CHOY LI FUT
- Styles -
Three Families
There are three predominant systems of Choy-li-fut today, all relating to the three main family lineages:
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Chan Heung’s, Choy-li-fut, from Sun-wui.
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Cheung Hung-sing’s Hung-sing Choy-li-fut, from Fatsan.
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Tam Sam’s Bak-sing Choy-li-fut, from Guangzhou.
The system Sifu Wan teaches belongs to Tam Sam’s Bak-sing Choy-li-fut lineage.
Sifu Wan demonstrates Choy-li-fut’s Chap-choi (leopard fist), in the UK
Application
Choy-li-fut is known for executing movements with lightning speed to create penetrating power.
It’s famous for its multiple long arm swinging strikes and for attacking weak points on the opponents body. Choy-li-fut practitioners seek to overwhelm and neutralise their opponents by issuing a non-stop stream of offensive techniques, until their opponent is defeated.
Shaolin Five Animals
The focus of the Bak-sing Choy-li-fut system is the Shaolin five animals – the snake (sare), the tiger (foo), the leopard (pau), the crane (hok) and the monkey (hao).
The monkey wasn’t originally featured in the Shaolin five animal line up. Instead the line up featured the Chinese dragon (lung). Choy-li-fut masters realised that the dragon was an obtuse concept for students to understand and that the energy in dragon techniques is similar to that of the snake. They combined the dragon and snake together in the snake techniques and added the monkey instead. The monkey adds agile footwork to the system.