A lot of people think that the Chinese kung fu martial arts is far more than the boxing. In their point of views, the kung fu martial arts should include kicks, elbows and knees skills too. This is reasonable, but I have something else to say. I think there is no big differences between different kinds of martial arts. Every country in the world has its own martial arts theories, but all of them are very similar. The Chinese kung fu martial arts have been exaggerated in my point of view. Many Chinese “kung fu masters” look down the boxing. But in the real street fights, the cross, jab, hook and upper-cut are the most practical and useful ways to strike your opponents. Shortest Distance between Two Points is a Straight Line. In most situations, the simplest way is the best. Also, the punches have lots of tricks and need lots of practice to improve its power. In China, a lot of people think that the Chinese kung fu martial arts have too many mere forms. In the kung fu martial arts shows, the kung fu fighters are just doing something superficial. These kinds of shows are just like dancing shows, not the practical fighting shows. Why the Chinese kung fu martial arts have so many mere forms? I think it is because of the Chinese culture. There are lots of mere forms and superficial things in the ancient Chinese culture and the Chinese kung fu martial arts gained these from the culture. If you like the Chinese kung fu novels, you will be able to see a lot of superficial things in them. The kung fu in these novels have been greatly exaggerated and they are just like magic. The top kung fu masters are like god and are able to do lots of incredible things in these kung fu novels.
Although I have to admit this shortcoming of kung fu martial arts, it still has some really good stuffs. Qi Gong ( it is called Nei Gong too ) is the unique thing in kung fu, comparing with other martial arts in the world. In many kung fu videos, you can see lots of Qi Gong stuffs from the Shaolin monks. They are able to break the bricks, sometime even iron sticks using this Qi Gong kung fu. But this unique kung fu is not easy to learn. Most Qi Gong kung fu maters are not willing to teach other people. This makes the Qi Gong more and more mysterious in the world. I have some good friends learning Qi Gong kung fu in China. They all have this kind of feeling that the Qi Gong kung fu’s theory sounds very reasonable sometimes. But you will find it ridiculous sometimes too. In the period of learning this Qi Gong kung fu, they can understand some Qi Gong kung fu theories sometime. But they will find themselves in a misted situation sometime.
In my view, you should not waste your time learning this kind of mysterious Qi Gong kung fu if your aim is to learn how to defend yourself. Some people learned 10 or 20 years of Qi Gong kung fu but still lost in the real street fights. If you wanna learn something more practical, I think the Chinese wrestling is a good choice. You do not need to find a “kung fu mater” to teach you this. The coaches in the sports academy or schools can teach you the most practical wrestling skills. All these coaches must get the professional licence to teach students. They have long time of experience in teaching wrestling. Generally, if you can learn the wrestling for one or two hours every day, you will be able to win most street fights after one year’s of wrestling trainings. If you can insist the trainings for 3 years. You will find that it is very difficult to find a good opponent in your surroundings. The boxing is also a very good opion. You can greatly improve your fighting skills if you have one year’s of trainings in boxing. For the self defence, I think the wrestling and boxing is enough. These are really practical in the real street fights.
Sanshou kung fu is the most practical kung fu in my point of view. It is like a combination of the Chinese wrestling and Chinese kickboxing. Learning Sanshou kung fu can be much more useful in the real street fights than learning the mysterious Qi Gong kung fu. Although a lot of Qi Gong masters talk about their incredible Qi Gong all the time. One one can stand out to fight Hailong Liu ( the famous Sanshou kung fu champion in China ). Sanshou kung fu is not very difficult to learn. You only need 3 months to learn its technics and skills. After one or two years of practice, you will gain the capability to defend yourself and to protect others.