de shaolinvormen zouden als hoofdstijlen aanzien worden..maar ik dacht dat de roots, de heel vroege ergens uit India kwam...er zijn idd ook nog genoeg familieclans en boeren die hun stijl ontwikkelden..
doch elke shaolin stijl kent de vormen xi guong(qigong) en dat is toch hetgeen veel kung fu stijlen een speciale vorm en vooral meditatieve vorm van krijgskunst maakt..elke traditonele Chinese stijl maakt gebruik van qijong..de stijlen buiten China,daar ben ik duidelijk niet op de hoogte van en dit bewijst nog maar eens hoe uitgebreid de term kung fu is
qijong:
The Shaolin unique feats attach special importance to the exploration of the potential instincts of human body. With the uncomparable wisdom and fortitude of the Zen buddhists, the Shaolin monks cultivated the incredible unique skills incredible to the common people. Do not assume that you can kill him by straggling his throat. The Shaolin monk has, by practicing with a yellow Zen ribbon, gained the unique feat to escape from the otherwise certain death. Do not think that you can end his clock of life by hitting the "pendulum" between the two legs; as the Shaolin monk has, by practicing hard with a rock, acquired an invulnerable body. When a spear is directed fiercely to the throat, the monk is not at all harmed. When his finger can pierce into the trunk of a tree fro three inches, when you see a stone slab is broken when the monk's head dashes against it, when you see a cudgel snapped into two when hit on the monk's chest stomach or head, when a monk stands upside down on his two fingers and the kicks broken a stone pillar, how could you help feeling startled, and how could you help thinking, how much potential human capacity is awaiting exploration?
The qigong of Shaolin is divided into internal qigong and external qigong, The internal qigong relies mainly on regulating the inhaling and exhaling, thus facilitating the blood circulation and driving away the evil elements in the body. The result is that the internal organs are healthy and the limbs become agile. Internal qigong covers such varieties as 8-section brocade, tendon-alternation sutra yinyang qi, and sitting-meditation. External qigong is also called hard kungfu. The qi is concentrated to a certain point of the body, and the said body can exert extraordinary power, or kungfu. The varieties of the Shaolin hard kungfu, iron-head kungfu, hard-stomach kungfu, fire kungfu, iron-sand palm kungfu etc.. The pile kungu of the Shaolin school is divided into two: the plum-blossom pile kungfu and intention pile kungfu. The plum blossom piles are 8 feet high on which the Shaolin monks practice fighting, capturing, etc. as if they were on the ground. This performance commands great admiration from the spectators. intention pile kungfu is the oldest Shaolin form by which to cultivate qi. This kungfu belong to the category internal kungfu. The power is exploded by integrating the inner qi with the force. After cultivation the intention pile kungfu, the performer can make a pit on the ground by simply stamping on it, and can break a stone pillar by a simple kick. The traveller can think of the power of intentional pile kungfu by looking at the 48 standing-pile pits in the Thousand Buddha Hall of the Shaolin Temple.