Kang Li Kun: Grandmaster Lao Kim
GM Lao Kim started training in a Buddhist Temple in Fujian, China in the 1880s during the Qing Dynasty when he was 6 or 7 years old. Manchu soldiers massacred his family; he was saved because he hid in a latrine. When he emerged from his hiding place, he walked among his dead family. A couple of Buddhist monks who were begging in the village took him to the temple in the mountain. He was adopted by the abbot and since then trained in Buddhism, including a Shaolin style of martial arts that was influenced by the 5-Animal system. The 3 main forms included: Dragon Tiger, Plum Blossom and Red Boy Praying to the Goddess of Mercy.
Kang Li Kun is one of the 10 fist forms I learned from Grandmaster Lao Kim in the late 1960s at Hua Eng. It is a basic set, i.e., he taught it to beginners along with the Sap Ji Kun/#10 form.
Kang Li contains the 5 different fists: Dragon, Tiger, Leopard, Snake and Crane. The form also shows the different footwork/stances: Horse, Bow and Arrow, Scissor, and Cat in their variations, Each segment of techniques is done in a different direction: forward, side, diagonal, backward, reverse. The form is foundational but it contains a wealth of advanced techniques like what GM Johnny F. Chiuten called “Positional Sparring.” GM Chiuten taught me several fist forms but not Kang Li. I do not know what Kang (or was it Kung? ) means but Li means strength.
Note: GM Lao Kim was supposed to do 3 sets of a technique but he skipped one of them. Guess which one.