please tell me what's the best chinese martial art between..

[cyb62]

Hi to everyone, i'm brand new in here

I'm going to a martial art academy in China for a year but i don't know anything about chinese martial arts.. I practised 8 years of karate kyokushinkai and 2 years of capoiera but i never practised any chinese martial art.
In this academy, i can choose between
-shaolin
-xingyi
-qigong
-bagua
-tanglang
-baji
-sanda
-taiji

I first said that i wanted to practise shaolin but i saw on tv some wing chun and i just loved it.. So what in this list of martial arts would be the best to be able to defend oneself in the street?

Thank you very much for your answers...

 

[Dronak]

Let's see. It looks like you've got the three internal arts in that list: taiji, bagua, and xingyi. I'm no expert, but I've only ever heard of these three as being internal, so I'm guessing the rest are external. If you're looking for self defense, I would suggest choosing an external art. You can certainly use internal arts for self defense, but the learning curve is steeper -- it's a longer process to becoming an efficient fighter in an internal art. External arts tend to have more obvious applications and I think it's easier to learn how to use them for real fighting. I'm not familiar with everything in your list, so I don't think I could suggest something specific. I think that Shaolin will, or can, cover a lot of stuff though, so you might want to find out what type of Shaolin the school offers. Hopefully others will be able to provide more help, but I hope this is of some use to you. Good luck with your choice.

 

[Jade Tigress]

This Wikipedia page has excellent information on various martial art styles. Scroll down to Chinese Martial Arts and click on the links for each style listed. See what appeals to you and feel free to ask any questions you have here. Good Luck. What a cool opportunity to study something in China for a year. Please keep us posted on your choice and progress, and welcome to Martial Talk.

 

[mantis]

Hi to everyone, i'm brand new in here

I'm going to a martial art academy in China for a year but i don't know anything about chinese martial arts.. I practised 8 years of karate kyokushinkai and 2 years of capoiera but i never practised any chinese martial art.
In this academy, i can choose between
-shaolin
-xingyi
-qigong
-bagua
-tanglang
-baji
-sanda
-taiji

I first said that i wanted to practise shaolin but i saw on tv some wing chun and i just loved it.. So what in this list of martial arts would be the best to be able to defend oneself in the street?

Thank you very much for your answers...

This is not my opinion usually but since you have 8 years of karate i will say go for internal arts. Bagua, Xinyi, Taiji are interesting to learn and practice. They will be very very different from your previous experience.

 

[Brian R. VanCise]

Welcome! It sounds like you are going to have a very fun trip. Definately a chance of a lifetime. If I were going I would definately try some Bagua, Qigong and Shaolin. Those arts would make my list! Have fun.

Brian R. VanCise
www.instinctiveresponsetraining.com

 

[cyb62]

Hey ! thanks for all your welcome messages and for your answers !!! I feel like home already

Yeah i'm really lucky to do this trip and i definitely want to enjoy every part of it..
For this 1year term study (when i first chose to learn shaolin and qi gong), the academy said that i'll be able to reach an advanced level of qi gong as using my Qi to heal illness (?? is that possible) or breaking an iron bar over my head, learning over 20 shaolin fist including advanced forms and learning advanced weapon forms as double broadsword, monkey staff, double hooks etc... That sounds a lot for a year..
Thanks for the wikipedia page ! there's a lot to read so i'm gonna start tonight..
In fact i just wanted to know wich one on this list will be the closest from wing chun. WC looks really efficient in street fight but anyway ! i'll try to get some good informations and i'll post what i found in case someone is interested .
Thank you again !

 

[Xue Sheng]

Hi to everyone, i'm brand new in here

I'm going to a martial art academy in China for a year but i don't know anything about chinese martial arts.. I practised 8 years of karate kyokushinkai and 2 years of capoiera but i never practised any chinese martial art.
In this academy, i can choose between
-shaolin
-xingyi
-qigong
-bagua
-tanglang
-baji
-sanda
-taiji

I first said that i wanted to practise shaolin but i saw on tv some wing chun and i just loved it.. So what in this list of martial arts would be the best to be able to defend oneself in the street?

Thank you very much for your answers...

Shaolin - you probably know what Shaolin is
http://www.answers.com/topic/shaolin-kung-fu-1

Xingyi - Internal, fairly linear, very powerful, lots of stance training (San ti)
http://www.answers.com/topic/xingyiquan

Qigong - not a martial art, this is training that can enhance all CMA, there are 2 categories of Qigong internal and external
http://www.answers.com/topic/qigong

Bagua - internal MA mainly circular and many Bagua styles have a Xingyi part
http://www.answers.com/topic/baguazhang

tanglang - not sure possibly mantis boxing

Baji - http://www.answers.com/topic/bajiquan

Sanda - also called sanshou- Similar to MMA however there is a sport version for ring fighting and police military version for well fighting in a non-sports setting
http://www.answers.com/sanshou

Taiji - internal, slow, medium and fast forms but there are distinct styles that have distinct differences, but that goes for Xingyi and Bagua too.
http://www.answers.com/topic/t-ai-chi-ch-an


List of Chinese martial arts
http://www.answers.com/topic/list-of-chinese-martial-arts

But I am guessing that in 1 year at the sports academy you will work more on form (work very hard actually) than internal so you may want to add Qigong to whatever you decide to study if you pick an internal style.

