Kung Fu
功夫The collective name for hundreds of Chinese fighting traditions. It has no founder: Bodhidharma is a legend spread only from the early 20th century.
Quick Facts
ChinaCharacter & Origin
Training
Who It Suits
Organisation & Competition
What the style is built from
Editorial rating on a 0–3 scale, based on how much room each area gets in ordinary training.
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About Kung Fu
Kung fu, in Chinese also wushu, is not one style but a collective name for hundreds of Chinese fighting traditions. It therefore has no founder — and this needs saying at once, because the commonest answer to that question is a legend. According to it, the Indian monk Bodhidharma came to the Shaolin monastery around the year 500 and taught the monks to fight. The evidence contradicts this. None of the Shaolin martial texts written before the nineteenth century mentions Bodhidharma or credits him with the creation of martial arts. The attribution rests on the text Yijin Jing, whose authorship has been disputed by the historians Tang Hao, Xu Zhen and Matsuda Ryuchi: it was composed in 1624 and the oldest surviving copy dates from 1827, roughly a thousand years after Bodhidharma. The legend became widespread only after the serialisation of the novel The Travels of Lao Ts'an in 1904–1907. The documented history looks different. Government raids on the monasteries of Chang'an in 446 uncovered caches of arms — half a century before Shaolin was founded in 497. And two of the first Shaolin monks, Huiguang and Sengchou, were expert fighters before Bodhidharma arrived. Chinese monks were therefore practising martial arts before the monastery existed at all. The term kung fu covers everything from external styles built on strength and speed to internal ones that work with breath and body structure, from northern styles with long trajectories to southern ones with short. The word kung fu itself did not originally mean a martial art but a skill acquired through sustained work — it could be applied to a calligrapher or a cook.
Styles & Branches
The Chinese internal art documented from the seventeenth century. Its founder is Chen Wangting; Zhang Sanfeng is a nineteenth-century legend.
A southern Chinese close-range style built on the centreline and economy of motion. Its documented lineage begins in the 19th century; Yip Man and Bruce Lee made it famous.
The body of styles tied to the Shaolin monastery in Henan. Its martial tradition is documented from the Ming dynasty, when the monks also served as troops.
An internal Chinese style built on walking a circle and open-palm technique; its weight lies in evasion and change of direction. Founded by Dong Haichuan in the nineteenth century.
A southern Chinese style of short, explosive power with a hard, compact expression. Tradition links it to a Taoist monk; the traceable lineage begins only in the twentieth century.
One of the five great family styles of southern Chinese kung fu, known for its deep horse stance. The documented lineage begins in the nineteenth century with the Wong family.
A northern Chinese style from Hebei built on a single idea: get inside. Crushing close-range strikes, whole-body impact and work with elbow and shoulder.
An internal Chinese art of direct, explosive movement built on the five elements. Tradition traces it to Yue Fei; the documented lineage begins only in the seventeenth century.
A southern Chinese style founded in 1836 by Chan Heung. It joins the low stances and strong arms of the south with the long swinging strikes and turns of the north.
A northern Chinese style from Shandong imitating the mantis's hunt. Its signature is the hooked hand that catches and pulls; the southern mantis is a separate lineage.
A southern Chinese style from Fujian, traditionally attributed to a woman, Fang Qiniang. Through Naha-te it stands at the root of Okinawan karate, above all Goju-ryu.
The oldest documented Chinese wrestling style, rooted in the ceremonial contest jiaodi. A throw scores higher the more cleanly the thrower stays on his feet; there is no groundwork.
A collective name for the internal arts associated with the Wudang mountains and Daoism. The external-internal divide is a seventeenth-century construct, not an ancient classification.
A family of northern Chinese styles with long reach, high kicks and deep stances — not a single style. The modern competition version dates from the 1950s.
The northern Chinese eagle claw style, adding grips and joint locks to long fist. Its documented lineage begins in the nineteenth century, not with Yue Fei.
A southern Chinese style built on seizing and tearing with the hand held as a tiger's claw. In 1957 it became one of the first Chinese arts publicly taught in the United States.
A northern Chinese style built on deliberate unpredictability of movement. It was made famous by Huo Yuanjia, founder of the Jingwu association in Shanghai.
A northern Chinese style that carries force across the back from one arm into the other. The arms stay relaxed like a rope and stiffen only at the instant of impact.
The internal Chinese art that alone abolished forms. Its basis is standing motionless; Wang Xiangzhai held that learned sequences bind the practitioner.
Northern Chinese style from Cangzhou known for long, flail-like arm swings. Traditionally paired with Bajiquan and the miaodao sabre.
Collective name for the northern Chinese styles of the Shaolin tradition. It fights at longer range, with deep stances and a rich register of kicks.
