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Rating: 
Summary: The Chinese Connection
Review: As far as I know, this is the first book on Five Ancestor Fist kung-fu to be published in English, and I think many of those who practice Okinawan karate, particularly Uechi-ryu and Goju-ryu, will find it of great interest. Even a cursory glance will establish many points in common with Okinawan karate: the sam chien/sanchin stances and forms, the technique known as "holding the shield" in Ngo Cho and as "tiger mouth' or tora guchi/mawashi uke in karate, and the use of the weapon known as the sang te pi in Ngo Cho and the sai in Okinawa, to give just a few examples.
Mr. Co tells us that the art of Ngo Cho kun is a "Shaolin" martial art from Fukien province on Chinafs east coast, and we know many famous Okinawan masters traveled to Fukien to study Chinese martial arts, among them Higashionna Kanryo, and later his pupil Miyagi Chojun (who later founded Goju-ryu ), as well as Uechi Kanei of the Uechi-ryu. The author states that Miyagi probably settled in the central or southern region of China, where he studied Ngo Cho kun. As far as I know, Miyagi Chojun never actually lived in China, although he did make several trips. His teacher, Higashionna Kanryo, did spend many years in Fukien. Perhaps Mr Co has confused the two.
Miyagi Sensei is believed to have visited Fukien in an unsuccessful attempt to make contact with Higashionna's teacher, and also to have visited the Tsing Wu Athletic Association in Shanghai, which was founded by the legendary Huo Yuan-chia. I, too, have heard the story that Miyagi Sensei was exposed to Pa Kua (aka Ba Gua - Eight Trigrams Boxing), and like Mr. Co, I tend to discount it. Mr. Patrick McCarthy, in his recently published Bubishi, states that he believes that Higashionna's teacher, Ryuru Ko, was a shoemaker named Xie Zhongxlang and the founder of Whooping Crane gongfu.
I have also heard it suggested that Ryuru Ko practiced Tai Cho (Grand Ancestor Boxing), and an elderly Chinese practitioner of Tai Cho interviewed in Penang, Malaysia in 1979 by the International Hoplology Society's field research team gave a genealogy which seemed to confirm this. I personally believe that there was probably a fair amount of overlap involved, in that the same person may well have practised several styles, either consecutively or simultaneously. Cross- training is nothing new, and styles from a certain area may well have shared many characteristics in common, as the result of local customs and culture, not to mention the physical environment itself.
According to Mr. Co, Ngo Cho Kun is derived from five different styles (including White Crane and Grand Ancestor/Emperor boxing) and consists of 44 empty~hand forms, 12 weapons, strength and conditioning training, prearranged fighting drills, and free-sparring practices. Later he explains that the forms are divided into two categories; either chien (tension) or kun (fist) forms. (A similar division exists in Goju-ryu karate, between sanchin and tensho on the one hand, and the other traditional forms).
The book shows a representative form from each category. On the technical side, the most interesting thing that I noted was the use of a waist twisting movement in the sam chien form, presumably done so as to lend more power to the subsequent strike. I have not encountered this movement in my practice of Gojuryu, nor have I observed it in Uechiryu, though since my knowledge of Uechi-ryu is limited, I suppose I could have missed it. But this is, I think, a point of technical difference. My whole image of Goju-ryu and Uechi-ryu is of styles which keep the upper body facing toward the opponent. I'd be interested to learn more about the rationale involved here.
As for the weight training exercises, the iron or stone weights known as chio so seem to be the exact equivalentof the Okinawan sashi. A list of the weapons used in ngo cho kun is given, and there are photographs of some of the weapons. The sailsang te pi is shown, as are a variety of staff weapons, the straight sword, and the plum spear, as well as a weapon with the intriguing name of the "horse cutting knife", which seems to be the equivalent of the Japanese nagamaki.
To sum up, this book would probably be of most interest to those practising Okinawan karate or perhaps a related Fukien province fighting art such as White Crane. It certainly helps fill a gap in our knowledge of the fighting arts which originated in Fukien, among which we can clearly count Uechi-ryu and Goju-ryu.
Rating: 
Summary: A typical intro book for the system
Review: From my perspective, the book offers an intro to the Five- Ancestors kung fu system of Fujian province, southern China, and not what you would prefer a training guide for the reader. Because of this fact, I would say the book is satisfactory. As a synthesis of the five systems of White Crane, Taizu (First Emperor kung fu), Lohan, Monkey, and Damo (Bodhidharma kung fu, in honour of the first patriarch of Shaolin kung fu), the system places more emphasis on the hand techniques of the crane, and the footwork of Lohan. Because many Japanese masters fled to Fujian province to further their training, Wuzu kung fu has greatly influenced Japanese karate. Of the 44 sets that comprise the syllabus of the system, only 2 are displayed in the book, the movements, themes, etc., the San Zhan (Three Battles) set, the core form, and the Entwining Kick fist set (in tit tat). The authors have not done a great deal to express the kicking techniques and footwork in the system. I chose to select this book because it's the only book on this rare system of martial arts hailing from Fujian province.
Rating:
Summary: Good overview of the style, but with one drawback
Review: The book has a great deal of mostly accurate historical information, especially for those who practice that particular kung fu style. Some of the concepts Mr Co discusses in his book, although put in a simple form for understanding, could be appreciated only by those who are fairly well versed in the ngo cho kun kung fu system. Simply reading the book and learning the two forms in it do not replace an instructor who knows the many facets of the system. However, the book does provide a great introduction to some of the concepts.
Rating:
Summary: not bad
Review: The book is well written, and contains some interesting historical information regarding the relationship between this unusual system and some of the karates. It is no substitution for an instructor, but it is informative and a good intro to this particular variant of wuzuchuan.
Rating:
Summary: Good overview of the style, but with one drawback
Review: This book provides a good overview of the Ngo Cho style, and is generally well-written. My only real complaint is in the author's insistence on, and the number of pages he devotes to, the idea that Ngo Cho is "believed to be the root of the Goju-ryu and Uechi-ryu Okinawan karate systems." The only ones claiming this belief are certain Ngo Cho practitioners. While Goju Ryu and Uechi Ryu have their origins in the Chinese martial arts, and in fact originate in the same part of China as Ngo Cho did, it only takes a brief glance at the accepted histories of these styles to realize that the timelines don't match up. The histories of Goju Ryu and Uechi Ryu can be traced back to the same time period as when Ngo Cho was being created (mid-1800s), and there is no mention of anything related to Ngo Cho's history or of any Ngo Cho teachers in those histories. Plus in China there are currently practioners who trace their lineage back to the Chinese teacher who taught Kanbun Uechi, and they do not refer to their style as Ngo Cho but merely call it "tiger fist". Finally, you cannot draw much from the fact that Ngo Cho, Goju Ryu, and Uechi Ryu all have a form of the Sam Chien/Sanchin kata because many different styles in southern China practised various forms of Sam Chien in the 1800s. What seems far more likely is all three of these styles had similar origins and influences, rather than one being the "parent style" of the other two.
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