What are the differences between Shaolin, Wutan and Wing Chun, Kung Fu Styles?

I%26#039;m thinking that Wutan is a mix of Kung fu, and that Shaolin seems to be the best form of martial arts, while Wing Chun is slightly more rare and a good fighting style, although Wing Chun is also incorporated into Wutan, just wondering what the main differences are, and what grading the styles give in terms of sash or belts.|||The differences are in the emphasis of certain movements and in lineage and history. (Course this is how any method differs from another.)





Shaolin is typically thought of to involve the Five Animal system. As I%26#039;ve researched it those are Tiger, Leopard, Crane, Snake, and Dragon. Each of these offers the practitioner a particular set of movements and strategies for dealing with an opponent.





Wutan, according to a quick search, is the expression of Gung Fu methods of Preying Mantis, Tai Chi Chuan, and Baguazhang as this school developed in Taiwan. As such, there could have been influences of the indigenous fighting methods as well as shared knowledge of the Chinese community of that area upon the root arts.





Wing Chun is a large encompassing method of various %26quot;family%26quot; or schools. Most notably is the Yip Man (or Ip Man) tradition from which Bruce Lee came. Legend tells this was a method developed by two women, a Shaolin nun and a young woman for whom the art was named. It was designed to allow smaller practitioner to fight more efficiently and deal with stronger opponents.





Belt or sash ranking is a more contemporary practice adopted by many methods after some of the Japanese arts began using it. However, each school and has a different structure, criteria, and color choice. Some of the above methods do not even use a belt ranking.





Hope that answers your questions.|||%26quot;Best form of martial arts%26quot; is a pretty sweeping statement, best for what exactly? Shoalin kung fu is probably very good if you a willing to train like a shoalin fighting monk and put in the time and effort they do, otherwise you%26#039;ll probably always come off worst against a system thats more efficient. Wing chun tends to be more practical and less flashy than a lot of kung fu styles - but a lot of its effectiveness comes from how you train. Out of the options you mention I would suggesst wing chun is the best for self defence if you train hard and smart with it.|||i never herd of wutan i am a wing chun student though i know wing chun is shorter its forms are not as long and its fighting is simple compared to shaolin stuff which takes decades and decades to actually understand and use. as for belts wing chun does not rank at all you develope and always develope even after you learn all the forms and exercises you never stop developing and there is no limit to the level of mastering the system|||shaolin and wutan aren%26#039;t the best, but i%26#039;m not saying they%26#039;re terrible either. it%26#039;s just that they%26#039;re too traditional, too many useless fancy movements, wasting energy like animal stuff (monkey, mantis)





shaolin monks came to melbourne, australia for 2 seminars at william cheung%26#039;s wing chun academy. we held 3 free fights and their head instructor sucked. sure he had a beard, he was ripped, but his techniques were too traditional. most of the monks were about hard power, no flexibility, they couldn%26#039;t redirect force. the only thing they had was they were well conditioned. the guy i faced still used karate punches for god sakes! i used a circle step lat sao, he turned his head and got nailed in the temple. when we watched the other 2 fights i was pretty disappointed with shaolin: the birthplace of martial arts, (and even wing chun)





i don%26#039;t know about grading systems, but you should know martial artists shouldn%26#039;t care. b/c we understand fighting is not linear. we don%26#039;t say, a level 9 can beat a level 2. martial arts is more like a big game of rock/paper/scissors





i%26#039;ve traveled china quite a bit and if i remember correctly:


wutan was created by taoists on Mount Wutan. it%26#039;s HUGE. it took me half a day to run up all the stairs to the top of the mountain and there%26#039;s this monastery there. then the next day to get back down. wutan it%26#039;s just a bunch of wushu. too broad to summarize really. many taoists specialize in their own forms





shaolin has their own trademarks, and is a great place to get conditioned. they could do 1 finger push ups (for bill jee) we grabbed a wing chun pole and cracked a tiny monk in the ribs a few times and he was fine. so their conditioning was amazing. but even then you can%26#039;t condition pressure points like the temple right?





i%26#039;ve never seen wing chun incorporated in wutan, but Wing Chun isn%26#039;t rare. it%26#039;s the most popular martial art in germany and australia. tai chi is the most popular in china. trust me, travel the world and you%26#039;ll see both everywhere. anyway, wc was the last art developed by a shaolin elder. a nun who had access to all the other martial arts