17/04/2026
The 36 San Sau of Chow Gar Southern Praying Mantis A Lineage List Preserved Through Lau Shui, Ip Shui, Ng Si Kay, Paul Brennan, and the ECGA
The 36 San Sau (三十六散手) are an important part of the technical vocabulary of Chow Gar Southern Praying Mantis. More than a collection of named techniques, they represent a structured body of short-bridge fighting methods preserved within the art and passed down through generations of hands-on teaching.
The above picture of the Chinese San Sau list is special interest because it does not stand as an isolated reference. This list comes directly through the transmission of Lau Shui (劉瑞), to Ip Shui (葉瑞), to Ng Si Kay, to Sifu Paul Brennan, and to the ECGA. This makes it much more than a historical curiosity. It is a living teaching document tied to direct lineage transmission and practical training.
In particular, it is important to acknowledge Great Grandmaster Ng Si Kay, who was Ip Shui’s longest-serving student and is widely regarded as arguably his most senior student. His guidance, experience, and memory of the system are invaluable in helping preserve the meaning and usage of the material. We are also fortunate to have the help and advice of Grandmaster Wong Keung in interpreting and clarifying the terminology. This is significant because, when dealing with older handwritten or traditionally formatted Chinese martial material, the characters are not always straightforward to read through a modern lens.
That point deserves emphasis. When translating old martial calligraphy, the challenge is not simply one of language, but one of context. Certain Chinese words, characters, and usages are often difficult for today’s younger generation to read correctly, especially where older forms, martial terminology, or lineage-specific meanings are involved. In some cases, the apparent meaning of a character can shift over time, or a technique may be understood one way in general Chinese and another way within a particular kung fu family. Because of that, we are extremely fortunate to have senior people such as Ng Si Kay and Wong Keung to help advise on the reading and interpretation of the list. Their knowledge helps ensure that what we preserve is not just the written character, but the intended meaning behind it.
The title of the list, 三十六散手, is usually rendered as “Thirty-Six Free Hands” or “Thirty-Six Separate Hand Methods.” In practical terms, however, this should not be understood as thirty-six disconnected techniques to be memorised one by one. In Chow Gar, these names function more as a technical vocabulary of bridge interaction. They describe ways of making contact, controlling the opponent’s structure, issuing pressure, seizing, redirecting, striking, and finishing at very close rangen.
This is very much in keeping with the nature of Chow Gar itself. Southern Praying Mantis is a short-range Hakka fighting art, and its skill lies not in large, flowing combinations, but in what happens once contact is made. The bridge is established, pressure is felt, and from that moment the practitioner must control the exchange through structure, timing, and force. The San Sau list gives names to these actions.
Looking at the recent lineage list, several important themes become immediately clear. One is the presence of methods involving seizing and controlling, such as 擒拿手, 擒箭手, and 鷹擒手. These point to a clear emphasis on close-range domination of the opponent’s limbs and position. Another is the inclusion of short striking methods such as 絞搥, 角搥, 釘搥, and 切掌, showing that striking in Chow Gar is compact, direct, and delivered through structure rather than through wide swinging motion.
A particularly important feature of the list is the repeated appearance of 撐手, often rendered in our phonetics as Charn Sau. This is central to understanding Chow Gar. Although it is often translated as “supporting hand,” the meaning is deeper than a simple support or block. In practice, these methods express the idea of the arm as a bridge structure through which the body’s force is transmitted. In other words, power is not produced by muscular arm movement alone. It is created through body connection, compression, alignment, and short force issuing through the bridge.
This is why the list contains multiple forms of Charn Sau, each suggesting a different quality or direction of structural pressure. Rather than seeing them as repetitive entries, it is better to understand them as variations of bridge energy: lifting, sinking, stabilising, pressing, carrying, or driving. This reflects the depth of the Chow Gar method. A single family of movements can produce different effects depending on the pressure, angle, timing, and body connection behind it.
For that reason, the 36 San Sau are best understood not as a set of static techniques, but as a catalogue of functional fighting ideas. They help define how the art behaves in contact. Some methods receive or intercept. Some control or bind. Some disturb the opponent’s bridge. Some strike. Some enter. Some finish. Together they describe the logic of close-range combat in the style.
This also explains why the San Sau are not traditionally taught as thirty-six isolated movements in the modern sense. They are developed through the core training of the system: the body method, the fundamental forms, the bridge drills, and partner work. The list gives names to actions that are learned physically through practice. The written chart preserves the terminology, but the meaning is transmitted through touch, correction, and repetition.
Seen this way, the San Sau list is both technical and cultural. Technically, it preserves the fighting vocabulary of the style. Culturally, it reflects the old way martial knowledge was recorded and handed down: through calligraphy, reference lists, oral explanation, and direct instruction from teacher to student. A document such as the one recently shared is valuable precisely because it sits at the meeting point of those things. It is not merely a piece of writing, but a record of how the art was organised and remembered within the lineage.
For the ECGA, this makes the above image especially important. It is a tangible expression of our connection to the Chow Gar family line through Lau Shui, Ip Shui, Ng Si Kay, and Sifu Paul Brennan. It reminds us that the art is not only preserved in forms and drills, but also in the names, concepts, and training vocabulary passed down by those who came before us. It also reminds us of our responsibility to preserve these things carefully and accurately.
Above all, the 36 San Sau should be appreciated for what they truly are: not just “36 moves,” but a compact map of Chow Gar’s short-bridge method. They contain the principles of contact, control, pressure, seizing, striking, and finishing that define the art. Through the generosity and knowledge of our seniors, and through the preservation of documents like this one, we are able to continue studying not only the movements themselves, but the understanding behind them.
We are very fortunate to have this material, and even more fortunate to have those within the lineage who can still help us interpret it properly.
ECGA
