Hung Fut - System

System

Hung Fut is considered to be a hybrid system. Its philosophies are a mixture of two martial art systems: the powerful, hard style of Hung Gar with the flowing soft style of Fut Jeung. The system is based on various fighting forms that develop body co-ordination. Hung Fut is a combat method that uses economy of movement in order to achieve efficiency. Its strategies are to try to throw the opponent into an awkward position that makes defense difficult and counter attack unlikely. There is no need to keep contact with an opponent, as the system uses interchangeable and flexible movements.

The system also includes techniques from Fut Jeung which is thought to be a Shaolin Buddhist method, and ten animal styles (snake, tiger, leopard, lion, eagle, crane, monkey, elephant, horse and dragon) as well as "8 Drunken Immortal" forms (based on the personality traits of the 8 heavenly deities of Chinese traditional religion), "4 Afflictions/Cripples" forms (a deceptive mimicry of one who is crippled) and a left- handed form (based on the legend of a famous general fighting while holding the infant son of a Chinese emperor).

There are somewhat different lineages and succession stories listed by various Hung Fut schools around the world. The stories of the masters vary also from account to account. As the style has moved around the world, the content of the system--number and names of forms, types of power used, stances, techniques, theory, and training methods--has also changed, leading to a large variation from school to school.

8th generation grandmaster, Tai Yim, the adopted son of Hung Yu Chung, the 7th generation grandmaster, immigrated from China to the United States in 1977. He traveled to the United States to fulfill the wish of Hung Yu Chung to spread Hung Fut to the west. He now teaches in Kensington, Maryland, a suburb outside of Washington D.C.

There are other masters of this generation who are in other countries around the world, such as in Hong Kong and Raymond Man Ying Nap in Scotland.

The official Grandmaster for the 8th generation is controversial. Hung Kam Pui from Hong Kong, is the official chairman and founder of the HUNG FUT PAI CHINESE KUNG FU ASSOCIATION. A semi complete family tree, full of a definitive list of Hung Fut Pai teachers is here: Hung Fut Family Tree. NYC has a strong Hung Fut Pai branch (Hung Kam Pui) that is very active in the Hung Fut community.NYC HUNG FUT PAI BRANCH The NYC branch is run by SIFU Phil AuffrayHung Man Fu Recently Sifu Hung Man Gong (Sheldon Landa) of the NYC Hung Fut Pai branch started the Hung Fut Pai Maui Branch. Another Sifu worth mentioning is Sifu Jai A.K.A. Lee Thai-loong. All of these masters practice hard in NYC and frequently return to China to study with master Hung Kam Pui.