We all know the first real form we learn when we join this club is called Chang Quan, people who pay attention know it's officially called Chang Quan San. San in this case stands for 3 ( 三 ). So if you think about it, if it's called number 3, surely there is more of this right? Yup.
This is part of a series of forms established in 1956 by the Chinese Wushu Federation which have been classified into 3 divisions :
- Basic Forms 初级套路 : Name says it all, basic forms for beginners. with emphasis on all the basic stances and kicks. Along with basic motions and combos for all weapons.
- Second Class Forms 乙组套路: 1 step up in difficulty from the basic forms.
- First Class Forms 甲组套路: Highest level of difficulty used for competitions prior to competitions allowing competitors to choreograph their own forms.
Nowadays, while people still learn the forms from these divisions, they don't follow the order strictly anymore. Apart from the basic forms, it's difficult to determine how forms are classified into the 2 other divisions. So unless you ask someone who classified them, they may as well not exist.
Obviously apart from these modern forms, all Wushu schools teach traditional forms as well.
With Wushu being an international thing now, the International Wushu Federation ( IWF ) also periodically creates international compulsory forms. They are currently on their 3rd iteration which arrived in 2012, the update prior to that was in 2000.
Obviously apart from these modern forms, all Wushu schools teach traditional forms as well.
With Wushu being an international thing now, the International Wushu Federation ( IWF ) also periodically creates international compulsory forms. They are currently on their 3rd iteration which arrived in 2012, the update prior to that was in 2000.
The Basic forms consist of 3 Longfist forms, and basics for all weapons in the curriculum. The Longfist forms are known as Longfist 1, Longfist 2 and Longfist 3, one being the easiest and three being the hardest. A beginner is probably wondering why we are giving him/her such a hard time by starting with #3, well, it's because we love you.
For the curious, here is a link to a English video on all the basic forms, and a page full of them in chinese. Here's a chinese book on Longfist 3, just scroll down and you'll see pictures of how to do it from the very beginning.
Quick note: I did my best to verify the accuracy of the information in this post, if anyone knows any better, let me know.
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