Chinese Martial Arts Southern styles generally refer to the martial arts disciplines that are popular in the southern part of China. The southern martial arts system was developed at the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty. It spread throughout the areas of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian, Hunan, Hubei, Sichuan, Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Zhejiang provinces, and Hainan Island.
Southern styles have many varieties. The styles includes Tiger Style, White Crane Style, Hung Gar, Lau Gar, Choy Gar, Li Car, Mok Gar, Wing Chun, Choy Lee Fut, Buddha Style, Eagle Style, etc. Although each style has its uniqueness, most styles of Southern Chinese martial arts share the same characteristics of a stable stance, flexible and rich hand forms, and powerful movements. The high population density and narrow streets in Southern China also have direct influence on the dimensions of Southern Style movements. Different from the elegant, confident, line-flowing and fully-extended Northern Style movements. Chinese Southern Style of martial arts movements have relatively smaller dimensions, as manifested by the saying “attacking within the area of the size of a sleeping bull”. Its attacking points are usually on the upper part of the human body, such as the head, neck, chest, waist, arms, etc.
