Personal Perspective of the Wong Fei Hung Museum

by Tim Louie

In the past, many Hung Ga practitioners could trace their roots no further than Hong Kong. With the opening up of China in the 1980s, the connection between Mainland China and Hong Kong within the Hung Ga system has became more cohesive. In the States, many people have heard of the Wong Fei Hung (Huang Fei Hung in mandarin) memorial that opened in 2001 in Foshan, but locating the memorial hall is somewhat difficult unless you are familiar with traveling in China. Speaking Cantonese or Mandarin is a necessity to get around in China, especially in Foshan. Though some English is spoken, it not enough to allow you to get around. A traveler could try to hire a tour guide or translator for a visit to the Wong Fei Hung museum, but this may be difficult. When I arrived in Foshan, I tried calling for information on museum tour groups, but was dumfounded. The general public doesn?t consider the Wong Fei Hung Museum a tourist attraction like the Forbidden City or the Great Wall. Having past experience in traveling through China, I was fortunate in having enough local connections to steer me in the right direction to the Foshan Wong Fei Hung Memorial Museum.

For the traditional martial artist, tracing one?s style back to its roots transcends not only the technique but the culture and sometimes the spiritual substance. Such transcendence can sometimes be experienced through continued practice of sets and techniques until revelatory spurts reveal hidden techniques or energy-manipulation techniques. These spurts are like a light bulb revealing the contents of a room, only in terms of understanding the meaning of techniques.

Hoping to see a demonstration of traditional Hung Ga sets, I was alarmed (but not overly surprised) to find that the entire demonstration consisted of contemporary Wushu with only a short section of Gung Gee Fook Fu from the traditional Hung Ga sets. When I later inquired why they practice more contemporary wushu, those at the museum explained that the majority of spectators were not knowledgeable in martial arts other than what was seen in movies and read in storybooks. Most spectators and the young performers seemed to prefer the flashy Wushu-Wu Xia type movements over the stronger, less attractive, but effective traditional Wu Da techniques. Also, most of the daily and weekend performances were done by younger students, and the seasoned veterans were moved up to teachers and such, and would do solo performances on special occasions.

One has to wonder about the metamorphosis of traditional wushu (kung fu) into contemporary wushu. To understand this development, one must consider Chinese history. As the locals related to me, a vast amount of martial arts knowledge and skill was lost during the turbulent years (the Chinese Civil War and Sino-Japanese War 1911-1949). Also, many martial artists, teachers and scholars were killed later on, during the Cultural Revolution (1960s). This created a large cultural gap that China is trying to recover from. Because the chain of knowledge from teacher to student was broken, some knowledge may be gone forever. This is why the contemporary should embrace the traditional, recognizing the foundation it provided, and that much of its knowledge has survived and grown outside of China. China has been swept up in a wave of modernization. This is something we here in the States have already experienced; but realizing how culture can be lost in the process, we cherish the old, recognizing it as an important link to our past. Examples of how we try to hold onto the past are everywhere ? how we love to collect antiques, like swords, restore old houses and old cars.

During the years of the Republic of China, Wong Fei Hung held high positions with the Guangzhou Water Army and the Black Flag Army. After his military service, he returned to Guangzhou and lived till 1925. But before that, during the war years, many skilled martial artists were killed in battle, while others fled in the face of imminent defeat.

I heard an interesting story from a direct descendent of Sifu Chun Tin So (assassinated during the Cultural Revolution) that demonstrates the turmoil of the times. When the Communists were pushing the Kuomintang forces toward Taiwan, many of the Kuomintang officers (including Chun Tin So) fled into neighboring lands, such as Fujian. To avoid detection by the incoming Communist regime?s army, Chun Tin So changed his name and became a simple farmer. He secretly and privately taught students the traditional internal and external martial arts. As the political situation calmed, he became well known locally for his healing abilities. But when the political climate changed in the 1960s, and the Cultural Revolution began, many Sifus were persecuted and killed. Chun Tin So was somehow identified to a communist government official, arrested, and paraded through the streets with a white dunce hat and a white sign hanging around his neck that stated his alleged crime. After this humiliation, he was publicly shot in the back of the head with a bullet. The family was heart-broken. They live on now, but most of his heritage is lost, except for some old students who keep a low profile and may or may not teach privately. Ever since the Cultural Revolution, a basic mistrust persists among fellow men, and much is never spoken. This mistrust exists even within families, from a time when people were turning in family members for political subversion. Sometimes these tragic situations scarred and ruined families forever. As a result, there is a definite mistrust as to who can be taught what and what can be shown, causing much knowledge to be passed secretly or privately, and many times lost all together.

Due to this pervasive atmosphere across Chinese, much of the martial arts knowledge that could only be passed down from teacher to student was lost. What remains are a few books with writings, diagrams and pictures. Because there is no direct teacher-to-student link, one must rely solely on these texts; and if they are misinterpreted, the styles and techniques become distorted.

