Hap Gar kung fu gets impregnated by Modern Wushu

[velalavela]

There was a recent thread ( gone to the pit) that brought up the 'wushu' issue.

Since the 1950s the Chinese government of the day began to introduce Wushu as a sport. (Taolu and Sanshou)

I guess they wanted to promote it as a point of natonal pride and culture, a way to develop it's population and physical fitness. I think it also wanted to control this quite powerful and influential aspect of it's peoples culture and politics.

A lot of people lament its influence on Traditional Chinese Martial Arts. ( Just look at the new IWUF Tai Chi competition form!)

But is it all bad? I don't know.

A fellow training buddy and Hap Gar TCMA club member of mine sent me this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAxJSnBQ6TM

His comment was "AAArrrrgh.......Whats next, Wing Tsun with Butterfly Kicks!?!"

So you get to play spot the 'Modern Wushu moves" added to the traditional form (sorry no prizes included).

Thing is though, the guy doing this looks to be a pretty good athlete and has pretty good 'gung fu' in my opinion.
( I know, just a form and not sanda or fighting)

[edededed]

Is this hopgar? (I dunno, I know virtually nothing about hopgar.) Might just be the vanilla "nanquan" that is often performed in wushu competitions.

[kenneth fish]

hopgar it ain't

[velalavela]

Well, parts of the form are actually from the Hap Gar I have learnt.

I recognise bits from one of the forms I learn ( Deng Family Hap Gar for the last 5-6 years)

[cerebus]

Hmmm... I'm not sure they specifically used Hop Ga. All of what I saw there can be found in most standard Wushu Nan Chuan sets. I had a friend in Europe who was a Wushu Nan Chuan champion and I learned the standardized form from him (and then used to practice it in a "traditional Kung Fu" manner which drove him nuts). Certainly many of the techniques in Nan Chuan look similar to those in Hop Ga, but you have to take into account that such systems as Hung Ga (especially the Tiger/ Crane form) and Choy Li Fut were cannibalized to create the modern Nan Chuan sets, so there will be a fair number of techniques and even whole combinations that will resemble certain traditional sets.

[Finny]

Apparently there is already a Wing Chun Kuen form that has been synthesised by the appointed committee into a universal Taolu - from what I heard it's just SNT, Chum Kiu and Biu Jee all rolled into one long form.

[velalavela]

The vid shows the same sequence with techniques as one of the Hap gar forms from Deng family style. But he does put in, as cerebus notes some moves from the modern nan quan form. Which is what my training buddy noticed.

I guess my point is not wether this form is Hap Gar (it is) but that is modern wushu so bad anyway?

It demands a certain ability and athleticism. I guess the more acrobatic parts of Kung Fu have been around/ are bassed on some traditional styles.

However, the styles I learn( Fut gar/Hap gar/Hung gar and Wu Style Tai Chi do not traditionaly have them).

[johnwang]

is modern wushu so bad anyway?

Bad, bad, very bad indeed. When the whole world tries to envolve their fighting art toward MMA, cage fight, Chinese government tries to stir the CMA toward the opposit direction - perform dancing in front of audience and judges. One day in the middle of a modern Wushu performance, one guy shaked his Dao too hard and broke that Dao in 2 pieces. I asked the Chinese Modern Wushu chairman 徐才 Hsu Tzi, "You don't let your dancers to use real heavy sharp weaporn, do you afriad that they may use it to overthrow your government?" I could see that Hsu's face turned into green color and I was almost sent to 新疆 Sin Jiang for 20 years of hard labor.

[Dmitri]

It demands a certain ability and athleticism.

So does basketball, but people don't call it "martial arts".

[johnwang]

It demands a certain ability and athleticism.

So does basketball, but people don't call it "martial arts".

Confucius said, "I hate purple, it makes people think it's red." JW said, "I hate Vietnamese food, it make people think it's Chinese food".

[cerebus]

I like Vietnamese food. It's yummy...

[bailewen]

I assume that in the topic heading, the word "impregnated" is a euphemism for "fucked" right?

Whenever I see modern wushu performances I always think of the scene in "Strictly Ballroom" where Paul Mercurio dances for Tara Morice's parents.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATpxIv7obQc

[velalavela]

"So does basketball, but people don't call it "martial arts"."

Maybe depends on how badly your oponents take it if they start to lose...

[hopgarsansau]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUoJ9RkaQnw&feature=fvw

^ real hop gar.

[Dmitri]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUoJ9RkaQnw&feature=fvw

^ real hop gar.

Now that's gongfu.