What Martial Arts Styles & Techniques Does Jackie Chan Know?

Outside of Bruce Lee, Jackie Chan is China’s biggest martial arts export and is instantly recognizable in western households due to his popularity in a variety of movies involving hand-to-hand combat. Chan has a glittering career in cinema that has spanned over 7 decades, with his first appearance coming in Big and little Wong tin bar all the way back in 1962.

Jackie Chan is also noted for being an actor that performs his own stunts and is not afraid to get his hands dirty. In fact, some would argue he does too much having dislocated his pelvis from a gigantic fall in Police story, as well as suffering 2nd degree burns all over his body. Simply put, Jackie Chan is not a martial artist who expects others to perform things he wouldn’t do himself and certainly is not scared of dangerous scenes.

It should be noted that due to his extensive training in martial arts, Jackie Chan does not have a specific style. He is quoted as saying “So my style is chop suey: everything.”. Whilst this doesn’t make him a modern day mixed martial artist, Chan is clearly an avid learner of traditional Chinese styles which include pretty much every Asian martial art you can imagine.

In summary, Jackie Chan is a legitimate martial artist. Obviously, his style is not best suited for MMA competition but works well in movies.

A List Of Martial Arts Performed By Jackie Chan

Chinese Opera

Although this is arguably not even a martial art, Chinese opera has clearly the biggest influence on the career of Jackie Chan. In fact, if it were not for this style and formal training, it is very unlikely we would know the name Jackie Chan or the various films he has featured in. It was at Peking opera school Chan learned the fundamental fight movements and choreography that featured throughout his career. This was not so much stunt work, but the ability to put on an entertaining fight sequence in front of a camera as well as use various objects as weapons. Proof of this can be viewed throughout his career where Chan is using household objects such as chairs and broomsticks to fight off attackers.

In the west, some people may view this as soft and not a real martial art. However, Chinese stuntmen and fight scenes in general are well known to be full contact in order to look realistic. It is very normal to be hit in the face or fall from a tall building with no support or crash mat. This can be proven further by looking at the extensive list of injuries Jackie Chan has sustained throughout his career.

Lastly, due to the intense conditioning and athleticism needed to reach the highest levels of Chinese opera, this put Chan in good stead to go and practice any other style of martial art he wished.

Hapkido

Alongside his friends Sammo Hung, Carter Wong and Angela Mao, Jackie Chan trained hapkido under legendary South Korean instructor grandmaster Kim Jin Pal. This was a perfect martial art for Jackie Chan to learn since it incorporates a bit of everything including striking, wrestling, throws and weapons training. Obviously, this is great for the big screen since fight scenes are often chaotic with a lot of different martial arts styles being used throughout.

It is not known what year Jackie Chan received his hapkido black belt, only that it was Kim Jin Pal who awarded it. He has mentioned that Chan’s favorite hapkido techniques are various flying kicks. Once again aligning perfectly with martial arts which are meant to show off flair and athleticism.

Wing Chun

The incredible wing chun ability of Jackie Chan can be viewed in Rumble in the Bronx (shown below) as well as The Big Brawl. It is not documented how long Chan has learnt wing chun as there are no belts handed out in legitimate schools. However, we can clearly see that he knows exactly what he is doing and can perform wing chun to the highest of levels.

It is extremely likely that Jackie Chan learned wing chun from his friend Leung Ting, who has been photographed with Chan many times. This would also make sense since Ting was the final student of Yip Man which would explain how the wing chun technique is performed is so good.

Lastly, Jackie Chan has explained that he learned both Southern and Northern Chinese styles early on in his martial arts career. Whilst wing chun is not exactly the same as southern style, it does have a lot of similarities.

Others

Less documented martial arts known by Jackie Chan are karate, judo, tae kwon do, various kung fu styles, and boxing. It is not known where Chan trained these martial arts or what rank he is. However, due to the number of movies that Jackie Chan features in, you can clearly see he is using techniques from all of these disciplines during the fight scenes.

In summary, Jackie Chan knows A LOT of martial arts and is a legitimate fighter. This does not mean that he would have been a world champion in any of these disciplines, but instead knows how to combine them and put on a great performance.

For his overall style in general, it is clear that Jackie Chan prefers high risk and flashy moves that you would not normally find in a real fight. Given this has helped Chan become an international superstar, it is fair to say that this is the perfect style for those who want to feature in kung fu movies.