I have only studied internal kung fu systems.
But bear in mind that kung fu is like saying martial arts. there are well over 50 distinct external systems, 3 major internal ones but with many derivatives and family styles you are talking about hundreds of methods of combat in total.
There are some very flashy and fairly uneffective forms of kung fu. Wu shu is actually a national 'gymnastic sport' based on kung fu. But does not (usually) proffess to be anything other than gymnastics.
There are also very direct powerful and effective forms of kung fu, Hsing I, hung gar, chuan fa, pak mei, Wing Chun etc. there are also styles that have boxing style stances and techniques, these have been coined by san soo practitioners.
There are also arts that focus heavily on grappling and chin na, such as eagle claw (which has alot of mc dojo's) is a very good example, i have been on the end of an eagle claw attack and as an experienced grappler i was quite shocked! there are some styles who's name escapes me that are extremely similar to Judo or BJJ, with a slightly larger amount of throwing techniques.
There are also animal forms that have been very successful in previous full contact events.
Kung fu as a general style does not exist, but the term has been coined by many mc dojo's and sub standard schools - having a 'black belt' in Shaolin kung fu is quite a funny thing - the belt system is japanese and was developed by the founder of judo - a school claiming to teach shaolin styles should not really be using the belt system. but hey whatever floats ya boat!
to say that Kung fu is not an effective system is like saying that fighting is not an effective system.
I totally agree that there is a HUGE amount of crappy people out there claiming to do this and do that, but dont you get that in every single thing - not just martial arts based?
Cheers
chris
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