The Systems · Since 1836
Chinese Martial Arts Traditions
The archive documents 5 systems and the methods beneath them: Choy Li Fut kung fu, founded by Chan Heung in 1836; Yang family Tai Chi Chuan; Bajiquan; and the conditioning arts that cut across schools. Every page carries its history, its lineage, and the sources for both.
- 5
- Documented Systems
- 7
- Methods & Curriculum
- 12
- Total Records
- 189+
- Sources Cited
Screen One
The Systems
Every system the archive documents, listed in reading order. The house styles sit first — the southern animal-form art and the Yang family internal art — followed by the conditioning methods that cut across schools: the arts of taking a blow and of escaping one.
Martial Arts System
Choy Li Fut
Choy Li Fut is a southern Chinese martial art founded by Chan Heung in 1836. It blends northern and southern methods; its history, lineage, forms, and weapons.
Southern long-range power techniques and complete weapons curriculum
Martial Arts System
Yang Style Tai Chi
Yang Style Tai Chi is the most widely practiced Tai Chi tradition, founded by Yang Luchan and shaped by Yang Chengfu. Its history, forms, and classics.
Large-frame form, pushing hands, and the Tai Chi classics
System · The Open-Gate Boxing of Cangzhou
Bajiquan & Piguazhang
Bajiquan (開門八極拳) and Piguazhang (劈掛拳) are paired systems from Cangzhou, Hebei — close-range explosive boxing and long-range swinging palm.
The six great openings and eight great forms; the Luotuan spear line; the pairing "Baji plus Pigua"
System · The Conditioning Arts
Hard Qigong
Hard qigong (硬氣功) — iron shirt and golden bell cover: the combat conditioning arts, their lineages, their masters, and the tricks behind the reputation.
鐵布衫 and 金鐘罩; the hundred-day foundation; the 腥活 boundary between training and stagecraft
System · The Light-Skill Arts
Qing Gong
Qing gong (輕功) is the Chinese martial training of balance, vaulting, climbing and landing — its recorded methods, its real limits, and the legends built on top.
飛檐走壁 wall work, pile and rope balance, jumping pits, silent landing; popularly misrepresented as flight
Screen Two
Methods & Curriculum Studies
Beneath the systems sit the methods: grappling, seizing, wrestling, and sparring; the animal forms of the Choy Li Fut curriculum; the structure of the long form. Each study defines its subject, dates its sources, and links it to the systems above.
Historical Artifact
Nine Dragon Trident
The Nine Dragon Trident (9 Dragon Trident, 九龍叉, Gau Lung Cha): a steel, nine-pronged weapon devised by Chan Heung for water combat, documented since 1998.
Martial Method
Chin Na
Chin Na (擒拿) — the seizing method of Chinese martial arts: tendon separation, joint displacement, vessel grabs, and acupoint strikes, from the Choy Li Fut canon.
Curriculum Study · The Ten Shapes
Ten Animal Forms
The ten animal forms (十形拳) of Choy Li Fut — each shape with its own intent and power method, from the dragon's spirit to the biao's savagery.
Martial Method
Shuai Jiao
Shuai Jiao (摔跤) — Chinese wrestling, one of the four classical techniques. From the Qing Shanpuying to Bao Ding fast wrestling and Choy Li Fut's curriculum.
Martial Method
San Shou
San Shou (散手) — the free-fighting method of Chinese martial arts, from the Han-era shoubo to the 1929 Hangzhou leitai and the modern sport of Sanda.
Curriculum Study
Tai Chi Long Form
The Yang Style long form — the 大架 codified by Yang Chengfu — its structure, practice method, and why the posture count runs from 85 to 108.
Concept · A family of boxing, not one style
Drunken Boxing
Drunken boxing (醉拳) is a family of forms built on the principle 形醉意不醉 — the body feigns drunkenness while the intent stays sober.
Screen Three
Three ways into the record
The archive is a network, not a feed. Each route below reads three connected documents in order and returns you here. Follow one, or walk all three — between them they cover the house styles and the spear tradition from founder to text.
Path One
The founding history
Start with the system Chan Heung founded in 1836, meet its founder, and finish with the weapon page that Wikipedia cites.
Path Two
The spear tradition
Follow the Bajiquan line from its most feared fighter to his students, and into the system as it reached North America.
Path Three
The classics
Enter through the Yang family curriculum, read its founding treatise, and study the method that trains sensitivity.
Continue
Beyond the systems
People
Masters
Biographical records of the founders, lineage holders, and teachers — from Chan Heung to the Alabama school.
Texts
Classical Texts
The treatises that define the internal arts, translated with source text and notes.
Concepts
Theory
Wuji, standing meditation, pushing hands — the principles beneath the forms.