If I may ask, which academy?

EDIT - oh and there is no best CMA, it is what CMA fits you best.

 

[mantis]

yes tanglang is mantis kung fu. and it does vary from very soft to hard (not pure hard, but plenty of hard in 7* mantis)
I agree no best CMA, but if i were you i would go for something i have not tried before. that's why i proposed xingyi, taiji, or bagua

 

[cyb62]

If I may ask, which academy?

First i'd like to thank you for your complete answer ! and sure i don't mind telling you in which academy i'm gonna go, maybe you'll know about this school..

http://www.chinashaolins.com/

It's located in yantai (about 300miles away from beijing). I think it's a nice place to go to because there is 1 teacher for 5 students.

 

[Xue Sheng]

First i'd like to thank you for your complete answer ! and sure i don't mind telling you in which academy i'm gonna go, maybe you'll know about this school..

http://www.chinashaolins.com/

It's located in yantai (about 300miles away from beijing). I think it's a nice place to go to because there is 1 teacher for 5 students.

Looks good

My first Sifu was from Shandong province (not this academy), I have never been there myself, the furthest south I have ever been is Beijing.

Are you there for the Medium term study?

If so it looks like you will be training quite hard, take advantage of the training while you have the chance.

Your Karate would make a good base for Xingyiquan, be prepared to stand in San ti…. a lot…if you go Xingyi. My Xingyi Sifu wanted at least 20 minutes per side. San ti is the basic Xingyi stance weighted more on the back leg than the front. But you really need to decide what you want out of this because your the one going, not any of us...

And yes I am jealous. :uhyeah:

Also you should no Sanda is fighting/sparing.

Also much of Shaolin Qigong tends to be external, but they do have internal as well

Do you speak Mandarin or is that part off the curriculum as well? Many of these academies teach Chinese too.

Good Luck
Xue Sheng

 

[cyb62]

Looks good

My first Sifu was from Shandong province (not this academy), I have never been there myself, the furthest south I have ever been is Beijing.

Are you there for the Medium term study?

Actually i'm there for the long term study because i'm staying for a bit more than a year (i'm leaving on october 2006 and comin' back on january 2008)

If so it looks like you will be training quite hard, take advantage of the training while you have the chance.

Your Karate would make a good base for Xingyiquan, be prepared to stand in San ti…. a lot…if you go Xingyi. My Xingyi Sifu wanted at least 20 minutes per side. San ti is the basic Xingyi stance weighted more on the back leg than the front. But you really need to decide what you want out of this because your the one going, not any of us...

Yes training looks really hard but that's exactly what i'm looking for ! 7 hours of training per day plus chinese lessons... And yes, i really need to decide what i'm going to do for this year (and a half).. I really don't have a clue yet.. I wanted to do some shaolins but now i'm not so sure anymore.. Shaolins looks spectacular when seeing it on tv but i'm lookin for an efficiency art so i don't know yet.. I'm gonna look further with the pages you found (thanks again)

And yes I am jealous. :uhyeah:

well actually it's cheaper than i thought.. "only" 3500$ for a full year including food, trainings etc.. it's not that much for a full year but yeah, i'm really lucky to have that opportunity, i worked a long time to be able to save enough money to do this trip

Also you should no Sanda is fighting/sparing.

Also much of Shaolin Qigong tends to be external, but they do have internal as well

Do you speak Mandarin or is that part off the curriculum as well? Many of these academies teach Chinese too.

Yeah i knew sanda was a fighting martial art.. But again i'm not so sure about efficiency of this art.
I don't speak mandarin yet.. there is 2h/day of chinese lessons in this school (taught for free) so i hope i'll be able to talk some mandarin after my stay but trainings are given in english so i think it's gonna be fine.

Good Luck
Xue Sheng

Thank you

 

[Xue Sheng]

After a year of Chinese you should have a pretty good basic understanding, especially since you’re learning in country.

Shaolin is spectacular to watch and in combination with hard Qigong training it can be fairly formidable.

XIngyi rule of thumb is about 3 years of training to get the internal and external together. But that is not saying that after a year and a half you will not have a good understanding.

Bagua I cannot tell you much about the training I only trained it briefly.

