10 Greatest Kung Fu Masters Who Ever Lived

What's up, guys? Welcome to Off the Great Wall. I'm Dan. Mike. Yo, Mike. I heard you used to practice martial arts. Yeah. Are you any good? Am I any good? Nowadays, it seems that there are martial arts dojos everywhere, and everyone seems to be a martial artist. Yeah, and with the emergence of the MMA, ultimate fighting, I kind of feel that traditional martial arts, they're kind of being faded out. In Chinese history, martial arts were created as an art form to improve the mind and body. And many true martial arts masters practice martial arts really to cultivate on oneself. Here are 10 people that are considered the best martial arts masters in Chinese history. Number one, Yue Fei. We did a video on Yue Fei, so if you haven't seen it, check it out right here. Yue Fei was arguably the greatest general in Chinese history. He was also a great kung fu master. Yue Fei is widely credited with the creation of the martial arts known as Xing Yi Quan, or Shape Will Fist, which is characterized by aggressive, seemingly linear movements and explosive power that's most often applied from a short range. A practitioner of Xing Yi uses coordinated movements to generate bursts of power intended to overwhelm the opponent, simultaneously attacking and defending. It's kind of like Bruce Lee, right? Like the one-inch punch? Yue Fei is like way better than Bruce Lee. Come on, Yue Fei is like, you know, led armies in battle and defeated thousands on a battlefield. Yue Fei is also said to have created the Eagle Claw style of kung fu. Number two, Zhang Sanfeng. Zhang Sanfeng was the founder of the Wudang clan, not the rap group. Oh, I was gonna say that rock group was really old. He also created Tai Chi. The legend goes that the Taoist monk Zhang Sanfeng invented Tai Chi Quan through dreaming about or observing a fight between a snake and a crane in the Wudang Mountains. Some say Zhang Sanfeng even achieved immortality through his martial arts practices. You know, in the popular dramas, Zhang Sanfeng was labeled as the number one kung fu master ever. Like undefeated. No one could defeat him. Wait, so you're telling me like when you go to Chinatown, you see a bunch of old aunties and uncles doing like Tai Chi? That was from this guy? Yeah. Number three, Wang Lang. Wang Lang is credited as the founder of Tang Lang Quan or praying mantis boxing during the Northern Song Dynasty. Legend says on one summer day, Wang Lang was walking in the woods and saw a praying mantis fighting a cicada. With very swift movements, the praying mantis seized its prey. Wang Lang felt sorry for the cicada and tried to drive the mantis away with his sword. Because logically, that's what you do to an insect. You draw your sword and chop at it. To his surprise, the praying mantis jumped onto his sword. And when Wang Lang tried to swat the mantis away, it dodged his hand and made several cuts on his arm within seconds. Whoa, that's like a crazy mantis. He was very amazed at the praying mantis' skills and agility. And after capturing the insect, he decided to observe its way of fighting. So are you saying that basically his master was a praying mantis? Sort of. Maybe inspirational insect was the praying mantis. You know, Dan, I also observed a mosquito biting at my arm the other day. So I swatted at it. And you know, it ain't no praying mantis, that's for sure. Number four, Chen Wang Ting, our ancestor, was a Ming Dynasty general that founded none other than Chen style Tai Chi. One of the five major styles of Tai Chi. He devised the Chen family style of Tai Chi Quan in his home in Henan province after he retired there following the fall of the Ming Dynasty. His complete work contained five smaller sets of forms, a 108-move long fist routine and a cannon fist routine. Chen is also credited with the invention of the first push hands exercises. See, I'm pushing with my hands. Push hands. Looks like you're massaging the air, bro. Number five, Zhang Songxi. According to legend, Zhang Songxi was one of seven students of Zhang Sanfeng. During the Ming Dynasty, Zhang Songxi studied the eight different styles of martial arts that was relevant in the Changjiang and Huanghe basins. By combining fundamental Wudang principles with the modifications he's made to the eight styles, Zhang Songxi created a unique Wudang Songxi internal style or Nei Jia Quan. Number six, Gan Fengchi. Gan Fengchi was a master of the Hua system during the Yongzheng period of the Qing Dynasty, and he wrote a book called The Essence of Hua Fist. Hua Fist originated from Shaolin Kung Fu. It has the speed and power of long fist and the softness of Tai Chi. Number seven, Dong Haichuan. Dong Haichuan is