Fu King in Chinese / Japanese...

醉猴功夫 is the title for Drunken Monkey Kung Fu (Gong Fu).

The martial arts style was inspired by the novel, “Journey to the West.”

See Also:  Monkey Fist

醉猴 is the short title for Drunken Monkey (often used as a title for a style of martial arts or kung fu which mimics the movements of a drunk monkey).

This martial arts style was inspired by the novel, “Journey to the West.”

See Also:  Monkey Fist

猴拳 literally means what you think, it's the “Monkey Fist” school of Kung Fu. A style that mimics the punches and movements of monkeys and apes.

Becoming popular during the Qing Dynasty, this style can trace its origins back to as early as the Song Dynasty. Some of the romance and popularity of this style comes from the novel “Journey to the West” which features the Monkey King and his fighting skills.

This novel and martial arts style has spawned a stream of Hong Kong movies featuring the Monkey King and other Kung Fu style variations such as “Drunken Monkey” and “Monkey Stealing Peaches” (a technique of disabling your opponent by grabbing and yanking on his testicles).

Note: This kind of makes sense in Korean Hanja and Japanese Kanji but probably unknown by all Koreans and Japanese except those who have an interest in this form of Kung Fu.

師傅 is “sifu” as in the “master” in the context of martial arts.

But two sifu titles are floating around. This one can simply mean “skilled worker.”

Historically, this term has been used for many things, such as “The tutor of a king or emperor.” But now it's more commonly used to mean master worker or qualified worker.

Currently, within the field of skilled labor, a master (Shifu) is higher than a journeyman and is considered to be one worthy of teaching others.

Note: In the 1970s and 1980s, this term was used as a common form of polite address between people. You might say, “master, do you know where Tian'anmen Square is?” to a person on the street at that time. This usage has almost passed; however, for some reason, people still often refer to taxi cab drivers as “master” in China (though I think/hope this is fading).

In Mandarin Chinese, this is pronounced like “Sure Foo,” and in Cantonese, like “See Foo.”

The second character is the difference between this sifu and the other. In this case, the second character by itself means tutor, instructor, or teacher.