Xia Quan Kung Fu,
in literature also known under the name Xia Jia Quan (Cantonese
Hop Gar 俠家拳) has its origin more than 400 years back in Tibet,
during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644). A monk, who was meditating
in the mountains, one day saw a monkey and a crane fighting.
He was so obsessed by this fight that he began to study the
movements.
The monk developed a Wushu style based on the attack and defense
movements of both the monkey and the crane. His students further
developed the Wushu and thus the style became known as Lama
Wushu. In the middle of the Qing dynasty Lama Sing
Long introduced Lama Wushu in the province of Canton.
With this Wushu Sing Long 星龍長老 gained a lot of
prestige under the people, amongst others by personally overpowering
and submitting the notorious pirate Zhang Bao Zai 張保仔. Sing Long settled in Canton and taught his
Wushu to Buddhist monks in the Qing Yun temple 慶雲寺 on mount Din 鼎湖.
The first layperson who became a student of Sing Long was Wong Yan Lam 王隱林. He learned all the secrets
from the old Lama. After many wanderings through China he
settled in Canton in the South of China and founded a Wushu
school. Thus the Wushu, which until then was only accessible
to Buddhist monks, could be taught to everyone. In memory
of his respectable master he called the Wushu style “Xia
Quan/Hop Gar Wushu”. Because of the striking style this style
became one of the ten largest styles of the Southern movement. Wong Yan Lam gained a lot of fame by defeating
all Wushu grandmasters and therefore became the best of the
“Ten tigers of Canton”, an exclusive group of
the ten best Wushu masters of China. The legendary “Ten
tigers” still are very well known among the people of
Southern China. |