regarded as a skillful martial artist and is widely credited to be the founder of Baguazhang or Eight Trigram Palm. Traditional teachers in China, though, do not regard Dong as the founder, but merely as the first identified transmitter of Baguazhang knowledge to the wider public. Prior to Dong, Baguazhang teaching was conducted behind closed doors from one Taoist to another. Did you know that, Dan, back before martial arts became widespread, masters used to have secret techniques they would only pass down to one disciple? And this would go on for like thousands of years. So sometimes when that one disciple died, the entire knowledge of a whole system died with that person. It's like there goes that whole lineage. Number eight, Yang Luchan. Yang Luchan was an influential teacher of the soft style martial arts Tai Chi Quan during the second half of the 19th century. He is also known as the founder of the Yang style Tai Chi Quan. The Yang style Tai Chi Quan features agreeable movements and actions combining hardness, softness, and naturalness. Number nine, Huang Feihong. Huang Feihong was a master of Huanggar or Hongjia, which is known for its deep stances. The student traditionally spends anywhere from months to three years in stance training, often sitting only in horse stance between half an hour to several hours at a time before learning any other forms. That's hardcore. I could do it for like 30 seconds. Huang Feihong systematized the predominant style of Huanggar and choreographed its version of the tiger crane pair form fist, which incorporates his ten special fist techniques. Huang Feihong was exceptionally good with weapons, such as the staff. One tale recounts how he defeated a group of 30 gangsters on the docks of Guangdong with a staff. Number ten, Huo Yuanjia. Huo Yuanjia was a Chinese martial artist and practitioner of Mi Zongyi or lost track skill. That sounds really cool. I'm a practitioner of Mi Zongyi, lost track skill. And then people are like, would you lose? Mi Zongyi draws on many aspects of the external northern Shaolin long fist style and the internal styles of Tai Chi trend. It is characterized by deceptive hand movements, intricate footwork, varied kicks and high leaps. And the style changes very quickly when executed. Huo is considered a hero in China for defeating foreign fighters in highly publicized matches at the time when Chinese sovereignty was being eroded by colonization. All right, Mike, what about Bruce Lee? All right, Bruce Lee was good, but I wouldn't consider him like one of the greatest martial arts masters throughout Chinese history. Of course, people are like, what about Ip Man? Well, he also wasn't considered one of the truly, truly great masters. I mean, we're talking about 5,000 years of Chinese history here. I think like you're right, like thousands of years ago. I mean, we're talking about people that could do some extraordinary supernatural things. You know, if you go to the Shaolin Temple right now, there's actually a footprint in the concrete ground. Because a master, a Shaolin master stomped so hard, there was an imprint of his boot left on the cement. Dude, I've seen videos on YouTube where basically Shaolin masters were able to take a spear right to the stomach and not have it pierced it. Can you imagine if like some of these truly great masters competed in like, what, the ultimate fighting championship? Come on, right? Dude, can you imagine today like they just step into MMA ring and they're just like, boom, oh, you're dead. They had this really stupid thing on YouTube where a Shaolin monk fought a boxer. And you could tell that's not a real Shaolin monk. Or if he was, he definitely isn't at the level that they were back then. That's the thing with true martial arts masters. Most of them do not showcase their skills. They practice martial arts for, like we talked about, self-cultivation. That's why Zhang Sanfeng, he was a Taoist practitioner of martial arts. But he was really trying to make himself, cultivate himself into an immortal, which maybe he has done. That's the thing now. Like everybody does like Tai Chi or other forms of Qigong or martial arts to keep fit. But you know, thousands of years ago, it was really for something else. Right. And that element is kind of lost because there's always a spiritual element to all martial arts practices. All right, guys, thanks so much for watching. Don't forget to subscribe to this awesome channel right here. Don't forget to check us out on Facebook. Don't forget to comment and all that good stuff. You know what you're actually good at? The Mike Chen style of buffet eating. Yeah, if you guys want to learn that, let me know. All right, guys, see you later. Bye.