Snake Kung Fu - Southern Style

Southern Style

The Southern Shaolin Temple in Fukien Province was sometimes known as "the snake temple." Snake style kung fu was practiced at this temple as well as dragon kung fu and praying mantis kung fu. Fukien temple was a refuge for the Henan Temple monks when that temple was destroyed. With them they brought all the martial arts knowledge they had.

The snake style of green bamboo viper is one of the five subsets that was taught at the Southern Shaolin Temple. This particular form of snake fist originated in Cambodia and worked its way up to China. As it was integrated into Shaolin it got more refined and sophisticated. The green bamboo viper is the snake style taught in the United States by Grandmaster Wing Loc Johnson Ng. Grandmaster Ng taught this particular snake style to water snake, shadow snake, king cobra, and Golden snake. These five type snakes make up the southern snake style system. Snake style kung fu is considered to be a highly advanced form of fighting due to the use of internal energy (chi) and the specialized breathing techniques.

There is also an obscure Southern Snake Style (Chinese: 蛇形刁手, pronounced as "she ying tou sao") whose grand master was Leung Tin Chu who was born in the late 19th century and became well known as he ranked 4th in one of Nanking's Martial Art examinations in late 1929. His style, inherited from Yau Lung Kong, was an amalgamation of Southern Shaolin style and Choy Gar style learned from a Choy grandmaster. He had two main disciples, his nephew Master Leung Gar Fong of Hong Kong and the late Master Chaq Ming Fong. The pugilistic style is best described as a mid-distance fighting style, using, by coincidence, some Wing Chun-like techniques in Hung Gar-like forms. That attests to the Southern Shaolin origin of this style and its close relationship to other styles originating from Southern Shaolin. In fact Yau Lung Kong first learned from the Choy's family, but he did not have the privilege to all the secrets. Being less than satisfied he enrolled himself at the Southern Shaolin temple years and later combined all that he learned into this snake style ("She Ying tou Sao"). It would best be described as a "Choy-Fut" style ("fut" means "buddha," a respectful address for deceased monks). Of course different "fut's" from the Southern Shaolin temple would pass on similar but different techniques or idiosyncratic execution of the same basic techniques. In this style of snake kung fu the force and techniques are softer than traditional southern styles. Besides straight punches and bong shou as widely used in Wing Chun, this style also employs butterfly-buddha palms, the hook, upper cut, and gui quen (back fist) as central techniques. Biu tze (thrusting fingers) techniques resembling snake attacks are the secrets, and hence, the name of this style. There are multiple kicking techniques, as varied as typical northern styles with high kicks, but also typical are below-the-knee kicks seen in southern styles. There are six fist sets, two stick sets, single sword, short double swords, and other traditional weapons.