I may be wrong, but I've been reading that Fu Jow Pai is derived from the techniques of Hung Gar. Is this true and are there any significant differences that set these styles aside? Are there other styles derived from Hung Gar? Also while I am on the subject for comparative purposes, are there any books for reference on Fu Jow Pai (or other styles, such as leopard and dragon).
Grand Master Wei Hong's teacher was a Hung Gar student who was thrown out of the system by his master so he changed the forms around and began calling it Fu Jow Pai. It's essentially the same in technique.
Yet very different in character. According to Fu Jow Pai's official history it's a fusion of pre and post Wong Fei Hung Hung Gar, Hark Fu Mun and Mizhong.
my knowledge of animal styles is not wonderful (since Im mostly a japanese martial arts guy) I hear of these five traditional animal styles, but recently found out it's used in a lot of southern styles, I'm wondering if there's significant differences between one version of tiger/leopard and and another styles interpretation of that animal. Do I take it as similar concepts applied to a different systems ideology, or are there some quite different tiger styles across the board?
This question covers a wide range of styles. Some are very similar and some are completely different. Some like Hung gar and Choy Li Fut come from the same root. They look extremely different to the untrained eye yet they have many of the same techniques but still emphasize different aspects of the original system with CLF emphasizing speed and footwork and while HG emphasizes power and root. Both contain techniques from all 5 animals but HG strongly emphasizes tiger and crane while CLF tends to use all 5 about equally.
any books on Fu Jow that are worth a read? Not just technique applications, but things like it's history as well? Also, anything on leopard, eagle etc if you have anything you think is particularly informative