THE HOKSAN LION
The Hoksan Lion was created very much later after the existence of the Fut Shan Lion. It was created by Master Feng Geng Chang during the Ching Dynasty. Master Feng learnt his Lion Dance skills from his master ,Feng  Le Xing who was a well known Chinese medication master and a student of the Fut Shan school.. Master Feng Le Xing was the one who actually brought the skills of the Fut Shan Lion from its Originated place called Fut Shan and Passed Down the skills to the people in his village.
One day, Master Feng Geng Chang saw a cat chasing after a  mouse in his house.  He was very fascinated by the movements of the cat that was chasing after the mouse. He found that the movements of the cat were very graceful and elegant. That incident strike his mind to compare the movements of the cat and the movements of the Fut Shan Lion Dance. From his comparisons, he realized that the Fut Shan Lion Dance’s movements does not represent the movements of an animal. From then on, Master Feng Geng Chang incorporated the movements of the cat into the movements of the Fut Shan Lion Dance. To adopt to the newly incorporated movements into the Lion Dance, the rhythm of the drum beats were also changed to suit the movements. Later, when he realized that the facial expression of the Fut Shan Lion does not suit the newly incorporated movements of the lion dance, he decided to give the lion head a new facelift, by changing the shape of its mouth, lips and eyes to make it looks more graceful and elegant, and adaptable to the eight expressions. Thus,. after all the alterations and changes .made, a new Lion  was created into existence,  the Hoksan Lion. With this creation, Master Feng Geng Chang had earned himself a name, “The king of the Hoksan Lion “
The Hoksan Lion  is also known as “The Duck Beak Lion,” and it has a lower forehead, a rounded horn and a duck beak mouth with flat lips. Please refer to the images shown in the video clip and pictures found in this page
After many generations, the Hoksan Lion Dance Arts and Crafts were passed down to the hands of Master  Lu Xing Yao of the Sar  Ping school.. He had made the Hoksan Sar Ping school spread world wide. Master Lu went to Singapore to spread the Hoksan Sar Ping school’s teaching to Master He Oi Cheng and finally ,the the Hoksan Sar Ping school’s teaching was passed down to the hands of  Master Robin Chan ,” The World Drum King”.
Through the recommendations of Master Kwok, the Hoksan Sar Ping Teaching had finally reached Malaysia. Master Siow Ho Piu obtained the Hoksan Lion Dance Skills through Master Robin Chan in Singapore. Master Siow then Spread the Hoksan Sar Ping School teaching in Malaysia and today he has more than 20 disciples and few hundreds of students learning the Hoksan Lion Dance arts and crafts under the Hoksan Sar Ping School. .

There are two different schools of teaching for the Hoksan Lion Dance. The most popular today is the Sar Ping School and many Lion Dance Associations around the globe are adopting the Sar Ping School of teaching. Some of the Teams that are adopting the Sar Ping school around the world are, The world champion, KUN SENG KENG from Malaysia,KHUAN LOKE from Malaysia, THAM PUI from Hong Kong, KHUAN YEE from Australia, GEE YUNG from Hawaii  and many more from Indonesia, Brunei and The United States

The Southern Cantonese Lion

The Southern Cantonese lion style of dancing is very much focus on “The Horse Stance.” Initially, there were 2  schools of Southern Cantonese lion style of dancing. One being the Fut Shan and the other is the Hoksan. However, as time rolled on, the people became more and more creative and they combined certain styles of arts and crafts of Hoksan Lion Dance and Fut Shan Lion Dance together to form the Futthock style. This was created by the Singaporeans. Also, the Jow Ga style was formed in China and Tou Pai sprang up from Hong Kong, both were using the combinations of arts and crafts of Hoksan and Fut Shan. All in all today, there are five types of Lion Dance existing. There are  the  FUT SHAN…,HOKSAN…FUTTHOCK…JOW GA.and  TOU PAI….What’s Next?  May be, one day someone will be the next creator of a new sizzling style to rock the world of Lion Dance.

THE FUT SHAN LION
In the history of  the Southern Lion dance, the Fut Shan Lion was the first Lion to be created in China. It has a high forehead, curved lips and a very sharp horn on its head. Their dance movement are quite rough and their dancing routine involved in  big movements. There are many schools teaching the Fut Shan Lion Dancing style compared to Hoksan.

The Northern Lion

The Northern Lion looks pretty much like a Peking dog ,with its whole body covered with long fur. The Northern Lion will normally perform in pairs with another person holding a ball for the pair of lion to chase after. Sometimes, to make things more exciting, two lion kids will join in to perform together with the two adult Lions. The pair of adult Northern Lions are made up of a female and a male. Initially their gender were differentiated by the color of the ribbon that is tied on the lions’ head.. The female Northern Lion has a green colored ribbon tied on, while the male has a  red colored ribbon. But currently, the gender of the northern lion can also be differentiated by the color of its fur on its head and its back, i.e. green for a female and red for a male.

The Northern Lion Dance projects a very active, happy, and playful movement. In their performance, they will joyously and actively chased after the ball, by leaping over tables, chairs, spinning themselves in 360 degrees stunt and rolling over one and another. If you happen to bounce into these Lions, make sure that you make it a point to see them in their performance

                                                               

THE LION DANCE

According to the folklore, the art of lion dancing had started since thousand years ago in China. In ancient days, the people found it difficult to meet the lion. So, the impression towards the lion was a sense of ambiguous. With the historical changes, like the cultural revolution and the influence of various religions , arts and sports, led to the transformation of various aspects of culture within races and the ethnic group in China.

The lion dance movement change according to progress of history. Contemporary lion dances should be categorized into 2 categories. Northern lions and Southern lions.  According to the historical points of view and the record of the old “Tang Shu” music which has the contents of Tai ping yue(Tai Ping Rhythm) in Zhou Wi Ti Era. In the Tai Ping Rythm has a phrase that says this, “There are 5 area of lion dancing. The lion dance was performed with people covered with lion-liked furry outfits. Two other performers using the rope and ribbon played around the lion that stands at their respective places”. According to another historical writing, during the Chow dynasty, lion dance has existed long ago.