Fujian White Crane - The Legend of The White Crane

The Legend of The White Crane

The Fāng family lived in Fujian province, China, in a place where there were many cranes.

Qīniáng's father knew the Southern Chinese martial arts and taught them to his daughter.

One day, while Qīniáng was doing her chores, a crane alighted nearby.

Qīniáng tried to scare the bird off using a stick and the skills she learned from her father but whatever she did, the crane would counter.

Qīniáng tried to hit the crane on the head, but the bird moved its head out of the way and blocked the stick with its wings.

Qīniáng tried to hit the crane's wings, but the crane stepped to the side and this time blocked with the claws of its feet. Qīniáng tried to poke the crane's body, but the crane dodged backwards and struck the stick with its beak.

From then on, Qīniáng carefully studied the movements of cranes and combined these movements with the martial arts she learned from her father, creating the White Crane style of Fujian province.

There are many versions of this legend, some in which the crane does not block the stick Qīniáng used; but it evaded, and countered. The point of the style is to make less use of physical strength, stressing evasion and attacks to vulnerable areas instead. White crane fighting elements are popular, especially in women's self defense, because they don't depend on strength and women are better able to imitate the pecking motion so common in the crane style of fighting. Popular karate bunkai (breakdown) of white crane katas like hakutsuru, stress vital point striking or kyusho.