-=-=-=-< prelude >-=-=-=-

[-< system daemon >-]

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------>> * IMPORTANT NOTICE : DO NOT REMOVE * <<------
the following history of the Hung Fut System is a copy/blend from
conversations with Grandmaster Yim Tai Loi, and two articles appearing in
Inside Kung Magazine (Inside Kung-Fu, September 1983, pp 64-69, by Robert
F. Savio with Grandmaster Yim Tai Loi; and December, 1989, pp 36-39, by
Jane Hallander) and are reproduced with the knowledge and permission of
Grandmaster Yim Tai Loi, but with out the knowledge of Inside Kung-Fu
Magazine. therefore, no part of this should be reproduced without the
specific permission from any of the principles, and definately the express
permission of Sifu Yim Tai Loi. the article is intended for informational
and educational purposes, and this notice should not be removed. none of
the principles may be held responsible for errors due to my reproduction
of these articles.

******************************

part 2

Four Cripples Style Kung Fu

CRIPPLED KUNG-FU

Hung Fut's Answer to the Drunken Forms

Move over frunken kung-fu. There's an even more exotic form waiting
to be mastered by those wo want to act a little while they devastate
imaginary opponents. It's a legitimate and traditional form called the
"four-crippled form" and it plays an important role in the unique southern
Chinese system of "Hung Fut".

