Styles of Chinese martial arts
The various movements in kung fu, most of which are imitations of the fighting styles of animals, are initiated from one to five basic foot positions: normal upright posture and the four stances called dragon, frog, horse riding, and snake.
[4] A well-known adage concerning Chinese martial arts is the term "Southern fists and Northern kicks" (「南拳北腿」).
Changquan is often identified as the representative Northern style and forms a separate division in modern Wushu curriculum.
The influence of Northern styles can be found in traditional Korean martial arts and their emphasis on high-level kicks.
[8] Southern Chinese martial arts (南派; nánpài) feature low stable stances and short powerful movements that combine both attack and defense.
In practice, Nanquan focus more on the use of the arm and full body techniques than high kicks or acrobatics moves.
Each branch has unique characteristics but they can all be traced to the original art developed by Li Luoneng and the Dai family.
For example, in the North, the cities of Beijing or Tianjin have created different martial arts branches for many styles.
The distinction between external and internal (外内) martial arts comes from Huang Zongxi's 1669 Epitaph for Wang Zhengnan.
[12] Stanley Henning proposes that the Epitaph's identification of the internal martial arts with the Taoism indigenous to China and its identification of the external martial arts with the foreign Buddhism of Shaolin—and the Manchu Qing Dynasty to which Huang Zongxi was opposed—may have been an act of political defiance rather than one of technical classification.
[2] Regardless of the origin of this classification scheme, the distinction becomes less meaningful since all complete Chinese martial art styles have external and internal components.
Examples of external styles are Shaolinquan, with its direct explosive attacks and many Wushu forms that have spectacular aerial techniques.
'internal family') focus on the practice of such elements as awareness of the spirit, mind, qi (breath, or energy flow) and the use of relaxed leverage rather than muscular tension, which soft stylists call "brute force".
This is thought to improve coordination and balance by increasing the work load, and to require the student to pay minute attention to their whole body and its weight as they perform a technique.
At an advanced level, and in actual fighting, internal styles are performed quickly, but the goal is to learn to involve the entire body in every motion, to stay relaxed, with deep, controlled breathing, and to coordinate the motions of the body and the breathing accurately according to the dictates of the forms while maintaining perfect balance.
Internal styles have been associated in legend and in much popular fiction with the Taoist monasteries of Wudangshan in central China.
The broadest definition includes just about all external Chinese martial arts, though this has much to do with the attractiveness of the Shaolin "brand name".
Example of these styles include: Chaquan, Tan Tui, Bajiquan, some branches of Xingyiquan and (七士拳; Qīshìquán).
Example of styles attributed to historical figures include Xingyiquan and its relationship to Yue Fei and tai chi which trace its origins to a Taoist Zhang Sanfeng.
For example, the families of Chen, Yang, Wu and Sun represent different training approaches to the art of Tai Chi Chuan.
The four major applications are: kicking (踢), hitting (打), wrestling (摔) and grabbing (Chin na).
For example, most Northern styles are said to emphasize kicking, Southern styles have a reputation for their intricate hand techniques, Shuai jiao practitioners train predominately in full-body close-range techniques, Eagle claw fighters are noted for their grabbing expertise, and Wing Chun focusses on hitting (with the hands/elbows).
