5 Great Kung Fu Masters From Chinese History PART 2

powerful athleticism deadly attacks and years of dedication Chinese kung fu encompasses some of the most profound fighting styles in the world in the first video in this series we looked at five great Kung Fu masters from Chinese history including the legendary folk hero Wong fun the founder of bwa pal dongran and many more if you want to check out part one I'll put it on the end screen of this video but now for your enjoyment we have five more great Kung Fu masters from Chinese history number one Leu Le shuen was born in 1864 in Tango H Province this area is a hot spot for Chinese martial arts and is still home to hundreds of martial arts schools Lee mastered the art of b or eight extremities boxing and became highly proficient the full name of this art is kimen or opening the gate eight extremities box in opening the gate refers to breaking through the enemy's defense and the eight extremities refer to the fist forearm elbow shoulder foot knee hip and thigh fuen is known for its elbow and shoulder strikes exerting explosive power at short range and you can see that in this scene in the movie The grandm where a character uses F Chen to fight off a group of attackers Lee was known for his incredible spear technique and earned the nickname shanang Le or God spear Lee there are stories about him shooting out his spear to kill a fly resting on a glass window without damaging the glass he was also challenged by l deran a bwa and spear master from Beijing and won the bout accepting Lio as a student he was also challenged by another master and didn't want to injure him even after the man lost and then requested a second and then a third bout on their third round Lee told the man to protect his left eye and he won the fight by tapping the man's left eye with the tip of his spear the man didn't request another round in 1895 Le shuen accepted the invitation of General Yen shakai and became a martial arts instructor to the military at that time Yen had hired several Japanese martial arts Masters to train his troops these Masters quickly challenged Lee and he defeated all of them in fights to the death he then went on to train the elite troops of the army one of his students became bodyguard to Pui The Last Emperor of China and another student became instructor to the Republican leader Chang Kai Sheek bodyguards this style has now come to be referred to as bodyguard style due to its use by personal guards and Elite forces when the nationalists fled the mainland to Taiwan many of the baji Masters went with them so the style has a foothold in Taiwan as well as mainland China Le shuen died in 1934 while drinking a cup of tea leading to some accusations he was poisoned by Angry relatives of challenges that he killed but he Remains the most important practitioner of the style in history who led to its popularization during the late Ching Dynasty and early Republican period number two Yim Wing Chun now Yim Wing Chan or to use the Mandarin pronunciation of her name yinong Chun is the legendary founder of the wing Tran style of kung fu she learned from the Buddhist nun W who was one of the five Elders five Masters who survived the supposed destruction of the Southern Shaolin Temple by the Ching Dynasty government more on the southern sholin Temple later when a local Ruffian had tried to force her to marry him wingchun used the style to fight him off some versions of the story even say that W taught Wing churn a simple set of kung fu forms for the specific purpose of mastering a style quickly so she could fight off the man trying to take her hand in marriage are you married are you joking I thought not I mean to say what man could control you the style comes from foran in southern China and is a typical southern style that focuses on close- Range fighting and doesn't feature any high kicks or wide stances it uses the famous wooden dummy in its training as well as the method of sticky hands where practitioners of the art focus on sticking to an opponent's wrist and feeling what they're going to do in order to to react to them faster rather than relying on sight alone Wing chun's only student was her later husband one she was willing to marry L Bok cha and the lineage was passed down from there with the most famous practitioners in the 20th century being ITP man and his student Bruce Lee yes the Bruce [Music] Lee and yeah that's not really Wing Chan anymore he developed his own style at that point in the itman movies starring Donnie Yen you get a sense of the effectiveness of the style in tight spaces such as this elevator fight scene as well as the contrast between Wing Chun and the northern longfist Styles in this scene Wing Chun is Compact and practical versus the overly flashy and acrobatic moves of the northern style however this style attracted criticism when Chinese MMA fighter Shu shalong defeated Wing Chan practitioner ding how in an organized match in China some say it draws the attention to the limitations of a style that was created as a simple style to master quickly so that Wing Chun could defeat the local Ruffian who wanted to marry her but the skill level of the practitioners also plays a role so it may not be as clearcut as that no matter what Wing Chun remains a popular style of kung fu and one of the most iconic Styles displayed in movies and Yim Wing Chun was the one who started it all all right let's move on but before we do when I'm writing scripts for these videos and trying to get inspired I often drink high mountain oolong tea or Gan wulong CH it's my personal favorite tea and I currently have a great deal on a high mountain tea from Ali Shan the premier tea growing region in Taiwan these tea leaves are grown at over 3,000 ft or 1,000 m above sea level they're free of pesticides and picked by hand now I personally drink this tea and I want to share it with you guys right now you can get a reduced price and free shipping worldwide when you order through my link below so if you