Choy Gar
蔡家拳A southern Chinese family style that Nanhai's heritage list ranks among the five main styles of Guangdong. Known for its flexible footwork.
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Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
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About Choy Gar
Choy Gar, the fist of the Choy family, is a southern Chinese style from Guangdong province. The 2019 intangible cultural heritage list of Nanhai district in Foshan ranks it among the five main Guangdong styles Hung, Lau, Choy, Li and Mok. The list says nothing about a Shaolin origin for these five. The link to southern Shaolin is tradition. Tradition also names Choy Gau-lee (蔡九儀) as the founder and places its origin in the 17th century, but we have not been able to confirm this. Beware of a common mix-up. Choy Li Fut is a separate style founded in 1836 by Chan Heung, and the word Choy in its name refers to the monk Choy Fook, not to the Choy family. The same Nanhai list credits Choy Gar with flexible footwork. Zhou Jia Quan adopted it, a style that Zhou Long created at the turn of the Qing dynasty and the republic by combining Hung Gar, Choy Gar and kicks. According to the list, its hardness comes from Hung Gar and its flexible legs from Choy Gar. We found no more detailed description of the technique, training and present-day organizations of Choy Gar in reliable sources. It is a poorly documented style and we are looking for reliable sources.
History
Reliable sources on the origin of Choy Gar are lacking. Nanhai district's official intangible heritage list merely places it among the five main Guangdong styles Hung, Lau, Choy, Li and Mok. The French school Académie Wukong Wushu tells a more detailed history, and it is a tradition. According to it, the style was founded by the Shaolin monk Cai Jiuyi during the reign of the Qianlong Emperor and was originally called Cai Jia Long Xing Quan, the dragon-shaped fist of the Cai family. The style was then supposedly taught in Xiangshan by an anti-Qing rebel nicknamed Lan Tou He, and his line led to He En, who perfected it under the monk Luo Huan. He En's son He Wei spread the style in Zhongshan, Hong Kong and Macau. The Chinese news portal Sina wrote in 2012 that Choy Li Fut founder Chan Heung learned Choy Gar from Choy Fook. Official sources, however, derive Choy Li Fut from the monk Choy Fook, not from the Choy family.
How it differs
Choy Gar is often confused with Choy Li Fut. That, however, is a separate style, founded in 1836 by Chan Heung, and it has been on the national list of intangible heritage since 2008. The name Choy in it refers to the monk Choy Fook. Mok Gar, another of the five, has been on the national list since 2021, Choy Gar has not. According to a proverb cited by the French school Académie Wukong Wushu, Choy Gar differs from Hung Gar in that Hung Gar talks about bridges and stances and Choy Gar about fast fighting. According to the same school, the Fujian and Taiwanese version is called Hu Ying Quan, the tiger and eagle fist.
Technique
Nanhai's intangible heritage list attributes supple footwork to Choy Gar. Details come only from the French school Académie Wukong Wushu. According to it, the style is fast, nimble and changeable and uses the opponent's strength. Against the strong bridges of Hung Gar it sidesteps, blocks the arm and attacks weak points. As basic stances the school names sipingma, tuobu, gongbu, guibu, chabu and the triangular sanjiaoma. Among empty-hand forms it lists Shizi quan, Liu lian quan, Liu sui mei and Bai niao gui chao, and among weapons the single and double staff, double sabres and guandao.
Training
Training is described only by the French school Académie Wukong Wushu. Beginners first hold the mabu stance for about three months and practise transitions. Arm strength, sticking and side attacks are trained on the rotating wooden dummy mu ren zhuang. Fingers are toughened by strikes on sand and rice bags and by tiger-claw ring exercises. Other sources do not describe an ordinary lesson.
Ranks and progression
We found no belt or exam system in the sources. The French school Académie Wukong Wushu describes progress as a sequence: after about three months of stances come the fundamentals, and clear results take, it says, about three years. Finger conditioning grows from light strikes on a sand bag to rice bags. In the Fujian and Taiwanese version, according to the school, learning is based on the Taizu quan style.
Today
According to the French school Académie Wukong Wushu, Choy Gar is practised mainly in the provinces of Guangdong and Fujian, in Hong Kong, Macau and in Taiwan. Among Guangdong cities it names Zhongshan, Zhanjiang, Maoming and Jiangmen. The school distinguishes the Guangdong and Hong Kong version from the Fujian and Taiwanese one, which it links to the Fujian Shaolin. We did not find Choy Gar on the intangible heritage lists of Nanhai from 2019 or Guangzhou from 2026.
Did you know
Zhou Jia Quan, created at the turn of the Qing dynasty and the republic by Zhou Long according to Nanhai's heritage list, combined Hung Gar, Choy Gar and kicks. Its hardness comes from Hung Gar and its supple legs from Choy Gar. In the tradition of the French school Académie Wukong Wushu, He En was obsessed with combat effectiveness and spent three years perfecting the style under the monk Luo Huan, creating the forms Niu Sui Mei, Da Yun Tian and Xiao Yun Tian. Choy Gar thus lives on in another style.
Frequently asked questions
What is Choy Gar?
Choy Gar is a South Chinese family style that Nanhai district's intangible heritage list places among the five main Guangdong styles Hung, Lau, Choy, Li and Mok. It is known for supple footwork.
Is Choy Gar the same as Choy Li Fut?
No. Choy Li Fut is a separate style, founded in 1836 by Chan Heung, and the name Choy in it refers to the monk Choy Fook, not to the Choy family.
How does Choy Gar differ from Hung Gar?
According to a proverb cited by the French school Académie Wukong Wushu, Hung Gar talks about bridges and stances and Choy Gar about fast fighting.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.