The David Brent Wolfe Dictionary of

Chinese Martial Art Terms

When possible, terms are given in Mandarin (Hanyu) pinyin spelling. The older spelling of the Wade Giles method is used when it is the more commonly known version. For some terms the most common version is given in Cantonese.

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• Hakka means northern guest. These were northern Chinese who fled to southern China to avoid the Manchu government in Beijing a few hundred years ago.
• Ha ma is the Chow gar term for single step.
• Hang Jieh Guen means Monkey King Form. It is a double ended staff routine in the Choy Li Fut style. Double ended means that both ends of the pole are used for thrusting and hitting. The hands are held in the middle third of the staff with the thumbs towards each other.
• Har lo, (Cantonese), is a Wing Chun term meaning lower level.
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• Hau gum sau, (Cantonese), is a Wing Chun term meaning back pinning hand.
• Hau ma, (Cantonese), is a Wing Chun term meaning back stance.
• He means crane.
• Hei hu quan means black tiger fist. It is a Chinese martial art style.
• Hei hu sou shan means black tiger searches in the mountains. It is a technique in the Chen family style Taiji quan routine called Chen village broadsword.
• Henan is the name of the Chinese province that is the location of the northern Shaolin temple.
• Heng is a horizontal pushing or striking movement. It is used in Xing yi quan to mean sweep, wring, crossing or crosscut. Heng is also used in Taiji quan to mean side cut as the name of one of the basic straight sword techniques.
• He quan means crane fist. It is a style of Chinese martial art.
• Heun bo, (Cantonese), is a Wing Chun term meaning circling steps.
• Heun do, (Cantonese), is a Wing Chun term meaning circling knife.
• Heun got sau, (Cantonese), is a Wing Chun term meaning circling cut.
• Heun sau, (Cantonese), is a Wing Chun term meaning circling hand.
• Hoi ma, (Cantonese), is a Wing Chun term meaning opening of the stance.
• Hok means crane.
• Hok gurk faat is the name of an empty hand routine in Sil lum meaning crane kicking form.
• Hong Be Chien means Phoenix Tail Tension. It is an empty handed routine of the Ngo Cho style.
• Hong Chuan means Red Fist. There are a pair of Shaolin style routines, small and large, called Red Fist.
• Hong jia quan means Hong family fist. It is the name of a Southern Chinese martial arts style founded by Hong Xi Guan. It is sometimes shortened to be called Hong quan.
• Hong quan means Red Fist. It is the name of a Northern Chinese martial arts system. Red Fist is also the name of a Zha quan empty handed routine.
• Hop gar is the name of the Chinese martial art called Tibetan white crane. It is supposed to have been founded in Tibet and later migrated to China. It has only 24 hand techniques. However, these 24 techniques have numerous variations.
• Hou means monkey.
• Hou means backwards or second.
• Hou kong fan means back flip.
• Hou quan means monkey fist. It is also a style of Chinese martial art.
• Hou tui means craw back.
• Hou zhao means backwards move. It is a technique in the Chen family style Taiji quan routine called old frame first set, Lao jia yi lu.
• Hsing-i chuan means mind form boxing. It is also translated as Xing-i quan. This style is considered to be relatively linear in technique. Hsing-i chuan is said to be one of the three major internal styles. Chi Lung Feng, of the Shanghai area, is credited as being the founder of Hsing-i chuan during the early Ching Dynasty. He is said to have combined the foot work of his spear skills with five hand techniques reflecting the Taoists' Five Elements Theory. His most famous students were Ma Hsuech Li of Henan Province and Tsao Chi Wu of Shansi Province. Each taught in their home provinces. Brothers Tai Ling Pang and Tai Lung Pang taught the Shansi version of Hsing-i chuan to Li Neng Jan of Hebei Province. The fame of the style comes from the students real life useage of it as caravan guards and bounty hunters during the mid and late 1800's, Late Ching Dynasty, in and around Beijing.
• Hsuan Tsung means Mysterious Ancestor. It is one of five Chinese martial art styles based on using drunken techniques. The creation of this style in 723 C.E. is credited to Kao Fu, a soldier in the army of Emperor Hsuan Tsung of the T'ang Dynasty. The style origins are traced to Chang-an, the ancient capitol city, located in Kuan Nei Province. The Hsuan Tsung style as taught today contains three empty handed routines and two weapon routines. The three empty handed routines are called: Flying Drunken Fairy, Drunken Tiger, and Weaving River. The Flying Drunken Fairy imitates an intoxicated elf flying from tree to tree. The routine has complicated footwork causing the practioner to move like a drunken man while teaching him how to block and strike from oblique angles, off balanced body positions, and advantagous distances between himself and the opponent. The Drunken Tiger routine teaches rolling, dipping, and extensive on the ground techniques. The Weaving River routine teaches weaving and additional ground fighting techniques. The two weapon routines are Double Drunken Staff and Drunken Sword. The Double Drunken Staff routine is performed with two wooden sticks about 30 inches long. The staff routine teaches the practioner to fight from a crouched position while making intricate turns with his body and the sticks. The Drunken Sword routine is performed with the double edged gim, a straight sword. It is switched from hand to hand during the routine. The skillful student learns to perform the routines on Plum Flower Posts pattern, a series of wooden posts planted in the ground in the pattern of a plum flower blossom. The posts are about 8 to 10 inches in diameter and can vary from one foot to five feet above the ground.
• Hu means tiger.
• Hua means to dissolve. It is a Taiji quan skill.
• Hua means rowing. It is one of the thirteen Taiji broadsword techniques.
• Hua bu means slide step.
• Huai zhang bao yue means embracing the moon. It is a technique in the Chen family style Taiji quan routine called Chen village broadsword.
• Hua jin is a term describing the highest level of skill in using force in Xing yi quan. It is called 'mysterious energy' in that it uses qi instead of regular muscle force.
• Hua jin means transformed energy.
• Hua men quan means Hua style fist. It is a Chinese martial art style.
• Huan means ring. A metal ring with the outside edge sharpened was used as a weapon.
• Huan bu means foot shift.
• Huang Hanxun was a well known Seven Star Praying Mantis instuctor from Hong Kong. He died in 1974. He was the lineage inheritor from Luo Guangyu. Huang was sometimes known as the Mantis King due to his skills.
• Huan ji quan means counter strike.
• Huan qi means to change breathing.
• Huan tui means to change the legs.
• Hua quan is the name of a Zha quan empty handed routine.
• Hua quan means flower style fist. It thought to have first been taught in Jiangsu province and Zhejiang province during the Qing dynasty period, 1636 to 1911 C.E. It is taught that the early practioners were attempting to overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming dynasty. This is supposed to be represented in their beginning and ending bow, left fist exposed by the right palm. The style uses 24 stances, 72 holding and strangling techniques, 88 falling/tumbling techniques, and 120 hand techniques.
• Hua quan means China fist.
• Hua Tuo was a famous Chinese physician (? - 208 C.E.), who created a series of fitness exercises using five animals playing, wuqinxi; the ape, the bear, the bird, the deer, and the tiger. The exercises were said to limber up the body and to stimulate the appetite.
• Hubei is the name of a Chinese province.
• Hu cha means tiger fork.
• Hu die shuang dao means butterfly double swords or more commonly as butterfuly knives.
• Hui bi means to swing the arm.
• Hui yin is the term for the accupressure point (Governing vessel 1 located between the genitals and the anus.
• Hui zhang means dispersing or wielding palm strike. It is a fundamental palm strike in the Yin Fu lineage of Ba qua zhang.
• Hu kou means tiger mouth. It is the web of tissue between the thumb and forefinger on the hand.
• Hung means to be cruel or mean. It is a Black Tiger style term used to describe a way of striking the meridians and vital points of the opponent's body.
• Hung Sing means Long Fist. It is an empty handed Choy Li Fut style routine, the name of a Choy Li Fut style butterfly knives routine and a spear routine.
• Hung Sing was a student of the founder of Choy Li Fut. He added his own understanding to what he had learn from Chan Heung. What he taught became known as the Hung Sing style of Choy Li Fut.
• Hung tao Choy mae is the name of an empty hand routine in Sillum meaning Hung gar and Choy Lay Fut combined form.
• Huo means to expand. It is one of the basic straight sword techniques in Taiji quan.
• Huo bu means moving posture technique(s).
• Hu qi means to exhale.
• Hu quan means tiger fist. It is a style of Chinese martial art.
• Hu xi means breathing.
• Hu xin dao means broadsword protects the heart. It is a technique in the Chen family style Taiji quan routine Chen village broadsword.
• Hu xing bu means arc step.
• Hu xin quan means protect the heart fist. It is a technique in the Chen family style Taiji quan routine called old frame first set, Lao jia yi lu. (1)
• Hu zhao means tiger claw.

Sources of information

1. Corrected by Sean ? in an email dated 29 February 2004.