The Sanda that I trained was very efficient, but it was the police version and the training is very hard. You pretty much train to hit with just about every part of your body. I do not know much about training Sanda as the sports version and I do not know which version they train there.

Tai Chi is anther story; it takes a long time and a lot of training. But once again a year and a half at would give you a good base.

But it you always wanted Shaolin there is nothing wrong at all with going to a Shaolin school and studying Shaolin Kung fu. It requires a lot of strength and flexibility, which could enhance any style you decide to pursue.

Also I just remembered there is an article in "Volume 15 Number 2, 2006" of "Asian Martial Arts" you may be interested in "Bridging Tradition Through Eclecticism"

Once again good luck, safe trip and keep us posted if you can.

Xue Sheng

 

[cyb62]

Hello,

Thank you Xue for your answer, i kindda agree with you.. I may choose learning shaolin. learning shaolin kung fu in China might be a nice adventure. And i agree with you (again) about internal arts.. I think it would be a waste of time doing internal arts because i'm "only" staying there for a bit more than a year and internal arts take much longer before being efficient so..

I searched the web all day long to find some informations and tonight i'm comin' with a new question . Do you think i'd rather specialize in just one martial art instead of doing 2? Because in this academy i can also learn pressure points. I think it might be really helpful to know pressure points (i don't want to kill anybody but i just want to be as complete as i can).
Tonight i'm still hesitating between those combinations :
shaolin + pressure points
or shaolin + qigong
or qigong + pressure points
There is so much i wanna learn that it's really hard to make a choice....
thank you,

 

[Xue Sheng]

Hello,

Thank you Xue for your answer, i kindda agree with you.. I may choose learning shaolin. learning shaolin kung fu in China might be a nice adventure. And i agree with you (again) about internal arts.. I think it would be a waste of time doing internal arts because i'm "only" staying there for a bit more than a year and internal arts take much longer before being efficient so..

I searched the web all day long to find some informations and tonight i'm comin' with a new question . Do you think i'd rather specialize in just one martial art instead of doing 2? Because in this academy i can also learn pressure points. I think it might be really helpful to know pressure points (i don't want to kill anybody but i just want to be as complete as i can).
Tonight i'm still hesitating between those combinations :
shaolin + pressure points
or shaolin + qigong
or qigong + pressure points
There is so much i wanna learn that it's really hard to make a choice....
thank you,

I am not saying learning internal is a waste of time; it may be a good thing. I am saying that internal in 1.5 years would give you a good base for further study. Also even if you specialize in Shaolin in 1.5 years it is still a good base and you would still want to continue your training.

Pressure points are not easy either but I am reading that pressure point therapy on the page (Tui na), also depending on your age, and I am guessing younger than be, but then again who isn’t, you have time, and there is no need to rush things. Go to China go to the Academy and learn what you can it is great experience. Look at it as building on your root and this will give you a very good base. You will also learn Chinese, Mandarin I assume, and that also gives you an advantage to future learning. It looks like good training take full advantage of it.

Questions:
Do you have to make the decision before you get there?
Do you have to make a decision at all?
I would imagine that there is a base they would train you in such as Shaolin for example.

It appears that the long-term study includes Shaolin Kung fu history and theory, basic punching and kicking with flexibility training and advanced Qi Gong methods and Taiji. Over 20 Shaolin fist forms including advanced forms such as tiger, leopard, monkey, snake, crane, mantis, eagle and drunken boxing. Advanced weapon paired practice and advanced weapon forms such as double broadsword, monkey staff, double hooks, drunken sword, bullwhip, southern staff, southern sword and double chain whip.

And then is it you are then given the chance to concentrate your study on the internal martial arts and Qigong such as Taija, Xingyi and Bangui palm or is it you have to make that decision first?

But it is all up to you and research is a good thing. If you have more questions feel free to post, if I can't answer them I am certain there are others more qualified than I on MT who can.

 

[cyb62]

I am not saying learning internal is a waste of time; it may be a good thing. I am saying that internal in 1.5 years would give you a good base for further study. Also even if you specialize in Shaolin in 1.5 years it is still a good base and you would still want to continue your training.

I am aware that this is not exactly what you said, but I used your analysis to draw my conclusions. Knowin' that i don't really want to spend all my time in China learning internal for just having a good base at this end of it..

Pressure points are not easy either but I am reading that pressure point therapy on the page (Tui na), also depending on your age, and I am guessing younger than be, but then again who isn’t, you have time, and there is no need to rush things.

Actually, i'm 24 so yes, i have plenty of time to increase my level but i thought that learning pressure points with shaolin monks would be better than learning it in books

Go to China go to the Academy and learn what you can it is great experience. Look at it as building on your root and this will give you a very good base. You will also learn Chinese, Mandarin I assume, and that also gives you an advantage to future learning. It looks like good training take full advantage of it.