A southern Chinese style from Guangdong that builds on the open palm rather than the fist. Its stances are higher and more mobile than in other southern schools.
The full-contact competitive discipline of Chinese wushu, from 1979. Bouts are fought on a raised platform without ropes, where pushing the opponent off scores.
An internal style known as water boxing. The movement advances in waves that never stop; its documented history begins only with Wu Yihui in the 20th century.
A method of conditioning the palm, not a martial art in itself. The aim is not a hard hand but the ability to transmit force through the target.
A southern Chinese style from Fujian composed of five sources. Its Sanzhan form is the same as Okinawan Sanchin — the same characters, the same principle.
A northern Chinese style that goes to the ground on purpose and fights from there. The fall is a technique, not an ending, and a standing opponent has no answer.
A Chinese style without forms. Principles of movement are trained rather than kata, so two students of one school look different. Its base is running a one-metre circle.
A group of fighting styles from Sichuan that trace themselves to sacred Mount Emei; no unified historical school is documented.
A northern Chinese kung fu style from Taiwan whose curriculum Wang Chueh-Jen brought into public teaching in the late 1940s.
A southern Chinese kung fu style; its public history starts with Ha Hon Hung's school in Guangdong in 1924.
The collective label for the southern Chinese styles; low stances, short range and vocal exhalation, and today a wushu event.
A modern Chinese system founded in 2007 that combines bajiquan with other styles. Practiced empty-handed and with weapons, from the dagger to the spear.
A technical category in the Chinese arts: grips, locks and immobilisations in five groups defined by what is attacked.
One of the five family styles of southern China. It joins rat and snake: short steps, low stances and swift direct strikes.
Rare Southern Chinese branch of Southern Praying Mantis focused on close combat.
A northern Chinese style built on kicks delivered from close range. Its documented line starts in 19th-century Hebei; the older pedigree is legend.
Northern Chinese kung fu style specialized exclusively in close-quarters combat.
A northern Chinese style already named in General Qi Jiguang'"'"'s 16th-century manual. It is built on the density of paired strikes rather than single-blow power.
The collective name for the southern styles of the Hakka people. They share close range, forearm work and power issued from sinking rather than swing.
A family of Chinese monkey styles with five monkey types; its best documented branch, Da Sheng Men, arose around 1911.
The fighting branch of Choy Li Fut, founded in Foshan in 1851 by Jeong Yim. It trained Taiping rebels and builds on unbroken combinations of strikes.
A branch of bajiquan after Huo Diange, personal bodyguard of China's last emperor. Built on the stomping step, elbow, and shoulder at close range.
A southern Chinese family style founded by Jow Lung. It joins the power of Hung Ga to the footwork of Choy Gar and the reach of northern Shaolin.
Founding lineage branch of Choy Li Fut style from King Mui village.
A southern Chinese family style, one of the five traditional southern lines. Its documented history starts in Britain in 1961, where it is now the most practised kung fu.
One of the five family styles of southern China. It joins the firm southern fist to northern agility and is known for the long staff and leg work.
Traditional Shaolin kung fu style characterized by an unbroken chain of explosive strikes.
Northern Chinese traditional martial art based on coordination of 6 harmonic forces.
An internal Chinese style known as "water boxing". Tradition places its origin in the Song era, but its documented history begins with Wu Yihui in the 20th century.
A southern Chinese style of the Hakka region, spread by Lam Yiu-gwai. It works at shortened range and changes body height instead of stepping aside.
A rural northern Chinese style with its own doctrinal branch. It rests on five postures and the walking between them, and played a role in the 1900 Boxer Uprising.
Fluid Chinese martial art combining soft guidance with hard striking.
One of the five great family styles of southern China. It fights at a range so close that it is said to be chest to chest, breath to breath.
Traditional Tibetan-Chinese kung fu style characterized by long-range strikes and finger jabs.
The most widely practised branch of northern praying mantis. It joins hard and soft methods and long attacks with short; its founder is not documented.
A northern Chinese cannon-fist style. Strikes fire off like a cannon shot, built on crossing hand work and a deep rider's stance.
Rare Northern Chinese kung fu style characterized by long sleeve strikes.
A Chinese style named after the founder of the Song dynasty. The attribution to the emperor is tradition; what is documented is Qi Jiguang'"'"'s 16th-century mention.
A southern Chinese art often confused with wing chun; the names sound almost identical in Cantonese, the systems differ.
The forms half of modern competitive wushu. There is no fighting: the routine is judged on execution, jump difficulty and accuracy of landing.
A family of Chinese styles imitating a drunk; the instability is both a deception and a source of power, the history mostly legend.
Similar styles
Selected by overlap in the style profile, not by historical lineage.