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The Complete Guide to Kung Fu Fighting Styles
Kung fu, China's martial arts legacy, stretches from the distant past of the Shaolin temple to the strife torn decades of the 20th century, and into the new millennium. It is a legacy filled with tales of great masters and incredible exploits. Here, in a revised and expanded edition of this best-selling title, we survey the major kung fu styles and masters of the present day. Long range and short range styles, internal and external power, and the living legends of kung fu are all explored in great detail and with numerous photographs.
- GenresMartial ArtsNonfiction
110 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1985
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 15, 2012
Although a short book, it does introduce to the reader the various styles of mainline Kung Fu styles. It makes an excellent primer when you are considering to take up a style and let's you compare each style to see what appeals to you. (For me, it was Wing Chun and Tai Chi, though I also checked out Pa Qua and some others because of this book)
April 28, 2020
It makes sense
I really love it it is my next step into kung fu
I really love it it is my next step into kung fu
April 2, 2022
Showcasing the most well-known styles from North and South of China.
May 19, 2012
Jane Hallander is limited by the Unique Publications format/writing style. Unique Publications in Burbank California has been publishing the martial arts "how-to" manuals for decades.
Unique Publications replaced the 1960's Sterling Publications which published the majority of the paperback martial arts books of the Bruce Tegner era. The Complete Guide is comprised of three sections; The Introduction, Book 1: The Northern Styles and Book 2: The Southern Styles. In total, thirteen martial arts are described in a slick magazine type format found in any popular martial arts magazines of the last twenty years.
The chapters have the strong flavor of magazine articles which I suspect they originally may have been/been intended? The specific arts described include: Chang Chuan, Northern Praying Mantis, Monkey Style, Eagle Claw, Hsing-I, Pa Kua, Tai Chi Chuan, Choy-Li-Fut, Hung Gar, Wing Chun, Tibetian White Crane, White Eyebrow, as well as Esoteric Southern styles.
The first section draws the reader briefly into the modern American fascination, and exposure to Chinese Kung Fu (ie Television, Movies). Full page photo spreads of Bruce Lee, David Carradine and still photos from the Television series "Kung-Fu" are shown, among others.
The book is slick series of interesting articles with assorted photos of the specific arts, signiture technque(s), its teacher(s)/prominant technicians. Severely lacking in this work:
Citations of original source material(s)
Attributions (ie what/who is in the photographs are not always shown)
ANY further or suggested readings (whether in English or any other language) should be mandatory.
Lacking these important elements these "articles" tragicly leave this book with VAST gaps of critical information. The table of contents lists this book to be comprised of two "books" within three sections. The term BOOK leads to the puzzle whether these "articles" may exist in some other hardbound format potentially as part of a larger series of publications (magazine pieces?) possibly?
The book is not without value however.
The ability to find good basic articles about White Eyebrow Kung Fu, Tibetian White Crane Kung Fu, Chang Chuan Kung Fu, Eagle Claw Kung Fu etceteria are not easy to locate, even in the age of the internet! As such this work is useful if solely as preliminary-basic research on many levels.
Similar work written by David Chow and Richard Spangler was done eight years prior to this publication Kung Fu: History, Philosophy, and Technique. Among many other things discussed in that earlier work were many of the styles which Hallander increased upon and described.
Unique Publications replaced the 1960's Sterling Publications which published the majority of the paperback martial arts books of the Bruce Tegner era. The Complete Guide is comprised of three sections; The Introduction, Book 1: The Northern Styles and Book 2: The Southern Styles. In total, thirteen martial arts are described in a slick magazine type format found in any popular martial arts magazines of the last twenty years.
The chapters have the strong flavor of magazine articles which I suspect they originally may have been/been intended? The specific arts described include: Chang Chuan, Northern Praying Mantis, Monkey Style, Eagle Claw, Hsing-I, Pa Kua, Tai Chi Chuan, Choy-Li-Fut, Hung Gar, Wing Chun, Tibetian White Crane, White Eyebrow, as well as Esoteric Southern styles.
The first section draws the reader briefly into the modern American fascination, and exposure to Chinese Kung Fu (ie Television, Movies). Full page photo spreads of Bruce Lee, David Carradine and still photos from the Television series "Kung-Fu" are shown, among others.
The book is slick series of interesting articles with assorted photos of the specific arts, signiture technque(s), its teacher(s)/prominant technicians. Severely lacking in this work:
Citations of original source material(s)
Attributions (ie what/who is in the photographs are not always shown)
ANY further or suggested readings (whether in English or any other language) should be mandatory.
Lacking these important elements these "articles" tragicly leave this book with VAST gaps of critical information. The table of contents lists this book to be comprised of two "books" within three sections. The term BOOK leads to the puzzle whether these "articles" may exist in some other hardbound format potentially as part of a larger series of publications (magazine pieces?) possibly?
The book is not without value however.
The ability to find good basic articles about White Eyebrow Kung Fu, Tibetian White Crane Kung Fu, Chang Chuan Kung Fu, Eagle Claw Kung Fu etceteria are not easy to locate, even in the age of the internet! As such this work is useful if solely as preliminary-basic research on many levels.
Similar work written by David Chow and Richard Spangler was done eight years prior to this publication Kung Fu: History, Philosophy, and Technique. Among many other things discussed in that earlier work were many of the styles which Hallander increased upon and described.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews