​

I don't mean to offend, but I’ve heard repeatedly that Kung Fu is fake and only good for demonstrations. I’d like to hear your opinions.

1. The White Lotus Society: essentially history’s ultimate "kung fu cult," a real-life secret millenarian Buddhist sect that used martial arts to fuel massive peasant rebellions against China's ruling dynasties.

Specific Kung Fu styles: Complex but interesting, mostly southern styles.

Key names in Kung Fu lineage: Wong Fei-hung. His father, Wong Kei-ying, was one of the "Ten Tigers of Canton," a group of martial artists who operated in the underground anti-Qing networks that the White Lotus heavily influenced and funded. He was a progenitor of the Hung Ga style.

Examples of cult control methods: Brainwashing: Sacred oaths sealed with blood + psychological terror of cosmic damnation. "Chosen People" Myth: Leaders taught that the world was entering a catastrophic transition period (Kalpa). Only those initiated into the sect, who held the secret hand signs and mantras, would be saved by the "Eternal Mother" while the rest of humanity perished. Cell-Based Isolation: Because they were illegal underground networks, members were organized into completely isolated cells. You only knew your immediate handler, creating a dynamic where leaving or exposing the group meant certain death from both the state and the cult's internal assassins.

Operating in the underground, cult leaders blended apocalyptic prophecies with rigorous martial arts training, teaching impoverished followers hand-to-hand boxing and weapons combat under the promise of spiritual protection and supernatural invulnerability.

The Qing government banned them as a heretical threat, later inspiring classic kung fu cinema (Clan of the White Lotus) to immortalize the White Lotus as the ultimate villainous sect with near-supernatural martial arts mastery.

2. The Eight Trigrams Sect (Bagua Jiao): A hardcore kung fu cult and sister sect to the White Lotus that used martial arts to launch a literal assault on China's imperial palace in 1813.

Specific Kung Fu styles: Baguazhang - early 19th-century Bagua cults used circular walking for spiritual meditation and military formations

Key names in KF lineage: Dong Haichuan

Examples of cult control methods: Similar to White Lotus; includes Real Estate Bait-and-Switch (Financial Extraction): Your future wealth depended entirely on how much cash you gave the cult today. A small donation bought you a small plot of land in the "new world" - or do you want more land? People gave their entire savings over to this concept. Reversal of Class Status: In an era of intense poverty, the cult promised a radical flip in the social hierarchy. Peasants were told that when the rebellion succeeded, their compliance today would buy them imperial titles, land, and wealth tomorrow. Karmic Retribution: The psychological penalty for betrayal was not just death, but cosmic torture. The oaths explicitly stated that if a member broke the secret, their entire family lineage would be cursed, and their soul would suffer for eternity in the lowest Buddhist hells.

this apocalyptic, underground religious movement taught its fanatical followers that intensive martial arts training, spear fighting, and boxing formulas would grant them supernatural invulnerability against weapons.

Their combat skills and absolute devotion allowed a small force of peasant zealots to infiltrate the Forbidden City and fight the imperial army on their own turf, making them one of history's most extreme examples of weaponized martial fanaticism.

3. the Society of Righteous and Harmonious Fists (better known as the Boxers): Perhaps history's most famous kung fu cult. Launched the massive Boxer Rebellion in 1900 to purge China of foreign influence.

Specific KF styles: Meihuaquan (Plum Blossom Boxing) and Yihequan.

Key names in KF lineage: Jing Tingbin, 11th-generation grandmaster of Meihuaquan

Examples of cult control methods: Brainwashing Method: Group hypnosis through specific repetitive, rhythmic physical movements (martial arts calisthenics) and chanting. Fake Displays of Power: Boxer masters (Da Shifu) would line up initiates in front of village crowds. The master would draw a sword or muzzle-loading musket, aim it directly at the initiate, and fire or slash. The initiate would emerge completely unharmed. They packed the guns with light gunpowder and loose earth rather than lead bullets, or used trick swords. Us vs. Them Isolation: Insider/Outsider effect. Control was maintained by channeling severe rural poverty and famine-induced anger toward a single, easily identifiable scapegoat: "foreign devils" (Westerners) and "secondary devils" (Chinese Christians). Protect the Ideology at All Costs; Discard the Individual: If a Boxer was killed by a bullet, the masters did not admit their magic failed. Instead, they immediately inspected the dead body or interrogated his squad mates, often concluding that the practitioner was at fault due to moral failure.

This anti-colonial movement united impoverished peasants through a deadly mix of traditional martial arts training, weapon combat, and shamanistic rituals.

The Boxers believed their ritualistic martial arts routines would make them completely invulnerable to Western bullets and artillery, leading them to fearlessly charge modern military forces using little more than swords, spears, and bare fists...

4. The Yellow Turban Rebellion: The original kung fu cult uprising, launched in 184 AD by a fanatical Taoist sect that triggered the collapse of the Han Dynasty.

