Choy Gar - Choy Gar- The Formation

Choy Gar- The Formation

In the 17th century the Manchurians took control of China under the Qing dynasty. The majority of the Chinese people, being Han-Chinese, felt that their country had been invaded and it was a time of rebellion. Especially the Shaolin temples in northern China are said to have been a place where many rebels gathered to train and mobilize, and the Manchurians knew this. They began attacking the temples and many monks fled to southern China to seek refuge. Many came to the Fujian, sec section about Fukien(Fujian)province and one of these was a monk known as Gee Sum Sim See(Gee Sim Sim See). Gee Sum Sim See had many students but of all his students five stood out and are famous in southern China. Two of them were Choy Gau Yih 蔡九仪（一说蔡展光） and Hung Hei Guan who founded Choy Gar and Hung Gar and the other three founded Mok Gar, Li gar(Choi Lei Fut has part of its origins in that style) and Lau Gar. Of these five styles only the Hung Gar was able to expand considerably due to its close bond with the revolutions in the south of China against the manchú dynasty of the Ching in which its creator Hung Hei Gung or Hong Xi Kuan participated. The other four styles didn't have the same luck and nowadays it is very difficult to find them in their original state, such as is the case of the style Lau Gar which forms have been included in the Hung style; of the Lei style which techniques have been included in the Choy Lee Fat and of the very Choy style which techniques, forms and philosophy have passed to form part of styles like the Chow Ka, Jow Ka, Choy Lei Fat and Wing Chung. At the moment the Choy is very rare, it is wrapped in a mystery of and secret halo, and although it is mentioned in almost all the stories of the Kung Fú of the South of China only a few have can be considered masters of its forms and techniques.