His words were, 'We fight like men, not animals.' Kung Fu San Soo does not attempt to emulate the motions of animals with elaborate forms. While San Soo was not created or taught as a tournament sport, practitioners commonly incorporate forms of limited sparring. Due to the fact San Soo is a practical martial art for self-defense and the techniques are intended for real fight scenarios, there are no competitions or tournaments for San Soo Kung Fu. Kung Fu San Soo originated for use in military combat and uses techniques designed to swiftly disable an attacker. This was only taught to the Army, and to the Police Forces. They took what was useful, as well as any techniques from foreign martial arts they thought were useful, and made the Chinese Red Army San Shou (散手). Again, anyone who might organize a resistance movement.ĭuring the 1960s, in an effort to revive the Kung-Fu martial arts in China, the government looked to any and all remaining Kung-Fu practitioners in Mainland China. Teachers, doctors, scientists, and Kung-Fu practitioners. The Communists killed anyone who they perceived as a threat. Then after the Cultural Revolution and the Communists took over, history repeated itself. Many fighters that were unfortunate enough to live in an area that the Japanese were occupying were killed because they were seen as a threat, and a possible leader for organizing resistance movements. The Japanese killed numerous martial artists pre-World War II, and during the war. The Hung family was added later in order to increase power, physical conditioning and dynamics. Fut was the philosophical or religious base and originally made reference to Buddha.

They built a monastery and developed a combined defense system. In China, many centuries ago, there were three original families that contributed information from their systems in order to create this art. Kung Fu San Soo has its origins from the 5 Family Fist (五家拳), commonly practiced in the Taishan region of the Guangdong province.

Although they share the same name in Chinese (散手 - meaning 'free hand'), context is used to differentiate between the two. San Soo is a distinct fighting style from the similarly named Chinese martial art Sanda (also called Sanshou). The name 'Kung Fu San Soo' itself was chosen by Woo to simplify the pronunciation and meaning for American students, rather than using the complete names of the 5 families. The specific or proper name of this art is Tsoi Li Ho Fut Hung (蔡李何佛雄) and/or 5 Family Fist (五家拳). Woo (founder of American Kung Fu San Soo)

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