Internal and External Styles
Chinese martial arts may be divided into neijia (內家, internal family) or wàijiā (外家, external family) styles.
Many styles combine both internal and external techniques; Chow Gar is a good example of this.
There is an ongoing debate within the martial arts community at both the popular and scholarly level over the distinction between "internal" and "external" arts. Consequently, the list of styles considered internal or external may vary greatly from source to source. There are only three Chinese styles that are universally recognized as internal, and they are sometimes referred to as the "Orthodox internal styles." These three styles are Xingyiquan, Baguazhang, and T'ai chi ch'uan (Taijiquan), the three arts counted as internal and set apart by Sun Lutang, who greatly popularized the terms "neijia" and "wàijiā" as a method of classifying martial arts.
Read more about this topic: List Of Chinese Martial Arts
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