That's what i'm going to do but i was just wondering that instead of trying to learn shaolin + qigong + ... i'd rather learn one martial art fully.. I don't know...

Questions:
Do you have to make the decision before you get there?
Do you have to make a decision at all?
I would imagine that there is a base they would train you in such as Shaolin for example.

I don't have to make my decision before i get there but once i'm there, i'll be asked to know what i want to do because they have different masters depending on what you want to do

It appears that the long-term study includes Shaolin Kung fu history and theory, basic punching and kicking with flexibility training and advanced Qi Gong methods and Taiji. Over 20 Shaolin fist forms including advanced forms such as tiger, leopard, monkey, snake, crane, mantis, eagle and drunken boxing. Advanced weapon paired practice and advanced weapon forms such as double broadsword, monkey staff, double hooks, drunken sword, bullwhip, southern staff, southern sword and double chain whip.

And then is it you are then given the chance to concentrate your study on the internal martial arts and Qigong such as Taija, Xingyi and Bangui palm or is it you have to make that decision first?

I'm not sure but maybe it's based on how fast i'm going to learn. But i still think that i'll be asked on my arrival what i want to do

But it is all up to you and research is a good thing. If you have more questions feel free to post, if I can't answer them I am certain there are others more qualified than I on MT who can.

Thank you, i'll keep searching some informations about pressure points and QiGong.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Actually, i'm 24 so yes, i have plenty of time to increase my level but i thought that learning pressure points with shaolin monks would be better than learning it in books .

Definitely better than learning from books you also will probably get actual experience in how to use them as well.

That's what i'm going to do but i was just wondering that instead of trying to learn shaolin + qigong + ... i'd rather learn one martial art fully.. I don't know....

It looks like no matter what you learn there you will get good training which will give you a very good understanding. And to learn any martial art fully takes many many years. I personally do not believe you can ever know everything about any martial art. You are always learning and always, at least in my opinion, a student.

I don't have to make my decision before i get there but once i'm there, i'll be asked to know what i want to do because they have different masters depending on what you want to do

I'm not sure but maybe it's based on how fast i'm going to learn. But i still think that i'll be asked on my arrival what i want to do

Thank you, i'll keep searching some informations about pressure points and QiGong.

It sounds like you have a good plan and research before arrival is always a good thing.

Please keep us posted.

 

[cyb62]

Hi,

It looks like no matter what you learn there you will get good training which will give you a very good understanding. And to learn any martial art fully takes many many years. I personally do not believe you can ever know everything about any martial art. You are always learning and always, at least in my opinion, a student.
.

I agree with the fact that we're always improving our skills.. No matter how long we've trained. We can always improve our art. After my 8years of karate kyokushinkai i still believe that i have so much to learn again from this art. But i wanted to try something else, reason why i decided to make this trip in China.
I'll keep posting as long as i'll have questions (and even after )
Bye

 

[Nebuchadnezzar]

Hello,

Thank you Xue for your answer, i kindda agree with you.. I may choose learning shaolin. learning shaolin kung fu in China might be a nice adventure. And i agree with you (again) about internal arts.. I think it would be a waste of time doing internal arts because i'm "only" staying there for a bit more than a year and internal arts take much longer before being efficient so..

I searched the web all day long to find some informations and tonight i'm comin' with a new question . Do you think i'd rather specialize in just one martial art instead of doing 2? Because in this academy i can also learn pressure points. I think it might be really helpful to know pressure points (i don't want to kill anybody but i just want to be as complete as i can).
Tonight i'm still hesitating between those combinations :
shaolin + pressure points
or shaolin + qigong
or qigong + pressure points
There is so much i wanna learn that it's really hard to make a choice....
thank you,

Qigong (Chi Kung) is not a martial art, therefore you can take this training in addtion to your actual martial arts training.

 

[CrushingFist]

Follow the links Xue Sheng posted.. They won't direct you wrong.

 

[barnaby]

I noticed you kept asking about Wing Chun and so I had to jump in -- something apparently little known is that Wing Chun deliberately took elements from all three major internal systems and shortened the training time for fighting. that was its origination. also, taking any internal art is a free ride toward the ocean that is chi gong -- they're all chi gong in motion, as fighting styles. I'm not sure what you saw on the clip that grabbed you about Wing Chun, but I understand that the center-line punch concept comes from Xing Yi, for example. Tai Chi will more emphasize the throwing and locking aspects, and I don't know much about Bagua. If you decide to pick up Wing Chun training after this experience, and have taken two years or so in any of these three arts, or chi gong for that matter, given the kind of intensity you'll be exposed to, you will have walked through the door already in my opinion. I started out in what they call the "external" arts, and have since taken Wing Chun as my form -- I personally think this journey of yours would be a waste not to go internal but I offer this advice humbly. and enviously. sounds like quite an opportunity. All the Best!