How often do you get to see an actual Kung-Fu grand-master battle another practitioner? In this vintage clip, we have to look all the way back to January, 1954 to see.

At fifty-three years of age, Wu Gongyi was the “gatekeeper” of Wu Style Tai chi meaning he was the official leader and inheritor of all the ‘secrets’. His father and grandfather had been the creators so he was supposedly the current best of his style.

In 1953, Wu Gongyi was challenged by Ch’en K’e-fu, a well-known Tibetan White Crane teacher who was nearly twenty years younger than the Tai chi master. After accepting the challenge, the fight was scheduled to take place in January, 1954 with all the proceeds going to charity. They were to fight within a boxing ring and there were to be several rules for the match, including no throws or joint locks.

The fight itself turned out to be even less skilled than your average bar brawl and the contest lasted not even a full two rounds before the judges called an end to the fight, declaring the contest a draw. This was done to ensure that there was no loss of face to either party. Although anti-climactic, the bout resulted in many new students for the Wu family school and even a martial art teaching contract for Wu Ta-k’uei from the Kowloon police.

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Is this what you expected from a battle of opposing Kung-Fu stylists? Let us know in the comments below!

About Kung-Fu:

Kung-Fu is a Chinese term referring to any study, learning, or practice that requires patience, energy, and time to complete. It is only in the late twentieth century, that this term was used in relation to Chinese martial arts by the Chinese community. The Oxford English Dictionary defines the term Kung-Fu as “a primarily unarmed Chinese martial art resembling karate. This illustrates how the meaning of this term has been changed in English. The origin of this change can be attributed to the misunderstanding or mis-translation of the term through movie subtitles or dubbing. [Source: Wikipedia]