (Song, 960-1279)
and general Yeung Ng Long, the fifth son of a Marshall from the
Yeung family, famous for its Yeung family spear (Yeung Ga
Cheung), the King of all Weapons.
The army led by Marshall Yeung and his sons was scattered in a
battle against bandits and the Yeungs were surrounded and
slaughtered except for the fourth, fifth and sixth son. Yeung Ng Long
found refuge in a Buddhist temple on the Ng Taai Saan mountain
and became a monk.
Moved by the compassionate philosophy of Buddhism, Yeung
regretted his war crimes which cost many of his enemies their lives,
removed the sharp tip from his spear and transformed the famous
techniques of the Yeung family spear into staff techniques. The
resulting long pole form has been passed for many generation.
Wong Kei Yings son Wong Fei Hung became especially renowned for
his skill with a long pole. The father and the son were once
performing their martial arts skills together with a famed master
Jeng Daai Hung. In spite of Gwans mastery of the Left-Handed
Fishermans Long Pole techniques, the Wongs attracted a much
larger audience. Gwan felt offended and challenged Kei Ying to a
duel. Wong asked his son, back then thirteen year old Fei Hung, to
take the long pole and use the Eight Trigram techniques; Wong
junior defeated his challenger effortlessly. The tale of his victory
reached all corners of China.

Five Animals and Five Elements

The section of Dragon (Lung) is an explicit introduction to the
advanced internal power training (Noi Gung) of Hung Kyun. Slow,
isometric moves are coordinated with specific modes of breathing
(slow/fast; inhaling through the nose/mouth, exhaling through the
nose/mouth, holding ones breath) and different sounds (silent/loud,
soft/explosive, short/long).
The dragon section actually consists of greeting section, first section
and parts of the second and third sections of the most advanced
Hung Kyun set, Iron Thread (Tit Sin Kyun ), and first two sections
of Tiger and crane Double Form (Fu Hok Seung Ying Kyun).
The techniques of Snake (Se) comprise of fast, continuous finger
jabs (Lin Waan Biu Chyun Sau), aimed to the throat. The other
representative techniques of the snake are snakes tongue (Se
Sit) double finger jab to the opponents eyes (also called Two
Dragons Snatching Pearls, Yi Lung Jang Jyu) and Snakes Head
block (Se Tau). Rest of the snake part is a repetition of short parts of
Tiger and Crane Set.
Fierce and aggressive Tiger (Fu) uses the hard power (Gong Ging)
of its Tiger Claws (Fu Jaau). The tiger section except 2 Black
Tiger Claws (Hak Fu Jaau) in the beginning is identical with Ten
Tiger Claws (Sap Fu Jaau) of Tiger and Crane Double Form Set,
using Single Tiger Claw (Daan Fu Jaau) and Double Tiger Claw
(Seung Fu Jaau) from different angles and with different types of
offensive footwork. Both Wong Fei Hung and Lam Sai Wing were
very famous for their art of Tiger Claw.

Thefightingarsenalofagile,fastandferociousLeopard(Paau)consists
ofsocalledThrustingstrikes(ChaapCheui),HangingFistStrikes
(GwaCheui)andSweepingStrikes(SouCheui),connectedwithagile
footworkandbodyturning.Thethreemaintechniqueshanging,
sweeping,thrusting(Gwa,Sou,Chaap)comefromtheferocious
fightingarsenalofanotherfamousSouthernGungFusystem,ChoiLei
fat.
Five animals section ends with the taoist symbol of immortality
and wisdom, elegant crane (Hok). The evasive and soft crane

techniques consist of crane beak (Hok Jeui), Crane Wings (Hok

Chi), Single Leg Stance (Duk Lap Ma), knee/front kicks and so
called Crane Head Strike (Hok Ding), also called Phoenix Eye
Strike (Fung Ngaan Cheui). Again, the crane section except first
three Crane Wings Hands is identical with crane section of Fu Hok
Seung Ying Kyun.
According to old Siulam tradition the techniques of the Dragon
cultivate Spirit (San), the Snake vital energy (Hei), the Tiger
Bones (Gwat), the Leopard Strength (Lik) and the Crane
Essence (Ging).
Contrary the popular theory, Hung Kyuns Five Elements do not
imitate the animals we at Practical Hung Kyun joke that animals
imitate PHK. All techniques have very practical usage the poetical
names were devised later to describe the spirit and usage of the
combat techniques.
The techniques of Metal (Gam) represent strong and heavy vertical
and horizontal axe-like strikes, both from outside in and inside out
Dividing Metal fist (Fan Gam Kyun) and Chopping Fist (Pek
Cheui). Ax-like is important! Many practitioners perform Gwa
Cheui as a back fist strike wrong.
The techniques of Wood (Muk) are characterized by close range
fighting techniques (but not only) the block and punch are
delivered simultaneously. One of the typical moves of the wood
element is so called Wood Squeezing Punch (Gap Muk Kyun).
Long reaching swingings technique of the Water (Seui) Water
Wave Throwing Punch (Seui Long Paau Kyun) are like wild sea
waves. One arm blocks the opponents arm, the other arm breakes
the enemys elbow in a scissors-like movement (and yes, if you
know how to set it up, it works!) or attacks the opponents groin or
chin. In the set, the Hung Kyun fighter throws 9 punches to all
directions. Paau Cheui belonged to the most favorite techniques of
Grand Master Lam Sai Wing.
Fast, continuous chain punches Fire arrow Punches (Fo Jin
Kyun), delivered to the opponents face, solar plexus or soft ribs,
represent the element Fire (Fo). Chain punches (Lin Waan Kyun)
btw. represent one of the core techniques of Wing Cheun, although
the way we throw them resembles more the aggressive running
style of Hap Ga with zig-zag Seven Stars Steps (Chat Sing Bou).

Five elements section ends with the techniques of Earth (Tou)

with the rising back fist strikes Earth Throwing Punches (Tou
Paau Kyun) in a low and stable stance famous Crane Wing Hand
(Pok Yik Sau) of Hap Ga.