---
title: Northern Shaolin (北少林)
---

**Northern Shaolin (北少林 *****Běi Shàolín*****)** is the umbrella name for the broad family of **長拳 *****changquan***** ("long-fist")** systems associated, in tradition and in modern practice, with the **Shaolin Monastery of Mount Song (河南嵩山少林寺)**. In practice it is less a single style and more a **shared methodology** — **big extended frames, springy footwork, leaps, kicks, the standard Tan Tui drill-set + the classic Shaolin forms** — within which many regional traditions and family lines all situate themselves.

The historical relationship between any given Northern Shaolin lineage and the actual monastery is **murky** — the monastery has been a symbolic anchor and brand for centuries, and the textual and material evidence for direct monk-to-layman transmission of fighting techniques is far thinner than the legend suggests. The arts grouped as Northern Shaolin are best understood as **a stylistic family with a Shaolin self-identification**, not as a single line with verifiable temple descent.

## The canonical forms

A widely-shared core curriculum, present across many Northern Shaolin lines (with local variations in order, name, and content):

- **連環拳 (Linked-Chain Boxing)** — the typical *first* form taught after Tan Tui basics.
- **長拳 (Changquan)** and **短打 (Short-Striking)** — the standard pair: long form and short form.
- **羅漢拳 (Luohan Boxing)** — the "arhat" form, associated with the temple's Bodhidharma legend.
- **少林十路彈腿** — the Tan Tui foundation, integrated.
- **梅花拳 (Plum Blossom)** — present in many Northern Shaolin curricula.
- **七星拳 (Seven-Star Boxing)** — often distinguished from 七星螳螂; a Northern Shaolin staple.
- **大洪拳 / 小洪拳** (Big and Little Hong, *distinct from southern Hung Gar*) — among the most-trained forms in the Henan / Shandong belt.
- **炮拳 (Cannon Fist)** — present across many northern systems.

Major **weapons forms** track the canonical northern weapons: 少林棍 (staff), 少林劍 (sword), 少林刀 (sabre), 少林槍 (spear) — each in numerous named sets.

## Lineages

The "Northern Shaolin" identity is shared across many distinct lineages that don't necessarily speak to one another:

- The **Henan Songshan** monastic and lay tradition itself — what is presently taught at the monastery and its surrounding villages (Putian County, Dengfeng).
- The **Republican-era Jingwu (精武)** Northern Shaolin curriculum — what was disseminated from Shanghai's Chin Woo Athletic Association in the 1910s–1930s; this is the version that spread to **Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the diaspora** generally.
- The **顧汝章 (Gu Ruzhang)** *Northern Shaolin Association* — Gu took the Northern Shaolin core to Guangzhou and the south, training major southern teachers.
- The **萬籟聲 (Wan Laisheng)** *Natural Boxing (自然門)* — closely Northern-Shaolin-adjacent; Wan was a major Republican synthesizer.

## Primary sources — and the scholarly companion that came right after

We hold:

- **少林拳術秘訣 (Secrets of Shaolin Boxing)**, by 尊我齋主人 (attributed to 盧煒昌), 1915 — the foundational printed Northern Shaolin text of the 20th century. Held in the codex's `Sources/northern-kungfu-manuals/`. *PD (pre-1929).*
- **少林拳術秘訣考證 (Textual Study of the Shaolin Secrets)** — the **scholarly companion that came right after**, methodically showing how much of the *Secrets'* origin narrative is invented tradition. **Read these two together** — the text and its critique.
- **少林宗法圖說** (Shaolin Method Illustrated) · **少林拳法圖說** (Shaolin Fist Illustrated, Zhu Hongshou) · **少林拳圖解** (Jin Yiming).
- **少林護山子門羅漢拳圖影** (Zhu Xiatian) — Luohan Boxing illustrated.
- **少林正宗練步拳** (Wu Zhiqing, 1936) — *Orthodox Shaolin Lianbuquan*.
- **少林秘本拳術真傳** (1936) · **少林拳術選編** (Liu Yu, 1931).
- **少林刀法闡宗** + **少林弩法闡宗** — the Ming-period weapons treatises (Cheng Zongyou lineage); we already hold the great Ming **少林棍法闡宗** in `taiji-manuals/`.
- **羅漢行功法** (Xu Yusheng circle) — Luohan conditioning method.
- **少林武當考** (Tang Hao, 1930) — the major Republican critical study of the Shaolin / Wudang origin claims.
- \*\*萬籟聲 \*\****武術匯宗*** (1928, the *Natural Boxing*–adjacent compendium) — *gray copyright* (author d. 1992 → not PD until 2042). Location noted, scan not hosted.

This is among our most thoroughly-documented Northern arts. The pairing of the \*\*1915 \*\****Secrets*** with the \*\*scholarly \*\****Textual Study*** that followed makes it especially good study material — the text *and* its critique in one place.

<Callout type="warning">
  **A note on the Shaolin origin claims.** The *Secrets of Shaolin Boxing* (1915) gave many practitioners their first systematic account of the art's history — including the Bodhidharma origin, the temple's role in transmission, and the broader Shaolin-as-root-of-everything narrative. Tang Hao's evidential studies in the 1920s–30s, including *少林武當考* (1930), showed that **most of this narrative is later invention or romance** — particularly the Bodhidharma-as-founder claim and the Wudang counter-attribution. The arts grouped as Northern Shaolin are real and rich; the *origin stories* attached to them are largely literary tradition. The codex holds both the text and the critique so the reader can judge.
</Callout>

## Video

- [北少林派 潭腿上六路](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBO-q6Y4BKA) — Tan Tui as taught in Northern Shaolin (CWS-CMA)
- [精武少林 潭腿(上六路)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fk0qRyP7ZM) — Jingwu lineage
- [萬籟聲 自然門 / 武術匯宗 archival](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWPwkzuTsqU) · [series part 1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLWxMfuNVqc)

## See also

<PageRef space="notes" slug="northern-longfist-video" text="Northern Long-Fist &amp; Shaolin on Film — video index (archival + lineage demos)" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="tan-tui" text="Tan Tui (彈腿) — the foundational drill-set built into the curriculum" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="cha-hua" text="Cha + Hua (查拳・華拳) — sister long-fist traditions" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="praying-mantis" text="Praying Mantis (螳螂拳) — Northern art with a Shaolin self-attribution in its 少林衣缽真傳 manuscript tradition" />

<PageRef space="notes" slug="northern-styles" text="Northern Kung Fu Styles — Northern Shaolin's place in the broader canon" />

## Sources

**[1]** *Shaolin Kung Fu*, Wikipedia ([en.wikipedia.org](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaolin_Kung_Fu)) — overview.

**[2]** *少林拳術秘訣* (1915) and *少林拳術秘訣考證* (Republican) — the foundational text and its scholarly critique, both held in the codex.

**[3]** Tang Hao 唐豪, *少林武當考* (1930) — the standard Republican evidential study of the Shaolin / Wudang origin claims; held in the codex.

**[4]** Meir Shahar, *The Shaolin Monastery: History, Religion, and the Chinese Martial Arts* (University of Hawai'i Press, 2008) — the standard English-language scholarly history. In copyright; cited not reproduced.