Is Hung Gar a combination of five other styles?

Is Hung Gar a combination of Tiger, Crane, Snake, Lepord, and Dragon styles of Kung Fu? PLEase answer me this in a very simple way, i don't know a lot about martial arts so please, please dont be so complicated. I just wnat to know, why there is a martial art like Hung Gar that teaches five different martial arts. In other words, why would someone do Tiger Kung Fu that ONLY teaches Tiger and thats it when they could learn Hung Gar, which teaches Tiger and four other martial arts styles. And what is this Five Animal style, is that a martial art because it has the exact same animals i just named for Hung Gar. And if those are just animal that are used in southern martial arts, are those the only ones? Thank you in advance.

Is Hung Gar a combination of five other styles?
Five Animal styles
Reply:I thought that Hung Gar happened when you didn't Fu Deet...





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_pyrami...
Reply:Yes. Different Kung Fu styles have different curriculums. If you take "Crane Style" it will focus more on the type of moves used in Hung Gar's Crane... Like in the Academic field there being someone who got their PHD in Science, another who Got his in Biology, another who got his in Microbiology and another who got his in Marine Microbiology.... The Marine Microbiologist is more specialized than the Science.
Reply:yep,yep,yep Five Animal styles
Reply:One of the disciplines of Hung Gar is the "Five Animals of Chinese Kung Fu." It's just one section of many in Hung Gar.


Now the rest of your question: It's because we are all different. I know you are smart enough to realize we all have different views, passions, phyisiques and more. Beatchanter hit the nail on the head with his analogy about degrees:





A person that would want to do Tiger for instance over Hung Gar might realize that style of Kung Fu is what they like, and they may be able to use it well accordingly. Hung Gar's Five Animal section would be similar to a General Studies degree in college: You can run with it, but if your real passions lies within something like Chemistry, Mathematics, Psychology, et cetera... you have to specialize to meet those other goals.





Doing the five animal style of Hung Gar is great, but what is good for one might not be go for another person. The styles of Chinese kung fu are very diverse, which is great because people have the ability to find out what they like. A lot of schools these days teach multiple disciplines at a time. Hung Gar has various sections and styles as well, so one can choose accordingly. You could very well just go with the five animals, but what about your friend who is two feet taller? What about your friend who likes to grapple instead of striking? There's so many questions to be asked.
Reply:i strongly recommend that you purchase the book titled the complete guide to kung fu fighting styles by jane hallander.