David Chow

For its time, this is a pretty good overview of the Chinese martial tradition. If you pick up the book today you'll find that it covers a lot of well-trod territory, but remember that in 1977 most Occidental readers were unfamiliar with the legend of Bodhidharma as the originator of the Chinese fighting arts, or the distinction between internal and external kung fu systems. The glaring omission here is that of a beginner form like Tan Tui; it's the first thing you would learn at any show more traditional kung fu school, and the book is large enough to have included such a form. There is, however, a nice section on basic self-defense, with co-author David Chow (technical adviser for the popular TV series Kung Fu) demonstrating various Chin Na, or joint-locking, techniques. Oddly enough, Kam Yuen--who choreographed the fight scenes on Kung Fu--authored a book on a beginner form called Ling Po during this same period. Entitled Beginning Kung Fu, it was published by Ohara, the major rival of Unique (which published the Chow/Spangler book). show less

Contents

Introduction
1 The beginnings
2 The Father of Shaolin Ch'uan
3 Taoist contribution to Kung Fu
4 External styles of Kung Fu
5 Chin Na
6 The dynamics of Kung
7 Kung Fu hits entertainment
8 The Westernization of Kung Fu
9 Philosophical vignettes
Index