Exploring Kungfu Secrets

In the world of Chinese kungfu appear many characters like these:

Ch'u Liu-hsiang, the "Bandit Chief," was a master of "light-body" kungfu. He came unseen and left without a trace, "travelling the thousand mountains alone."

The righteous fighter Kuo Ching, having perfected his inner strength, stood solid as a rock. If anyone was foolish enough to hit him, the blow would only spring back and hurt the hitter.

"Herb Doctor" Huang was a master at striking the vital points. He never revealed his secrets to anyone except his chosen disciples.

Inner strength, light-body kungfu, striking the vital points--are these merely fanciful inventions of novelists and scriptwriters? Or is there fact behind the fiction?

Chinese kungfu has two aspects: external and internal. External kungfu teaches the mastery of movements and positions. Internal kungfu teaches mastery of the ch'i.

What is ch'i? And how do you master it?

"Ch'i means breath," says Lu Sung- chi, the eighth grandmaster of the southern Shaolin school. "The object of training your ch'i is to make your breathing long and regular. Most people breathe about 18 times a minute sitting down, but someone who is good at kungfu can cut this down to three times, or even less."

Scientifically speaking, a reduced frequency of breathing means strong endurance and a good cardiopulmonary system. Many long-distance runners train with special equipment to reduce their breathing count.

The first step in training one's ch'i is to breathe from below the diaphragm, a technique called "the ch'i sinks to the cinnabar field." "Once you get control of your ch'i, you can send it to any part of your body you want," says Lu, also an avid acupuncturist.

If a person with poor inner kungfu strikes a person with strong inner kungfu, will he really wind up hurting himself? "The rebound theory is somewhat exaggerated but it is possible to get hurt," says martial arts expert Liu Yun-ch'iao. "It's like a weak girl hitting a strong man with all her might. The force on both of them is the same, but the man hardly feels a thing while the girl can't stand it."

Once someone has perfected internal kungfu and learned to control his ch'i, he needs to master moves and techniques to fully exploit his powers. These moves and techniques are external kungfu.

The advanced ones take long and hard practice to master. An example is the "eagle's-claw hand". The student of this technique trains by summoning his ch'i into his fingers and thrusting his hand into gravel or small stones. The "target" is sometimes treated with an anesthetic to reduce the pain of cuts and wounds.

Combining internal kungfu and an eagle's-claw hand with a knowledge of the nervous and circulatory systems can lead to the fearsome technique of "striking the vital points," featured in many a book and movie.

The technique, in theory, is quite possible. The principle is like acupuncture, only fingers are used instead of needles.

"But in acupuncture, the slightest difference in the angle or position of the needle will produce different effects. It would be impossible to hit an opponent's vital points so accurately in the heat of a fight," Lu Sung-chi says. "But it is possible to learn how to attack your enemy's weak spots."

For example, many people will know what it feels like to accidentally hit their elbow the wrong way. And there's a place under the ear which, if jabbed strongly, will make a person dizzy and speechless for days.

Besides internal and external kungfu, Chinese martial arts are noted for another area of expertise--light-body kungfu.

The earliest reference to this technique, in an ancient work on military strategy, refers to jumps of over seven or eight ch'ih in height, equivalent to over two meters today. Judging by the Asian record for the high jump of 2.11 meters set by the ROC's Liu Chin-ch'iang, a jump of this height would certainly be no easy feat. And leaps described in kungfu novels like "flying past the eaves and running up the walls" and "dozens of yards high in one bound" would appear even more incredible. Most kungfu experts today maintain that light-body kungfu has been far too mystified and exaggerated, and that it really only involves making use of terrain and special tools to move rapidly. "Climbing the wall like a lizard," for example, was certainly easier in ancient times when walls were rough and uneven and made of clay and stone. And as for "leaping up to the rafters in one bound," that little trick may have been accomplished with the aid of a rope.

In fact, to be prepared for just such emergencies, an ancient kungfu fighter commonly wore a 12-foot-long belt wrapped tightly around his waist. Besides being useful as a rope, the belt added to the fighter's sturdy, martial air.

[Picture Caption]

Internal kungfu stresses techniques to make breathing long and regular.

Studying the nervous and circulatory systems is a part of learning how to "strike the opponent's vital points."

Internal kungfu stresses techniques to make breathing long and regular.

Studying the nervous and circulatory systems is a part of learning how to "strike the opponent's vital points.".

The sword is one of the most commonly used weapons in Chinese martial arts. Ting Yang-kuo, product of a Peking opera acting school, wields one impressively.

Though only for practice, these two go at it like they mean it. （demonstration models: Ting Yang-kuo, P'eng Li-chang）

Experts at pikes and halberds must be quick on their feet to catch their opponents off guard and strike from afar. （demonstration model: Ting Yang-kuo）

Lu Sung-chi, eighth grandmaster of the southern Shaolin school, demonstrates the traditional Shaolin gesture of greeting.

The statue of Bodhidharma in the southern Shaolin school's main training center in Fengyuan was brought over from Fukien province.