What Is Tai Shing?
What is Tai Shing?
Learn About The Devastating Artform
At Six Monkey Martial Arts we teach a martial art called Tai Shing. This is a very rare kung fu style that uses monkey style movements to devastate an opponent. In this blog we will cover just about all aspects of Tai Shing Kung Fu. We’ll start with History, 5 Monkeys, & finally Effectiveness. By the end of this article you will have a great understanding of Tai Shing & will be ready to take the next step in your online martial arts journey.
Tai Shing History
Our History begins in 1911. But before we get too deep into the history, I would like to take a brief moment to explain true & false history. There have been a few Tai Shing Masters who have created a false history of Tai Shing. These supposed masters wanted to add a more honorable and “cool” sounding history to the art, making it untrue. What we are about to explain is the true, brief history passed down from generation to generation.
In 1911, a Tai Tong Master named Kou Sze was at a local bar in Northern China. Then 2 Chinese soldiers came to him and demanded he join the Qing army. Kou Sze was a master of Tei Tong (grand earth style) and easily killed the 2 soldiers. After realizing his terrible actions, Kou Sze sought help from his friend Kan Wing Kwai who was a judge & master of Pek Kwar Kung Fu. Kan helped Kou Sze avoid a death sentence, instead sentencing him to 8 years in prison.
While in prison, Kou Sze continued his meditation & Tei Tong training until he saw the Monkey King Sun Wukong. Sun Wukong showed Kou Sze the 5 day monkey techniques & the Deathly Night Monkey Style.
Kou Sze went to say thanks & pay his respects to Kan after his prison sentence but, unfortunately, he had already passed. So to honor his friend, Kou Sze taught his son Kan Tak Hoi this new Tai Shing system. Later Kan Tak Hoi combined the 3 arts (Tei Tong, Tai Shing, & Pek Kwar) into one. There are many different versions of this history but we are relaying it as it was taught by our teacher Ah Sang.
5 Monkeys of Tai Shing
Now that we have a brief understanding of Tai Shing history, we can now look at the 5 Monkeys of this system. Tai Shing is a martial art system that is composed of 5 sub styles. We’ll get into styles vs systems in another article. There are 5 day monkeys taught in Tai Shing: Tall, Lost, Stone Drunken, & Wood Monkeys. Each uses different methods, techniques & fighting styles.
Tall Monkey has a more compassionate mindset & teaches how to extend your strikes making the most out of your reach. Lost Monkey is more evasive, it works on quick in and out attacks. Stone Monkey is a very aggressive style, using trapping & rooting to destroy opponents. Drunken monkey is the most fluid, it deflects instead of blocks & uses Dim Mak points. Wood Monkey is an aggressively fluid style, it uses root snatching & more unique techniques.
All 5 of these monkeys can be found in our programs & we will write more on each of them later. Tai Shing teaches these 5 substyles to adapt to each student’s personal strengths and weaknesses. Check out our course page or contact us to find out which one fits best for you.
Conclusion
Finally, we will learn about the Effectiveness of Tai Shing. Our system uses a lot of unheard of techniques. Bridge Destroying, Root Snatching, & Cotton Fist to name a few. But how does that translate into effectiveness?
Well, we have to start at the base. You must learn 3 things in any successful martial art. Distance control, timing, & reactivity. Distance control is being in control so your opponent can’t hit you and moving in enough so you can land a strike. Timing is finding the “hole” in your opponent’s guard, strike or movement. And reactivity is how fast you can react to your opponent’s strike or movement.
In Tai Shing we have several drills that train students how to be more proficient in all of these key aspects. Monkey hands to gor sao, we train these techniques to make sure all students develop these skills. Once those skills have been attained; we work on the unique footwork, angles & levels. Being that most people either have never trained these skills or seen these types of techniques, our students have a much higher chance of being effective with their strikes.
In conclusion, Tai Shing is a complete system with 5 sub styles that all teach essential & unique techniques to protect yourself & devastate opponents.
We hope you learned some new information about the amazing art of Tai Shing. If interested in learning one of the monkeys or all 5, check out our courses. We strive to be the best online martial arts training platform available. If you have any questions please feel free to contact us. Or click here to check out our courses.
Best Regards,
Sifu
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