Cai Li Fo
Li Fo (Mandarin) or Choy Li Fut (Cantonese) is a Kung Fu system founded in 1836 by Chan Heung Choy Li Fut was named to honour the Buddhist monk Choy Fook (Cai Fu) who taught him Choy Gar Li Yau-San who taught him Li Ga (Lee Family) and his uncle Chan Yuen-Wu who taught him Fut Gar, to honour the Buddha after which the art was named.
Choy Li Fut combines the martial arts techniques from various Northern and Southern Chinese kung-fu systems; the powerful arm and hand techniques from the Shaolin animal forms from the South, combined with the extended, circular movements, twisting body, and agile footwork that characterizes Northern China's martial arts. It is considered an external style, combining soft and hard techniques as well as incorporating a wide range of weapons as part of its curriculum. Choy Li Fut is an effective self defence system particularly noted for defence against multiple attackers. It contains a wide variety of techniques, including long and short range punches, kicks, sweeps and take downs, pressure point attacks, joint locks, and grappling.
According to Bruce Lee:
Choy Li Fut is the most effective system that I've seen for fighting more than one person. [It] is one of the most difficult styles to attack and defend against.
Choy Li Fut is the only style [of kung fu] that traveled to Thailand to fight the Thai boxers and hadn't lost.
Hand techniques contain 10 elements: Slapping or pressing palm deflection, Shooting arm bridge, Back fist, Sweeping, Yin/yang knuckle strike, Upward power shot, Small upward power shot, Claw, Swinging power shot, Chopping, and yin/yang fist.
Leg techniques contain 6 elements: Bracing, Nailing, Kicking, Sweeping, Blocking, Hooking, and Springing.
There are 8 techniques of how the hand and leg techniques are applied.
They are Yin - negative, Yang - positive, Kong - hard, Yau - soft, Hui - false, Shi - real, Tou - stealing, and Lau - sneaking.
The stances of Choy Li Fut are similar in height to other martial arts styles such as Hung Gar, but not as high as those of Wing Chun. This allows the practitioner to move quickly during combat without sacrificing stability and power generation. What is unique to the Choy Li Fut style is sometimes termed "whipping", where the practitioner's upper torso twists to generate more power in executing hand and arm techniques. In other martial art styles, the upper body is less dynamic, placing more emphasis in stability and generation of static power. Other differences include how your stance should be while facing your opponent. In the Hung Gar and Wing Chun styles, practitioners hold their torso perpendicular to an opponent, to allow the full use of both arms. In contrast, Choy Li Fut holds the torso at an angle to the opponent to reduce the target area exposed to him, and allows the practitioner more reach. Front stances in Choy Li Fut have the front bent leg angled in to protect the groin, while other martial arts systems, have the front bent leg facing forward.
During revolutionary battles between anti-Qing and government forces (1850–1877), whoever belonged to the Choy Li Fut system would identify themselves by crying out "yak" when striking with the palm, "wak" when thrusting with a tiger claw hand, "ha" when striking with the fist, "hok" when using a crane beak strike, and "dik" when kicking. These sounds are unique to the Choy Li Fut system.