want to support the channel and experience something that is a quintessential part of authentic Asian culture do check it out in the first link below number three B so b or bume in Cantonese means white eyebrow yeah I have no idea why it was called that but anyway here was another one of the five Elders five Masters who survived the destruction of the supposed Southern Shaolin Temple in fuen Province by the Ching dnasty government but the history around the southern Shaolin Temple is kind of murky it's not really clear whether it was a real branch of the Shaolin Temple where exactly it was or if it was destroyed at all so nothing is really clear about it but the story of the burning of the Southern Shon Temple is a famous story in the traditions of many Southern Chinese martial arts so by May was one of the five Elders that escaped the temple he was given the name by May white eyebrow because he didn't want to use his real name anymore fearing attacks against his family or his students by Ching forces his style was white eyebrow Kung Fu ba has been a famous character in many kung fu movies including executioners from Shaolin and Clan of the White Lotus where he was played by L alongside Gordon [Music] Li and of course Gordon Li returned to play his version of b or they called him p in the movie Kill Bill number four Chan hung now Chan hung or in Mandarin it's Chung was born in 1806 in Guangdong Province in southern China as he was growing up he learned with three different masters of three different stars of kung fu the fora or futa in kones then Lia or Lia in kones and finally t or choa his final teacher who taught him the choa style was the Buddhist monk Troy fuk who chanhong had managed to locate in the mountains originally this monk only agreed to teach him Buddhism but after seeing Chan hung practice Kung Fu every morning Troy challenged him to kick a large Rock Chan kicked it about 12 ft and then the monk put his own foot under the Rock and kicked it straight up into the air Chan begged him to teach him and this time the monk agreed he studied with the monk for 9 years and when he left at 28 years old and returned to society the monk gave him a poem to see him on his way the dragon and tiger meet amid Wind and Rain my disciple take care of yourself in the future let the Arts of Shaolin shine again don't let them be lost for future Generations when Chan created his own style of kung fu he used the names of his three Master Styles Tha Lee and four or Choy Le and foot in Cantonese to create Choy foot Kung Fu it is a style that combines teachings for both Northern and Southern Styles there's an interesting quote from Bruce Lee about this style chy leut is the most effective system I have seen for fighting more than one person it is one of the most difficult styles to attack and defend against chut is the only style of kung fu that traveled to Thailand to fight the Thai boxers and hadn't lost Chan hung died in 1875 but the Chile foot style he created remains popular to this day and now for our final great Kung Fu Master from Chinese history number five sunlu sunlu was born in her province in 1860 as a teenager he studied Shen with the martial scholar Lee quen but eventually his skills surpassed Le and Le recommended him go to his master who was called gu Yun G saw how thin sun was and didn't think of him as a good Prospect but he was recommended by his own student so he agreed to teach him on the second day of training he told sun to prepare a horse they were to go to the next Village it was just one horse for his master and he was expected to run alongside as the horse started to Gallup Sun jumped into the air and ended up on the horse's back behind gu but without him noticing after a while gu looked back and Sun jumped off ending up behind the horse again upon seeing Sun's skill gu agreed to teach him but said to Sun that if he wanted to really learn it well he would have to be by his master's side at all times Sun agreed he trained with gu for eight years mastering singen then he moved on to learn bang or the eight trigrs Palm with a friend of gu called cha one of the original disciples of dongran the creator of bad Jang who we covered in the first half of this series after mastering bwa Sun moved on to learn the wo style taii from Harian and mastered that too completing his study of China's three internal martial arts styles of and as well as the or book of changes he also published a load of books on Chinese martial arts and created his own form of taii the sun style in 1906 sulang was supposedly challenged by a Russian strongman named bedlo he reluctantly accepted the match and knocked the Russian off the platform with a light touch but sunlu Tang's vision for the martial arts was not one of personal Glory but to use martial arts to strengthen the country and its people and in his later years he taught Tai at the Beijing physical education Research Institute from 1914 to 1928 most of his peers viewed him as the best martial artist for 300 years although this is debatable since there were many other great Masters around a story from his granddaughter displays how extensive his knowledge was he picked three students and taught one shingen the other bang and the third taen and said to them that you three between you now possess the complete knowledge that I have all right guys that is the video for today don't forget to get yourself some Taiwanese high mountain oolong te with the first link in the description section below also my co-host Jared is currently on tour with shenyun Performing Arts the world's Premier Chinese classical Dance Company if you want to see shenyun this year or just want to find out more do click the second link in the description section below to watch the trailer and check out tour dates and if you do buy a ticket your booking fee will be waved with our link please subscribe for more fascinating stories from Chinese history leave your requests in the comments below we'll see you in the next video bye-bye