Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense Revised and Updated [Paperback]

Bruce Lee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1987

Originally published in 1963, this book includes personal testimonies regarding the author and his art from James Y Lee, the legendary Ed Parker, and jujutsu icon Wally Jay. Through hand-drawn diagrams and captioned photo sequences, Lee's text comes to life as he demonstrates a variety of training exercises and fighting techniques. Topics include basic gung fu stances, waist training, leg training, and the theory of yin and yang.

Product Details

• Paperback: 112 pages
• Publisher: Black Belt Communications; Revised and updated edition edition (February 1, 1987)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0897501128
• ISBN-13: 978-0897501125
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #154,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A few comments, January 6, 2005

By 

magellan (Santa Clara, CA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense Revised and Updated (Paperback)

Compared to the books out now on kung fu this book probably wouldn't rate much of a mention if it weren't for the fact that it's Lee's first published work, at least in the west. It gives a basic overview of kung fu, including some philosophy, exercises, basic style info, and a number of techniques. As far as technical knowledge goes, probably the most interesting thing there is the photo sequences showing Lee defending against multiple assailants, which are good.

But at just under 100 pages, it's small although the overall quality for the time was probably pretty decent considering this was probably one of the few books in English on kung fu at the time. But by current standards it's more than a bit on the light side. Even so no doubt Bruce Lee fans will want to acquire the book to have a complete collection of his works, since he only wrote six or seven books.

Probably the most interesting thing about it is Lee says the material and techniques in the book derive from the period before he started studying Wing Chun. In that sense the book is more important for its historical value in showing an earlier phase of Lee's kung fu development. Danny Inosanto also said Lee had studied northern long fist and learned all the empty-handed forms there (of which there are about a dozen), so this material could have been drawn from that.

Many of the photos are a little dark and lacking in contrast but they're still viewable and not bad. You can still see what's going on. But they're not up to the quality of more recent books.

One thing Lee says that still resonates today is his statement that a good martial artist will take all the knowledge that he's acquired and simplify it to get the true, distilled essence of the art. At the most advanced levels, the principles and techniques then become "simple" after being "complicated." Of course, it takes a very advanced and knowledgeable martial artist to be able to see and accomplish that, and perhaps most of us will never get to that point, but Bruce Lee did, which is why he was and still is one of the greats.

By the way, many people aren't aware that Lee combined both karate and kung fu techniques (not to mention Indonesian Pentjak Silat, which most people in this country have still never heard of, although there are at least 300 different styles), so his style is truly synthetic and eclectic. However, because of that many traditional and classical kung fu masters don't consider Lee a true kung fu practitioner. Whether that is true or not I leave up to the reader to decide, although Lee himself once stated that, "There is nothing traditional in my kung fu."

So overall, not a bad book for its time although at this point it looks sort of old-fashioned and dated and will probably be mostly of interest to amateur martial arts historians like myself or serious Bruce Lee fans.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A stage in Bruce Lee's development., January 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense Revised and Updated (Paperback)

This is a great book for a Bruce Lee fan. It constitudes the only book published by Lee during his lifetime. It includes excellent diagrams for streaching-excercises drawn by Lee himself! However, this book is not really an introduction and it would prove non-beneficial to a beginner. There are far better introduccions to martial arts or even Bruce Lee's art and I suggest you look at the Bruce Lee Library books for that. On the other hand, this book provides a great insight into Lee's early technique and thoughts on the martial way.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A taste of Bruce Lee's knowledge, September 1, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Chinese Gung Fu: The Philosophical Art of Self-Defense Revised and Updated (Paperback)

This book, though pretty short, does an excellent job of outlining Wing Chun's basics. The illustrations are well done and easily followed unlike so many other books of this type. The book is well worth the price if you are interested in Wing Chun.