In modern-day China, any form of violence is severely frowned upon. You can?t just carry a weapon around in China or have a weapon without good reason, and having a concealed weapon or ? worse ? using a weapon carry severe penalties. I saw a young man being arrested for stabbing someone with a knife at a disco. The police are very serious, and China does not have police brutality laws like here in the states. Physical fights are also severely frowned upon. From what I saw in passing outside one of their penal system facilities, it is not a place you would want to even remotely visit ? and likely considered unacceptable by western standards.

In recent years Sanshou has become popular among young men. They can now enter and compete in tournaments both locally and regionally. This is good, since it provides an outlet for physical combat without legal consequences.

Contemporary Wushu is a practical answer to the dilemma of practicing martial arts without having the violent aspect. It allows one to practice martial arts-flavored movements, but without the violent aspect, focusing instead on the artistic. This compares well to Tai Chi Chuan practitioners around the world, who practice Tai Chi Chuan for health every morning. Though their movements harbor devastating self-defense techniques, many do not understand or care to delve further into the concept of the technique. They are happy to identify the movement using some colorful description and perform the beautiful movements for the sheer exhilaration and health benefits of the exercise.

The Wong Fei Hung Temple has martial demonstrations on weekends at 10:00 AM. They open the doors to the public around 9:00 AM. I entered early, wanting to perform a set (the 5 animals/5 elements set), to pay my respect to Wong Fei Hung, before it got too hot and/or too crowded. Unknown to me, while I was doing the set, people gathered around to watch me perform. When I finished, I received applause from quite a gathering. Then one older man came up and greeted me with a big smile, saying very good and giving me a thumbs up.

Most of the performers at the Wong Fei Hung Temple seem to have that love/hate relationship with the martial arts and lion dancing that I?ve seen in many association-type schools here in the States. Unlike most commercial schools here in the West, paying your dues and practicing is only a part of your tuition/training. Many are required to perform lion dance and wushu demonstrations daily to help earn money for their association/school. It is their responsibility and obligation, whether they want to do it or not. Therefore, many have that burned-out look and a lack of motivation that shows through the show. If the student is lucky to be selected to the elite group of Martial Arts, Lion Dance or Dragon Boat Team, then he will get specific training in those areas to a high level of expertise.

Lion dancers also seem to prefer modern over traditional. Most of the lion dance drumming used an 18 star drum beat. The older 3 and 7 star drumming was non-existent. When I played some of the older beats, it was met with frowns from the young and smiles from the old. Most of the lion dances are performed according to the International Lion Dance standards, and the Wong Fei Hung Lion Dance team has won numerous international lion dance championship titles. The standard show includes stilts (jong) over 10-12 feet in the air, with the lion jumping from stilt to stilt, which makes for a spectacular show and a high level of difficulty. As exciting as it is, I focus more on the animation technique and the blessing antics. Foshan is known as the birthplace of lion dancing, and it has many schools and routines. I have been very impressed by some of the spectacular shows I saw.

Though stories abound about Wong Fei Hung, what is common to all is that he was one rough and tough guy. He worked as a bouncer and security guard during a time when the law was whatever one could make it. He also trained many military soldiers, such as those in the Guangzhou Water Army and the Black Flag Army, which summons images of one tough sergeant at boot camp. His father, Wong Kei Ying, was one of the Ten Tigers of Guangzhou (a prestigious position reserved for the 10 best martial artists in Guangzhou, based upon skill, reputation and significant contribution to the martial arts). Wong Kei Ying started training Wong Fei Hung at an early age. No doubt the training he received from his father was excellent, as well as disciplined and difficult.

So now when I think about Hung Fei Hung, gone are images of Jet Li flying around doing contemporary wushu and Kwan Duk Hing shadow hitting. Now I see Wong Fei Hung himself using the traditional Hung Ga techniques, delivering explosive, crippling blows to opponents. From seeing and reading documentation on Wong Fei Hung?s life, I find that one anecdote sticks in my mind ? of how Wong Fei Hung could shoot the rope dart (feitou) powerfully enough to shatter a large wine container in one try.

On my last trip to Foshan, I also visited the mountains where Hung Fei Hung grew up, and where they have the Nanhai Zhonlian Huan Fei Hung Martial Arts Dragon and Lion Dance Troupe training facilities. I interviewed the demonstration team and took many pictures of the facilities, so expect a follow up article on that.

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About Tim Louie:
Tim Louie is a Hung Gar Practitioner, a Shorin-ryu Okinawan Karate 5th Degree, a Kajukenbo Karate 6th Degree and also studies Northern Kung-Fu, Tai Chi and Contemporary Wushu. He is the creator of Thunderkicks shoes. This article is a companion piece to In Search of the Real Wong Fei Hung: The Wong Fei Hung Museum in Foshan, Guangdong, China, in the May June 2006 issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi.