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When I hear anyone talk about a specific Chinese martial art, it falls into either a Northern Chinese or Southern Chinese style. I have learned that the general differences between the Northern and Southern styles is that Northern styles have more legwork, acrobatics, and jumping moves. Contrastly, Southern Chinese kung fu systems focus more on short moves and stable stances.

If Chinese martial arts fall into either of these categories, what is the explanation for it? Since the divide is geographical, are the development of Chinese kung fu systems related to regional, environmental factors? What are the historical roots that would also influence the development of these two general categories of Northern versus Southern?

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    If anyone can bring solid historical evidence (or even solid oral history, e.g. "Master Po in 1600 wrote down that he put a lot of close-range techniques in the style because he fights on rice paddies") to bear on this one, I'd start and assign a bounty. I'd love to avoid a bevy of answers based on hearsay and conjecture. Aug 15, 2012 at 21:54

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Northern styles have more legwork, acrobatics, and jumping moves. Contrastly, Southern Chinese kung fu systems focus more on short moves and stable stances.

Actually, that describes the differences between the unarmed techniques, to an extent the weapons forms are the other way around. The way I heard it (at least 20 years ago, and I have forgotten the source) was that the Northern Chinese were more likely to be armed, so their weapons techniques tended to be more practical, since they were more often needed, while their unarmed techniques tended to be flashy.

The Southern Chinese tended to be less often armed, and when they were it was with shorter, more concealable weapons, so their unarmed techniques were more important and more practical, while their longer weapons forms tended to be stuff for showing off and for general development in training, rather than for practical use.

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  • Good point. I had never thought of that. Do you know why the Northern Chinese were more likely to be armed though over the Southern Chinese?
    – user15
    Aug 17, 2012 at 20:07
  • I'm not a student of Chinese history, so I don't know how accurate it is, but I heard it was because the North wasn't as densely or as evenly populated as the South, and there were often bandits in the wilder areas of the North. The primary crops of the North and South tend to support this, since the wheat grown in the north requires rotation, which means at least a third of the fields are not going to be cropped at any given time. While the rice paddy agriculture of the south needs maintenance of the irrigation and can be farmed continuously. Aug 18, 2012 at 0:43
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Geography, population differences, influences, etc. Same reasons everything is different over space.

For example, one reason I've heard is that southern styles were influenced by ship-board fighting, for which large, sweeping moves are contra-indicated, and short, stable stances are a necessity because of deck motion. Oceans in the south, mountains in the north; southern styles would tend towards being influenced by where a lot of fighting took place, and the people fighting.

Once trends are set in motion, they tend to snowball on themselves. A cooking ingredient becomes regionally popular, more regional dishes will use it. Variations on the theme are created and propagate. Sometimes something moves outside of a region. Sometimes a foreign region influences local flavors.

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A good part of the answer seems to genetics, distance, and culture.

Northern Chinese people are, on average, inches taller than people of Southern China. Body breadth, skin coloring, and other patterns of physicality are often cited as being clearly different North to South. Different physical builds naturally lead toward different athletic expressions.

China is also geographically enormous. One has to cross ~1,000 miles (~1,500km) to get from the Northern Shaolin Temple at Zhèngzhōu to the Southern Monastery at Fujian, or to another at Quánzhōu. (Whether you believe these sites are the "true" sources of whatever style is another matter.)

Prior to the advent of modern vehicular transportation, 1,000-mile distances would have been inherently isolating, naturally leading to independent development and regional divergence (see also Dave Newton's answer). There'd be good reasons to have strong differences even if they spoke the same language. Which they don't.

Considering the different physical builds, different languages/cultural history, and regional distances, it's surprising that we think of Chinese martial arts in as unified a way as we do.

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    And these vast distances and genetic and cultural differences would suggest disparity generally, not towards any specific types of disparity, e.g. such-and-such techniques for the south and such-and-such stances for the north? Aug 16, 2012 at 1:07
  • Long distances and different languages/cultural traditions explain divergence, but not any specific divergence. Different body types go further. My understanding: The larger, taller bodies of Northerners lead toward, encourage, and support their typically higher kicks and more expansive movements (e.g. "Long Fist"), while the shorter, more compact bodies and more populated/crowded cities of the South motivate their more constrained, close-in techniques (seen in e.g. Hung Gar, "shadowless kicking," Wing Chun). If argued those factors are suggestive but not conclusive, I'd have to agree. Aug 17, 2012 at 18:50
  • I agree strongly w/r/t distance and language/culture; I think incorporating your comment into your post would improve it. I don't really see the mechanism for longer limbs promoting longer movements...if everybody is 4'11'', kicking people in the head is the same as if everybody is 6', no? Aug 17, 2012 at 18:59
  • Those with longer reach (for kicking or punching) are more likely to use and evolve moves that involve longer reach. A large guy, I know I emphasize moves where my height, mass, and reach give me advantage (over opponents of whatever size). I don't emphasize moves that require moving my entire body super-fast, or dropping very low, or otherwise fighting my natural inertia. This isn't something I can "prove" played deeply into Northern/Southern style differences, but I've heard it said many times by sifus (of Northern, Southern, and Korean arts), and it makes sense to me. YMMV. Aug 21, 2012 at 16:26
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I began studies in 1973 at "LINS KUNG FU" in Bethesda Maryland. My Sifu Mr Huang as we called him then, was a partner of Willy Lin the owner whose brother is Tony Lin a well renowned student who has eclipsed even his older brother.

Tien Sun Pai is the style and as far as I know has no illustrious background going back "X" number of generations and I could care less, what matters most to me, is that "your teacher is your teacher" and I thank God I have a good one. "LOYALTY" above all things.

"Northern Kick- Southern Fist" is the age old saying...

The North was more wide open less crowded, so long sweeping gestures with both hands and feet was more common, and YES the people are BIGGER in the North. In addition as one here noted, many of the Southern styles were taught on Junks/boats and a strong Mabu was necessary as a result for balance on these boats and fancy high and/or spinning kicks often deemed impractical

HOWEVER, many Southern styles DO include intricate leg work and kicks and many Northern styles have incorporate "Fist"/punching that one could also associate w/ their Southern counterparts.

I thank God I walked into LINS KUNG FU" that day back in 73, the gift my Sifu gave me and the subsequent foundation for life it implies changed me forever and forever.

Great is the teaching of the Sifus and great also is the fortune of the Disciple

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I am a Wushu practitioner and what my master said is that Chang Quan or Northern Fist and Nanquan or Southern Fist are equally well and represent the style that evolved thousand of years ago in the North and South regions of China. The people of the South are more stronger and their style is very firm like the tiger claw, dragon claw, etc. The Southern style is the style of the ironsmith, whereas the Northern style is very dynamic.

Nonetheless both are difficult to master and require a lot of patience and practice to develop. Nowadays in modern Wushu both Nanquan and Chang Quan emphasises jumps and movements which requires great agility. They are difficult but with practice can be acquired. I would also like to add that practice either Chang Quan or Nanquan. Don't go for both because the body language in both differs. If you try both it will lead you to nowhere. Try a single style and become the master of it.

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    Thank you for your answer, but you hardly address the question. Do you know how it comes that the Northern and Southern style are so different?
    – THelper
    Dec 3, 2013 at 12:25
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There is a well circulated myth that is related to the features of the northern and southern sections of China. The south tends to be hotter, muggier, and wetter. Conversely, the north is dryer and more rocky. Thus the southern systems don't use large movements from the legs because even if you can jump out of a patch of mud up to or above your ankles (think rice patties), your landing will most likely be uncertain and slippery. Southern styles tend to focus on hands and sure-fire stances because falling is a good way to get compromised.

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I feel that while all of the posts are sound ideas of what makes the difference between northern and southern styles. But the lack of acknowledgment of the Northern styles that are compact and explosive like traditional chinese Baji Quan and the repeated claim that southern stylist lack traditional kicking ability is a clear example of the lack of Wushu knowledge presented here. Tiger, dragon and snake styles all from the south have standing, jumping and flying kicks, and some of the kicks represented in snake style Wushu are incredibly difficult to master. As an FYI I am not referring to the Shaolin schools of Wushu for I am not a Shaolin practioner so it is not my area of expertise. The history of the country plays a large part in the evolution of the styles.. Long fist using large sweeping arm techniques To defend against long weapons, like a spear from a mounted mongol attacking during the Qing dynasty. Smaller frame styles gain their compact representation of techniques due to over crowded training areas thanks to a military regimented influence of Wushu techniques. And then there is the Government's over all influence on Traditional chinese martial arts which caused a dramatic decline in martial knowledge among the people and the development of government standardized sport Wushu which is most of what anyone has seen and is a dramatically watered down version of the style compared to its more martial and now outlawed original style.

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I am an intermediate level practitioner of Wing Tsun, which is a southern style...

According to my Si-Gung---who is not only a master-level sifu with over 22 years of experience in Wing Tsun, but also an incredibly knowledgeable scholar of the history of martial arts on a global scale and author of several books and publications on Chinese Kung Fu---the most common (and perhaps the most practical) difference in styles sparks both from genetic differences (and therefore, expression of athleticism) and from the inherent necessity prescribed by those genetic differences.

The explanation he offers is that Northerners were historically taller and of greater musculature than Southerners, and that in order to withstand impossibly powerful blows from opponents who are already significantly stronger, Southerners had no choice but to attempt to "hack" the Northerners' fighting systems. The theory here is that when force is matched with force, the greater force wins and the weaker force loses; so Southerners developed techniques like closing the gap, giving way, using low elbow power, and attacking on and controlling the center line in an attempt to nullify the powerful, long-range, often round attacks of the northern styles.

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    Welcome to the site. A very interesting answer which would be much improved by references. As it stands, it is nothing more than hear say. Who is your teacher? What books have they written? Where do they make those claims and what evidence do they provide? Jan 11, 2018 at 10:48
  • My sincere apologies, and thank you. I’m very new to all of this... My Si-Gung is Sifu Alex Richter. He authored the The Little Idea, co-hosts the Dudes of Kung Fu podcast, founded and runs the biggest Wing Tsun center in NYC, and has a popular Wing Chun series on HowCast.com. He’s also been featured on VICE, The Discovery Channel, NBC, PBS, Black Belt Magazine, Kung Fu/Taichi Magazine, Wing Chun Illustrated, and Harper's Bazaar.
    – Seth
    Jan 16, 2018 at 17:37
  • ...but if i may, i really only meant to offer this explanation as a theory. I don’t know that any of it can be proven, certainly not by myself and likely not by my Si-Gung.
    – Seth
    Jan 16, 2018 at 17:39
  • Please edit the answer and add those details there. Also check out the help center. Jan 16, 2018 at 18:08
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The differences between northern and southern gung-fu mainly came about due to the climate differences between the two different regions.

With the north being colder, kicking became more common since it's easier to kick for a longer period of time in a colder climate than a warmer one because kicking takes more energy and generates more body heat. Northerners are also taller so again, that is another reason for the propensity towards kicking.

The south being warmer and with a higher annual rainfall, meant that that the ground is softer and so the southern gung-fu styles, which has low stances for stability and less kicking, along with lower kicks since it's harder to maintain your balance on softer and/or wet ground. Southerns were generally shorter than northerners so this also meant that kicks were not as effective as a long range weapon as their taller northern counterparts.

Diet also played a factor as the northerners are taller so that also led to them develop more kicking styles, and with the southerner being shorter, again, less kicking and more hand strikes because shorter legs meant that kicking was not as effective as a long range weapon than their taller northern counterparts.

This is why gung-fu men that are known as kickers, are called northerners, while hands men are called southerners.

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  • What do you mean specifically about diet? I don't understand that part.
    – user15
    Dec 18, 2013 at 19:02
  • Northerners ate more grains and meat due to the cold, so that is believed to be part of why they were generally taller than their southern counterparts. The height difference, with their longer legs and arms, affected the difference in how they fought, such as northerners using more kicks, more extended kicks and longer strikes. The Long Fist style is one example of a northern style being created to take advantage of the longer limbs of northerners, in this case, their longer arms. Southerners ate a more vegetable based diet which often doesn't add as much bulk or size, including height. Dec 18, 2013 at 19:07

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