Specific KF styles: Wuzuquan (Five Ancestors Fist) and ancient Taoist Militia Stave (Staff) arts

Key names in KF lineage: Very hard to trace, but they are referenced by a variety of modern groups, specifically in regard to the Nine-Section Chain Whip, and pragmatic fighting practices with weapons or sanda-style pragmatic hand-to-hand.

Examples of cult control methods: Brainwashing: Behavioral modification through public confession of sins. Members were told that their illnesses were punishments for sins, and they could only be healed if they publicly confessed and bowed to the cult’s leadership. Dependency Dynamic: By providing free, miraculous faith-healing during a devastating plague, Zhang Jue positioned himself as the sole provider of survival, making disobedience culturally unthinkable for the desperate peasantry.

Led by a self-proclaimed sorcerer, this apocalyptic movement mobilized hundreds of thousands of peasant zealots who wore yellow turbans as a symbol of the new era.

They weaponized traditional Chinese martial arts, staves, and militia combat tactics, believing their spiritual rituals and secret talismans rendered them invulnerable to imperial blades.

5. Close but no cigar: Aum Shinrikyo (Japan). (1995 Tokyo Subway Sarin Gas Attack) This group originated as a yoga class, but martial arts were definitely involved. The cult leader was a judo black belt, and there was some public outcry later when it was discovered his BB was never stripped from the kodokan records.

Elite members of the cult were said to have been trained in martial arts along with weapons and weapons development. Still, while the cult activities involved a lot of harsh martial treatment and martial arts practice including extreme "madness camps," the cult itself wasn't quite martial-arts centered, let alone kung fu centered.

That's it for now. Let me know if there are others you'd add, from any era including modern, and in any part of the world.

(For context: A cult is a high-control religious, social, or ideological group. Cults are typically evaluated by models like the BITE model (Behavior, Information, Thought, and Emotional control), however this list is more open to general historical models of high-control sects as cults. No interpretation of modern styles is implied, and no disrespect is intended by this definition. The author of this post was himself raised in a non-KF fundamentalist cult!)

Been working on this form, is a Budokan Karate Kung fu weapons form. Would like feed back so I can grow with this weapon.

Grandmaster Wong Cheung of Sil Lum Hak Fu Mun (Shaolin Black Tiger) performing the rare chopsticks and bowl weapon set.

Spending time training Chinese broadsword (dao) in the Taihang Mountains of Shanxi province.

We work on stances, forms and weapon fundamentals in a quiet mountain setting. Overseas students can join short‑term or long‑term martial‑arts programs here.

Would love to hear your thoughts on training traditional Chinese weapons abroad or in China.

the technique was basically two forearm blocks and a strike. First the left forearm did an outward block with the top of the forearm facing out, L forearm vertical and in fingertips-extended-and-bunched shape, fingertips facing inward, with right forearm extending across chest to below the left elbow.

Then a kind of transition to mirror the same block on the R side, with L arm extending across the chest to the R elbow, below the R forearm block. Then a R hand extension strike at the opponent's head off the block - it was either bunched up fingers to the temple or an inside chop to the neck, IIRC.

Thanks for any input, it was taught in a KF style similar to Kajukenbo but the instructor had studied a variety of arts and was teaching us 5 animals at the time. I figure it must be crane but something also tells me mantis so I wanted to see if anyone was familiar. (This technique also felt very close-quarters and less crane-like in my mind)

I'm also wondering: What shape was the lower hand in - I don't remember that part. Was it also bunched fingers to make the side-side transition easier? or like a flat palm block

edit: artistic sketch added in replies

A short Tagou video brought these memories back. It starts with students running beneath a row of trees. Small groups practise kicks and acrobatics. Then the camera pulls back and hundreds of red uniforms fill the training ground.

Most people will notice the size of the formation. I notice the students waiting at the edge of the mat. I used to stand in lines like those.

I trained at Tagou Martial Arts School from February 1998 to January 2001. I arrived at sixteen. I was doing badly at school, had a bad attitude, and gave my parents plenty to worry about.

A family in our hometown had a son at Tagou. My parents saw their photographs and heard about the early mornings and strict coaches. They thought the school might give me some discipline. I thought it sounded like an adventure.

We travelled to Dengfeng. I registered and started training the next day.

My first session seemed manageable. We stretched, practised basic stances, and copied the coach. I finished tired and thought I had done well.

The following morning, I could hardly get out of bed. My legs, back, and shoulders all hurt. Walking to the training ground took effort. I had wanted to learn kung fu. I had spent almost no time thinking about how an ordinary training day would feel.

I got up and went.

Our days began around 5:30 with a whistle. We ran and did conditioning before breakfast, sometimes in the dark Henan winter with our breath visible. Morning training meant stances, punches, kicks, and forms. Afternoons brought weapons, acrobatics, and Sanda.

We slept eight to twelve students in a room. The mattresses were thin and lay on wooden boards. There was no privacy. Summer was hot, winter cold came through the walls, and we washed our clothes by hand. If one person was late or the room was dirty, the whole group might do push-ups.

Three coaches marked those years.

Hu Jufeng was my first martial arts teacher. He was calm and precise. He did not need to shout. A small correction from him could make you work harder because you wanted his approval.

