What is the difference between northern Kung Fu and southern Kung Fu?

Answer 1

Even though there are no clear drawn line between the two styles;

Northern kung fu has a lot of kicks including striking with knees, with a lot of shifting between high and low stances.

Souther Kung fu mainstream philosophy calls for a strong base and strikes with shoulders, elbows, wrist, fists, claws, etc. With low kicks that usually doesn't go higher than the midriff of the you opponent, but there are styles that has many high kicks.

There is a saying in Chinese generalizing Northern Kung fu: "The hands are two doors, only use feet to strike". Meaning that a practitioner of Northern styles should defend with his or her arms and strike with their legs. However, of course there are plenty of punches and elbows and such in Northern Kung fu too.

Also northern kung fu is known for the large movements with the arms and when you are doing your stances your fists should be high up like almost in your armpits. southern kung fu is known for their small movements of the arms. and when they do their stances their fists are more near the hips.

Answer 2

The first designation between "real" training, and that which is not real would be a comparison between an instructor who had actually learned the art legitimately from a qualified Master as opposed to someone who was a fraud, and taught an imitation of the art without sufficient training or credentials as a teacher or Master.

The second contrast can pertain to the attitude (positive vs. negative), and the philosophy behind the art which, when taught correctly, can inspire the student and is believed to produce a much more skilled practitioner.

"Real Kung Fu" can refer to the complete art of unifying the body, mind, and spirit as a way of life as opposed to a lesser Kung Fu training that focuses only on the fighting skills alone. Some might say that "real" or "authentic" Kung Fu can only be learned from certain Masters who have retained the authenticity in secret, passing it on privately from Master to disciple.

Answer 3

It is simply a difference in romanization. "Kung Fu" is an example of the outdated Wade-Giles system of pronunciation. "Gong Fu" is an example of the highly used Pinyin system of pronunciation. The latter is closer to the native pronunciation of the original Chinese characters.