By Jane Hallander

A Shaolin martial art with ties to Hung Gar, Hung Fut is best known for
its left-handed forms and techniques. One form uses only the Hung Fut
practitioner's left hand, with the other hand immobilized behind the back.
However, besides the left-sided routines and special Hung Fut ten animal
forms, it also contains the rarely taught crippled form.
The crippled form is seldom taught because, like the drunken forms of
Hung Fut and other styles, it employs a variety of advanced-level techniques
such as pressure point strikes and jointlocks.
One of the few Hung Fut practitioners qualified to teach the crippled
form is [Grandmaster] Tai Yim of Wheaton, Maryland. Yim, who has Hung Fut
schools in Maryland, Virginia, and Ohio (with a branch in Ohio run by
student Don Niam), is the head of the Hung Fut association in both Hong Kong
and the United States.
Yim, who came to the United States in 1977, has a royal lineage in Hung
Fut kung fu. His teacher, Hung Yu Cheung, was the acknowledged present-day
grandmaster of the system. When he died, Hung Yu Cheung appointed Tai Yim
as grandmaster.
Hung Yu Cheung's father, Hung Jiu Sing, nicknamed the "White Haired
Devil", was the first to teach Hung Fut publicly outside mainland China.
Prior to Hung Jiu Sing's time, Hung Fut was only taught privately and to
people belonging to the Ho family village.
However, Hung's father was a merchant who frequently traveled to the Ho
village, where he was a good friend of the village leader. At the age of
ten Hung Jiu Sing went with his father to the Ho village, where he
discovered the unique left-handed kung-fu style. Although most of the sets
were both right- and left-handed, the martial arts teachers in the Ho
village believed that equal attention should be placed on left-handed
techniques, giving their fighters an advantage in versatility over right-
handed-only fighters.
Since Hung's father was popular with the village, they made an
exception and allowed the young boy to stay and learn what would eventually
named "Hung Fut Kung Fu". He stayed until he was 40 years old, absorbing
every phase of Hung Fut. Then he returned to his own village to open a kung
fu school. This was at the end of the Ching dynasty and the beginning of
the Republic era (1911 - 1912).
Hung left China for Hong Kong just before World War II, where he opened
a kung-fu school in the Wanchai District. Hung Jiu Sing's exceptional
fighting skill, aggressiveness and full head of white hair earned him the
nickname, "White Haired Devil".
Close to Hung's kung-fu school was a factory that produced rattan
furniture. Most of the factory workers were either crippled or blind.
Since Hung was also known for his medicinal herb and bone-setting knowledge,
many factory workers asked him for medicine for injuries sustained in
frequent attacks.
When he questioned them, Hung learned of a gang of thugs who preyed on
the handicapped workers every payday. When Hung discovered that there was
little or no law that would protect the crippled and blind from the vicious
gang, he took matters into his own hands.
One payday, Hung walked alone in front of the rattan factory pretending
to be crippled, while openly counting a big wad of money. Three thugs
approached him and demanded the money. Hung refused. When they jumped him,
he fought back, still pretending to be crippled, badly beating them and
driving them away.
Satisfied that his crippled techniques worked well, Hung taught them to
the handicapped fctory workers. Then he incorporated them into the Hung Fut
system, calling it the "four-crippled style" or "sei dai bai kuen".
As the name implies, there are four types of handicapped kung-fu
represented in this form. They are: blind, hunchback, one-handed and one-
foot disabled, and both crippled and palsied. As Tai Yim says, "The four-
crippled form at first looks comical. However, actually it's very deadly.
It is one of the most advanced sets of the Hung Fut system."
Yim stresses that acting plays an important part in the crippled form.
"How can you make the techniques real for what a handicapped person can
do if you don't emotionally and physically make yourself handicapped?" he
explains. "For that reason, in the blind segment of the form, the Hung Fut
practitioner rolls his eyes upward, taking away much of his own ability to
see"
The blind section emphasizes "sensativity" and the belief that the
blind actually "see" more than we do through heightened sensitivity from
sounds, touch and odor. The cripple form's blind section teaches students
to "feel" the opponent's strengths and weaknesses. It doesn't matter how
contact is made. A good cripple form practitioner can tell whether the
opponent uses the left or right hand, or leg in his attack, sensing his
energy and defending with a continuous counterattack.
In the blind section, students place one hand in front, searcing and
listening for the opponent's movemnets. When they sense the target, they
strike with relaxed, explosive movements. These movements, characteristic
of all cripple form counterstrikes, are always delivered at tremendous
speed.
The second part of the four-cripple form is devoted to the "hunchback".
Since he cannot straighten his back, this fighter moves low to the ground.
Yim calls him comical and sloppy, as he tries to stand up, then drops
quickly to a low advantage. Hunchback techniques are designed around
"dodging". According to Yim, the hunchback fighter uses low sweeping
techniques and strikes. The hunchback uses more body motion than other
cripple form sections. It involves unpredictable left and right movements,
sometimes using the back as a weapon.
The third form is one-hand and one-foot crippled. THis person is
crippled on opposite sides. If the right foot is handicapped, the left hand
is crippled and vice versa.
The cripple arm is always portrayed as shorter than the other. This
enables the stylist to use close-range blocking, involving forearms. Low,
fast, deadly kicks are frequently made with the crippled leg. Although all
four sections contain low kicks, there are more kicking techniques here than
in the other sections.
The one-hand and one-foot section uses up and down movement, enabling
the Hung Fut practitioner to easily slip through an opponent's advances.
The last section is the crippled and palsied section. As you may have
guessed, each of the crippled form are more difficult than the preceding
one. This last section is difficult on both acting and martial techniques
levels. Both hands must shake as if palsied. The reason behind this is to
confuse and distract the opponent. This gives the Hung Fut defender time to
block and counterstrike. Strikes are made with both open palms or fists.
After the counterstrike the Hung Fut practitioner returns to the deceptive
palsied movements.
After the initial Hung Fut bow, the four-cripple form starts with a
series of dynamic tension exercises, similar to those found in Hung Gar
forms. Next comes the four crippled sections. Each section moves forward,
then retreats.
At the end of the form, the Hung Fut stylist shows that he has been
acting the crippled role by whipping through approximately 50 fast, regular
fighting techniques.
Of course, Hung Fut's four-cripple form teaches far more than just
acting. Students develope exceptional balance and learn difficult evasive
tactics and unique counterstrikes. Like other advanced level forms, such as
the drunken set, the four-cripple form emphasizes relaxed movements and
power. Nowhere in the form is any tense, stiff power evident. Like other
fighting styles, such as Tai Chi or Paqua, Hung Fut's cripple form uses
evasive, neutralizing techniques to get inside the opponent's defenses and
deliver quickdestructive blows.

[Jane Hallander is a West Coast-based martial artist and free-lance writer]

future postings:

traditional lion dancing
10 drunken angels kung fu
animal styles of Hung Fut

interviews with other masters of other styles