| Defining the best Shaolin Kung Fu is a tough | | | | north and the south, and these can further be |
| question, considering the high quality of this martial | | | | broken down into styles. The main feature of this |
| art. I mean, people don't teach it just to make | | | | style is the hooking and clawing movements, |
| money, they teach it for passion and love of art. | | | | which enable one to keep an opponent trapped |
| Still, we should be able to focus in on how to | | | | long enough to dispatch him. This is a strong |
| isolate the best gung fu. | | | | contender, but tends to be a bit specialized. |
| First, even though they be interesting, we can | | | | There are also many styles of Ving Tsun Gung |
| usually dismiss such arts as Lohan Quan. The | | | | Fu, which is the art made famous by Bruce Lee |
| reason for this is because they are a different | | | | (the Little Dragon), and which features the close in |
| kind of kung fu. Wushu is actually a martial art | | | | strategy of the Sticky Hands exercise. Sticky |
| that has been largely developed by the | | | | Hands (Chi Sau) has one of the best methods for |
| communist government of China, and one does | | | | creating 'closed eye' intuition. It does have several |
| not feel like learning something which has politically | | | | problems, however, such as immobile stances, |
| correct overtones, and from which the self | | | | workability concentrated in on specific ranges, and |
| defense techniques have been removed. | | | | that type of thing. |
| So we stay with the old styles of Chinese Gung | | | | A very strong martial art, but lacking some of |
| Fu, the versions that leaked out of China before | | | | the close in work of the previous arts mentioned, |
| the great cultural revolution. These were the arts | | | | is Hung Gar. Hung Gar is very simliar to Choy Li |
| passed down through the generations, given from | | | | Fut and Fut Ga, and other arts, and it is |
| family member to family member to develop a | | | | considered the quintessential shaolin style in China. |
| true martial arts lineage. These are the Kung Fu | | | | For all it's strength, however, it does have certain |
| styles in which the fires of true self defense | | | | weaknesses, the main one being that the |
| techniques were flamed fanatically. | | | | techniques don't always relate to real life |
| Many of these old Gung Fu schools claim they are | | | | situations. |
| descended from the Shaolin Temple, but there is | | | | Now, of the three arts, I believe Praying Mantis |
| no real proof that can be verified. Still, people | | | | Gung Fu may have an edge. However, this is a |
| accept certain martial arts styles as the real deal | | | | personal opinion, and one should really study all |
| when it comes to these claims. Thus we end up | | | | three arts and concentrate on the points which |
| with three specific martial arts which have good | | | | are of most personal benefit. Really, in the final |
| lineage, and present such high quality of Shaolin | | | | analysis, the best Shaolin Kung fu is going to be |
| technique that they can be looked to as a | | | | that art which has been personalized, and which |
| possible answer to our question. | | | | fits the the mind and structure of the practitioner |
| There are two types of Praying Mantis styles, the | | | | studying it. |