The Lingnan region is the south eastern most area of China which covers parts of the provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Hong Kong, Macau and parts of Northern Vietnam. Lingnan meaning ‘south of the ranges’ is in reference to the five mountain regions that separate the Yangzi river from the Pearl River, whilst it did cover a few different provinces, it is today mainly centered on Guangdong. The area was inhabited by ancient tribes/kingdom of the Baiyue (Nanyue).
As a natural barrier, the Nan Ling mountain range historically limited travel and communications between Guangdong and the Central Plains region. Because of the huge economic and cultural disparities between the two regions, ancient Guangdong was known as the “barbarians” region by those from the more developed plains. As a result of this relative isolation, a more indigenous culture was preserved, providing the basis for the incorporation of novel cultural elements in the future. Also being far-flung had its benefits. Lingnan offered refuge to people and played host in various diasporas in Chinese history to migrants from the north, such as the Hakka.
According to historical records, there have been three large-scale immigration flows from Northern to Southern China. The first generation of northern immigrants were thousands of soldiers of the Qin dynasty (221-206 BCE). They were sent to the Guangdong region by Emperor of Qin after he unified China. The second wave of immigration occurred in the Jin dynasty (265-420). Long-running wars in this era forced a large number of northern refugees to flee to Guangdong, many of whom were prestigious and sophisticated northern families. The collapse of the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279) led to a third wave of immigration from the north.
Lingnan martial arts first appeared as an independent martial arts genre in the historical documents of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), then were especially active during the Qing dynasty where many schools were founded and associated with rebellions (such as the Taiping rebellion) and up until the late 19th century, where China was subjected to decades of continuous warfare. With that backdrop, martial arts in Guangdong became developed among the Cantonese and the Hakka in their respective areas.
Guangdong/Lingnan is home to a large number of fighting styles in China, although many being branches or derivations boxing systems, below is a list of some of those styles:
| 谭家洪拳 Tan Jia Hong Quan 粤西洪拳 Yuexi Hong Quan 佛山洪拳 Foshan Hong Quan 李家拳 Xinhui Li Jia Quan 刘家拳 Liu Jia Quan 蔡家拳 Cai Jia Quan 莫家拳 Mo Jia Quan 白眉拳 Bai Mei Quan 龙形拳 Long Xing Quan | 李家拳 Huizhou Li Jia Quan 林家拳 Lin Jia Quan 侠家拳 Xia Jia Quan 白鹤派 Baihe Pai 喇嘛派 Lama Pai 佛家拳 Fojia Quan 洪佛派 HongFo Pai 周家拳 Zhou Jia Quan 咏春拳 Yongchun Quan 梁家拳 Liang Jia Quan | 蔡李佛 Cai Li Fo 南枝拳 Nanzhi Quan 岳家教 Yuejia Jiao 刁家教 Diaojia Jiao 李家教 Lijia Jiao 朱家教 Zhujia Jiao 钟家教 Zhongjia Jiao 周家南螳螂 Zhou Tanglang 竹林南螳螂 Zhulin Tanglang 虎狮拳 Hushi Quan | 刘凤山派 Liu Fengshan Pai 儒家拳 Rujia Quan 太虚拳 Taixu Quan 柔功门 Gongli Men 罗山拳 Luoshan Quan 蔡莫拳 Caimo Quan 圆山拳 Yuanshan Quan 凤眼拳 Fengyan Quan 壮拳 Zhuang Quan 苗族拳 Miaozu Quan |