Essence of Gung Li Chuan: Skill and Power Development Form Book by Artie Aviles, James Man Chin, Nelson Tsou

As with Essence of Lien Bu Chuan, the authors have chosen an illustrative, rather than photographic, system for form instruction. The layout is well-thought-out and quite functional, even giving various views; for instance, on many occasions you get both the side view and the overhead view. The generic bodies even serve a surprising function in that they accentuate the shape of each posture.

We also like the inclusion of Chinese characters for each move name, and a special section called “The Gung Li Chuan Verses” which gives the traditional song for the form. Of course, also included are additional materials such as ending and greeting postures, salutes, common terms, stances, footwork, kicking and handwork.

The lineage for this particular form comes from Grandmaster Han Ching Tan, of Central Guoshu Academy fame, and Li Mao-Ching. One of the authors, Nelson Cho, studied with GM Li — born in 1926 — when he was 15 years old, in China. He names his two fellow authors as his "closest friends" since they have been studying, practicing and teaching these Northern Long Fist forms for 50 years.

Length: 193 pages

Publication date: 2026