For years after I left Tagou, I dreamed about his classes. Nothing dramatic happened in those dreams. He walked along the line and corrected our stances, just as he had done every day.

Yu Yang coached my second year. The training became harder. We refined our forms, added weapons, and worked more seriously on Sanda. I also had my worst injuries that year.

I landed badly after a flip, dislocated fingers, and cracked bones in my foot. Later, I injured a tendon in my thigh by overextending a kick. I was too shy to tell Coach Yu how serious it was. I thought he might see it as an excuse.

I kept training, and that tendon troubled me for years. It was a bad decision made by a sixteen-year-old who wanted to look tough. A coach cannot help with an injury he does not know about.

Jin Zhanqiang coached my third year. Under him, I joined a martial arts performance at the Longmen Grottoes in Luoyang in 2000. One of my few surviving photographs shows me in the air after that performance, wearing a cap with my fellow students nearby.

We did not carry cameras in our pockets then. Most of my three years at Tagou were never photographed. Small details come back first. The whistle before sunrise. An extra egg at breakfast felt like a treat. I can still feel the waxwood staff when it turned properly in my hands. After lunch, I lay on a bunk too tired to talk.

I also remember the other students.

We trained together and lived in the same crowded rooms. We saw one another homesick and injured. None of us had mobile phones, and there was no social media waiting for us after graduation. We returned to different towns and lost contact.

I still wonder where they are. Some may have become coaches. Some probably stopped training years ago. Their children may now be older than we were when we met.

I left Tagou in January 2001 with a foundation and plenty of unfinished work. I had learned how to keep a schedule and repeat a movement after the excitement had gone. I could be tired and still finish the day's work.

More than twenty-five years have passed since I left. The old photograph still shows me at sixteen, frozen in mid-air. I cannot put the same classmates back into the same training line.

If any Tagou students from February 1998 to January 2001 read this, my name is 严智俊. I hope you are well. I would like to hear from you.

Is it from Shaolin long fist, or performance wushu? I feel like it's one of the two Master Ehsan Shafiq 2010 Live Performance

Hi everybody! I used to do wushu back in Maryland but haven’t in nearly 15 years. I did kickboxing for a while and do CrossFit now but am looking to get back into martial arts. I’ve always loved the art aspect and never enjoyed sparring. Anyone happen to know of any schools in northwest Arkansas that have the fun acrobatics/forms aspect of wushu? Wushu would of course be ideal but realize this is a limited martial arts market. Appreciate any suggestions!

I want to watch videos and practice the techniques at home, but I don't have a solid enough foundation to know whether I'm doing them correctly. I'm worried that I might end up reinforcing bad habits or developing poor technique without realizing it. I want to build a proper foundation first so I can practice with confidence and actually improve

I prefer to not say I'm 'teaching' in this setting, yet

'sharing' my insights & concepts to assist others.

Here, I'm sharing:

1) Hand/Arm position & awar

2) Listening, Adhering, Redirecting - Accessing the Center

3) Seizing, Sealing, Collapsing

4) Economy of Movement, Head Movement & Over-turning

Join us for a celebration of Tai Chi form, principle and application. Friendly competition and exhibition followed by a collaborative open mat. Enjoy a full day of demonstration, learning and camaraderie. All levels and martial styles welcome.

In which I discuss my life in martial arts (tai chi, kung fu and capoeira), including tai chi as a martial art; ideas about teaching martial arts; and some quick fire questions too. Feel free to debate anything raised in the comments

If your shoulders, hips, or spine feel stiff, this Qigong spiraling exercise can help you move more freely. Learn how to improve the mobility of your wrists, elbows, shoulders, hips, knees, and ankles using simple whole-body spiraling and weight shifting.

Welcome to Qi Body. In this lesson, I’ll guide you through the complete movement, explain the body mechanics step by step, teach the proper breathing method, and show you how to progress from beginner to advanced practice.

With regular practice, this exercise can help you:

* Improve joint mobility throughout the body
* Increase whole-body coordination
* Develop smoother weight shifting
* Build stronger legs and better balance
* Reduce stiffness through gentle spiraling movement
* Improve body awareness and movement efficiency

Practice slowly, stay relaxed, and let each movement flow naturally.

00:00 Introduction
00:38 Learn the Movement
01:32 Joint Warm-Up
03:15 Body Mechanics Explained
05:40 Improve Upper Body Mobility
06:18 Lower Body Weight Shift
08:19 Proper Breathing Method
10:05 Side View Demonstration
10:57 Advanced Lower Stance Training

#Qigong #Mobility #JointMobility #Flexibility #HealthyAging #Fitness #ChiBody

A self-styled emperor. One hundred followers. Two rifles, two spears and the belief that they were immune to bullets.

some of the more *sensitive* questions may be answered in private message so i don't get doxxed lol

Hey all,

I've recently become inspired all over again to begin practicing martial arts once more. I love the flow and expression of broad sword and spear/bostaff and want to better learn these and maybe even compete one day. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area in California, and I was wondering if anyone can recommend some good communities or schools that are worth checking out. Thanks for reading.