ImageQuestion: Who founded kung-fu?

Answer: Kung-fu was not founded by any one person. In the beginning people fought randomly. But soon those who fought frequently discovered that certain ways of fighting were advantageous. These advantageous ways of fighting were stylized into techniques.

Good fighters also discovered that besides techniques, skills were important in fighting. So they also discovered ways to develop skills (including force). At first these techniques and skills were personal. What a teacher taught to his students were techniques and skills he had discovered himself, or what he had learned from his immediate teacher-not unlike what is now happening in boxing.

However, when kung-fu became institutionalized, and this first happened at the Shaolin Temple around A.D. 527, kung-fu techniques and skills became institutionalized, too. The kung-fu techniques and skills a teacher taught his students were not what he himself had discovered but what was passed down through centuries as a coherent system.

For example, when your teacher teaches you how to defend against a kick or how to develop force, what he teaches you is not what he has discovered himself, but what has been passed down in your system. This technique of defending against a kick or this method of force training was evolved from experiences of countless masters in the past.

Question: We often hear of using the opponent's strength against himself, but no one can tell me how. I hope you can explain this to me.

Answer: Suppose an opponent pushes you. Instead of resisting his push, you retreat your right leg a step backward and turn your body to your right side. At the same time you grip his right wrist with your right hand and pull him to fall forward, while you press down at his right elbow with your left hand. If you press hard you may dislocate his elbow. This pattern is called "lohan tames tiger" in shaolin kung-fu and it uses the opponent's strength against himself.

Question: I have seen many kung-fu sparring competitions, but I have never seen any competitors using kung-fu patterns in their fights. What is your opinion?

Answer: Kung-fu is in a sad situation today. Kung-fu practitioners, including masters, may have practiced kung-fu for many years, but when it comes to sparring or fighting, they throw all their kung-fu patterns to the wind and spar or fight like boxers or kickboxers.

But the fact is that kung-fu can certainly be used for fighting, and I speak from experience. My sifu, my students and I have successfully used kung-fu in sparring and real fights. My school, Shaolin Wahnam, is dedicated to helping kung-fu practitioners to use their own kung-fu style in sparring. We have provided many video clips, picture series and articles for this purpose. I am also offering an intensive course for kung-fu practitioners at instructors' level and above to help them use their own kung-fu techniques for combat. Visit www.wongkk.com/general/all-styles-course.html.

Sifu Robin Gamble of Shaolin Wahnam England recently took part in an all-Britain taijiquan full-contact sparring competition. First-hand reports mention that no one except sifu Robin used taijiquan techniques. All the other competitors used boxing, kickboxing or freestyle fighting. Sifu Robin used typical taijiquan techniques and he won. This is inspiring for those who wish to see that one day kung-fu practitioners can use kung-fu for combat. You can read more information about this at http://wongkiewkit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4748.

Question: Must one be a Buddhist to practice shaolin kung-fu?

Answer: No, anyone of any religion or of no official religion can practice shaolin kung-fu or any style of kung-fu. Kung-fu is nonreligious.

Although the Shaolin Temple was a Buddhist institution, there were people of different religions practicing kung-fu in the Temple. There were many shaolin masters who were Taoist, Christian, Muslim and other religions.

It may be a surprise to many Westerners that the Chinese, as well as many Eastern peoples, do not have the concept of a fixed religion. In fact, the concept of religion is quite foreign to them. In the Chinese language, the term that comes closest to the concept of religion is "zhong jiao," which actually means "traditional teaching." Hence, many Chinese are Buddhist, Taoist and Confucianist at the same time.

Question: How did Yang style and Chen style taijiquan come about, and what are the differences between them?

Answer: Yang style and Chen style are the two main taijiquan styles practiced today. A great scholar-warrior named Chen Wang Ting employed taiji philosophy, which focused on the concept of yin and yang to explain the style of martial art he practiced. This style of martial art, which was first developed by Zhang San Feng on Wudang Mountain, was subsequently called taijiquan.

Taijiquan was first taught exclusively to selected Chen family members at the Chen Village in China. No outsiders were allowed to learn it. However, a wealthy kung-fu genius named Yang Lu Chan worked in the Chen family as a servant so he could learn taijiquan secretly. After helping the Chen family to defeat a challenger, he was accepted into the close circle of taijiquan.

Later, Yang Lu Chan left the Chen Village to teach taijiquan on his own. His grandson, Yang Deng Fu, modified his taijiquan to focus on health benefits for his students. The style of taijiquan that was practiced at the Chen Village is called Chen style, whereas the one that was passed down by Yang Lu Chan is called Yang style.

Chen-style taijiquan focuses on combat, whereas Yang style's emphasis is on health. This, however, is relative, as Chen style is also effective for health and Yang style effective for combat. Chen-style is fast and comparatively "hard," whereas Yang style is usually performed slowly and is "soft." Again, this is relative, as Chen style can be performed slowly and can be "soft," and Yang style can be fast and "hard."

Relatively, Chen-style movements are smaller and more linear, whereas those of Yang style are larger and more circular. A performance of Chen-style taijiquan looks like shaolin kung-fu, whereas that of Yang style looks very different.

Readers may submit questions to Inside Kung-Fu and sifu Wong Kiew Kit, an internationally acclaimed grandmaster of shaolin kung-fu, chi kung and taijiquan, will answer them monthly in this column. Sifu Wong's Web site is http://shaolin.org.