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Of Rhymes & Reasons

by Robert Chu

When you come to learn Chinese martial arts, at times you will come across many poetic movements and keywords. These are called Ge Jue (Verse words), Kou Jue (Oral Tranmissions), Mi Jue (Secret Transmissions) or even Quan Jue (Fist Sayings) in Mandarin, or in Cantonese, Gor Kuit, Ho Kuit, Mai Kuit, and Kuen Kuit, respectively. These are the secrets in Chinese martial arts, little details that make it difficult for others to learn the art. I believe it is safe to say that systems from other countries do not use keywords and poetry to impart knowledge of their system. For example, Okinawan Karate is very close to Fujian Quan Fa. Chinese were probably very secretive and gave the Okinawans only the basics of their systems, but not the inner details. This is why many Okinawans tried to ponder the Bubishi without luck. They were not trained in the White Crane and Lo Han Fist that the book is written about, nor the keywords or medicine. Perhaps the Chinese were willing to share the movements of their Quan Fa, but not willing to share the high level writings of their lineage, or culturally, people were illiterate. The Okinawans however, took the approach to mastery of basics and intuitively understanding the methods of their systems and we still able to develop strong systems. Their arts also changed in a different country's socio-economic and cultural background.
For example, in the Wing Chun system, the saying "Lai Lou Hui Sung, Lut Sao Jik Chung" (As he comes, receive; As he goes, escort; If you've lost control of the hands, rush in) is common in all forms of Wing Chun. This is an example of Ge Jue/Gor Kuit or transmissions in verse format. They rhyme so that they are easily remembered and have a lot in stating a principle of that system. Also, in the past, many Chinese were unable to read or write. These rhymes were easy to remember in Chinese.
In Hung Gar and other forms of Chinese martial arts, some of the movements are named poetically, so that people can remember a lengthy form, with the movements being secret, unless one knows the system also. For example, I can have tea with my Si Hing and discuss applications and movements of Wu Lung Bai Mei (Black Dragon wags it's tail), Mang Fu Ha Shan (Fierce Tiger Descends the mountain), Hak Fu Tou Sum (Black Tiger steals the heart) and Chi Ji Wu Dip Jeung (Z shaped Butterfly Palms) and the person sitting next to me at the next table wouldn't know what I was discussing. If he were a martial artist, and recognized the names of the movements, they may not necessarily correspond to the movements in his system. This is one of the problems I had when I cross trained in another system: Hak Fu Tou Sum meant something different in Hung Gar, Lama, Lui Gar Kuen, and Choy Lay Fut. Sometimes it was confusing!
There has been a trend in modern martial arts in China to simply use the basic motion and stance to name a movement, but I think it takes away from the traditional martial arts. For example, "Bow Step and double pressing palms" is certainly different than "Cern Gung Charp Fa" (Double Bows planting Flower), "Step up and arrow punch" is certainly different than Fou Jin Chui (Fire Arrow Punch). Some martial arts take the middle road and combine the poetic names with some traditional verses. For example, in Yang style Tai Ji Quan, we are advised movements such as "Shang Bu Ban Lan Chui" (Step up, parry, obstruct and strike) and "Xie Fei Shi" (Slanted Flying Posture). This can be confusing as to the real nature of the movement, unless one has studied for a long time. Often what happens, is poor translation of the movements from Chinese into English, or even from one dialect of Chinese to another. This has led to misconceptions as to what the movement is for.
Learning the art in Chinese has its benefits. For example, we can clearly understand what the motion is called, and often given a hint as to the application. One instructor I knew learned Chinese martial arts in Hong Kong, but whereas he learned the movements properly, he simply could not tell me the name of the movements. He was able to remember the most rudiment of the system's names, but seemed to lose a lot of the art because of the lack of names.
Many of the founders of a system would write a book on their system. For example, Wong Hon Fun, the great 7 star praying mantis master in Hong Kong wrote a series of books on the Mantis system and wrote down the Kuen Po (Fist Register, known in Mandarin as a Quan Pu) and published it for everyone to see. In this way he could record all the sets of the Praying Mantis system. I have this book and treasure it, yet, as I only have elementary mantis skill, I can only understand a few of the motions and format of the sets. An expert in Mantis has knowledge of most, if not, all the sets and this would only serve as a reminder. In this manner, the keywords helped preserve the secrets of the Praying mantis system from people of other systems like myself. Other systems like Choy Lay Fut of the Chan Heung family also have a series of books documenting every form in the system. Augustine Fong of the Wing Chun system has also written many of the oral Wing Chun Kuen Kuit down and many have held his writings in high esteem as a reminder of some otherwise forgotten sayings.
I also have books and handwritten notes from Lui Yon Sang, my master in Lui Gar Kuen and the Fei Lung Fu Gwun. Lui Sifu often wrote his movements down in verse format, and unless one studied with him for a long time, the notes would be worthless unless they knew all the principle motions of the system. Often, Lui had a lot of Toishan students and would speak his native Toishan dialect which left me out. However, he did impart the system to me in Cantonese, and my Si Hing, Chan Bong would often converse with me in Mandarin to understand the motions. Of course, knowing the motions and the names went hand in hand. I later picked up the Toishan dialect through diffusion. Many of the things became apparent, like my Sifu was saying the same things in Cantonese and Toi Shan!
Sometimes there are keywords and principles which guide a student to discovery and unlocking the mysteries of their system. For example, in Hung Ga Kuen, the twelve conceptual keywords are Gong (hard), Yau (soft), Bik (pressing), Jik (Straight), Fun (Divide), Ding (Steady), Chun (Inch), Tai (Lift), Lou (Leak), Wun (Issue), Jai (Control), and Ting (Plan) and they govern the Hung Gar System's application and concepts. In Yuen Kay Shan Wing Chun, I learned the key words Dop (Join), Jeet (Intercept), Chum (Sink), Biu (Dart), Chi (Stick), Mor (Feel), Tang (Press), Dong (Swing), Tun (Swallow), Chit (Slice), Tou/Lou (Steal/Leak), Kou/Saat (Capture/Kill). The Yip Man Wing Chun system does not have these concepts in a short list of keywords, but simply uses a series of short drills to illustrate their main keypoints and the concepts in verse format. Wing Chun's pole is based on 7 conceptual principles which lead to infinite applications and changes. The seven keywords are Tai (Raise), Lan (Obstruct), Dim (Point), Kit (Remove), Got (Cut), Wun (Issue), and Lou (Leak). Many in Wing Chun have mistakenly thought that these concepts were specific motions, but they are applications and an insight to the system's core concepts. Unless one were to master Wing Chun, they would not capture the meaning of the motions and dismiss them as being useless and not enough. Actually, the entire Wing Chun system can use these core concepts to base the entire system on it, with modification, to movements of the knives and fist.
I urge fellow practitioners to study their art's key words and phrases to really understand and master their art. In this way, they can preserve a culture and help understand the meaning behind their respective art.

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